‘Family night’ smorgasbord

Press, 31 March 1989, Page 24

‘Family night’ smorgasbord

By

PAULINE MOORE

Our three teen-age sons seldom pass up the chance of dining out with their parents when invited. We were all looking forward to a good night out at the Redwood Inn when we went there for a meal recently. The “family night special,” $55 for two adults and two children at a family-style restaurant, was enough to lure us there. The generous definition of “children” included our large schoolage son, and his smaller brother, something which is rare these days. Friday night at the Redwood Inn is seafood night, with crayfish, scallops, mussels, eel and sole, for $27. The family concession does not apply, though children can be catered for as well. The dine and dance, on Saturday and Sunday nights, is $2l. Obviously, “family night” is a clever plan to fill the restaurant on less busy nights of the week. Smorgasbord meals are

REDWOOD INN 340 Main North Road Phone 529-165

well suited to family dining, whether the children are young or teenage, with small or rapacious appetites. From the usually wide selection of dishes, there is always plenty to appeal to all palates. A distinct disadvantage is that smorgasbord frequently implies salads, or dishes that have been kept hot too long, or as bad, lukewarm food which would be improved by a few minutes in a microwave oven.

The Redwood’s dining room is large and Lshaped, the food at one end, and tables on the side of the small dance floor. We ate there on a Monday evening when the setting felt uncomfortably sparse. Our hostess showed us to a table overtaking a pretty garden, which compensated in

part for the distance from the food.

We helped ouselves to soup for starters. We could choose between onion, chicken and vegetable. Most of us chose the tasty onion, containing generous quantities . of onion rings that were tricky to fit on the spoon without dribbling soup everywhere. Both soups were delicious, though a little salty. We had the option of eating the hot food as an entree or piling salads around it. The hot dishes were rice, delicious golden baked potatoes, the inevitable deep-fried fish in batter, tired cauliflower cheese, and two meat dishes.

We were thirsty by the time we had made our way through these dishes, so I was a bit surprised when the hostess, who was also the waitress and drinks steward, asked if our drinks were all right. We had not been offered any. But clearly, she was doing the best she could

with her three-fold role, and her service was pleasant and friendly.

The salads were attractively set out on a twotiered buffet table. The selection was good, though predictable. We like innovative salads we might not think of making at home, or at least salads presented with more .care than we would usually take. So often we are disappointed to find shortcut salads, containing food such as beetroot from a tin. Fine, if that is what you like.

We could choose from potato salad, bean shoots, eggs, olives, beetroot, gherkins, tomato, carrot and coconut, bean salad, macaroni salad and mussels. For meat there was cold silverside, ham, pork and chicken.

While we ate, it was impossible not to be aware of the shabbiness of the decor, the faded curtains and the threads of the brightly patterned

purple/burgundy toned carpet. The' coved stucco ceiling though, and the dandelion-shape light shades were interesting features.

We felt the decor lacked a theme. Recently we ate at a family restaurant in Dunedin with a seafaring theme. It had seating in bays, and decor and menu to match the theme. The food was delicious and reasonably priced. We think that Christchurch has few comparable family-style restaurants. The desserts were a disappointment. They were finger foods, custard squares, marshmallow tarts, lamingtons, and ricies in papers, or there were meringue-sized pavlovas, trifle and chocolate mousse. Our bill for the food totalled $73, $55 for four of us, and $lB for the son no longer fitting the description "child.” Our enjoyable half carafe of wine cost $7.