The Penny Back

420 Sydney Road
Brunswick
Vic
3065

Set in the old Brunswick GPO building on Sydney Road, we visited The Penny Black on a grey Sunday during winter.

The transformation of the building is much more pronounced inside with a vibrant slightly grungy fit out, and a stage at the front, which ended up being slowly filled by a band assembling their kit during our meal, it certainly seemed a more strenuous way to spend a weekend afternoon!

There are more tables out the back, but it seemed a little chilly for us out there.

We found a table and grabbed a menu, offering share plates, 'bigger tastes' as well as pizza's, in addition there were specials up on the wall, then ordered at the bar.

The potato pizza was the first main to arrive, and picture doesn't do justice to it's size! The thin crispy base was topped with rosemary, sea salt, garlic, extra virgin olive oil, caramelised onion, spinach, sour cream and mozzarella, and despite initial predictions it all disappeared. I didn't even get to try some, so will guess that it was pretty good.

The Sunday roast of two lamb shanks was also generous with two decent sized hunks of lamb served on plenty of veggies and a lake of gravy!

I went for the veggie burger, which came with some classic fries was again a decent size.

The pumpkin lentil pattie was just a little on the soft side, which along with the proportions, made it a challenge to eat! The burger also featured a roasted mushie, peppers, vegannaise and  rocket which combined well.

The service was friendly and just a little disorganizsed, our dishes seemed to come out over about 5 minutes. The meals though were good value coming in between $12 and $17 each. Although there were quite a few diners it didn't feel busy and vibe was relaxed, and it's a good place to grab some straightforward tasty grub.

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The Union Hotel, Brunswick

109 Union Street,
Brunswick,
VIC, 3056

We'd had dinner at The Union Hotel in Brunswick a while back, this time we met friends for lunch, and on a spring day sat in a covered area in the garden out the back. It has the look and feel of a backstreet suburban pub, albeit one that has been gently modernised.

I had the fish of the day, barramundi which came with kiffler potatoes, spinach cherry tomatoes and capers. The skin was super crispy, maybe just a bit too crunchy, and the fish was a tiny bit on the dry side and fairly small, other than that everything was well prepared and combined nicely.

The chilli bean enchiladas were topped with melted cheese, guacamole and sour cream and were served on a capsicum, spanish onion and cherry tomato salad and was a generous plateful... so much so I got half the serve to finish! The enchiladas were tasty but somewhat dry.

The grilled sausages were certainly generously proportioned and cane with bacon and parsley mash, greens and jus. They seemed to go down well.

The service was smooth and friendly even for our fairly large group. The mains were around $20 each, and I'd certainly happily go back.

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