Three Palms

154 Ocean Beach Road, Sorrento
Date visited: 7th July 2013

MerlinFan, AH, AJ and I spent a gorgeous morning at Cape Schanck.  With crisp, cold air and sunny blue skies what more could we have asked for.

By noon, the clouds were gathering and we were starving, so we headed down to Sorrento for some lunch.  A quick look on Urbanspoon told us that Three Palms Cafe & Bar was rated no. 3 in Mornington Peninsula and no.1 in Sorrento.  As we perused the menu outside, one of the patrons exiting the venue recommended us the place and some of the nice dishes he just had.  Okay, sounded pretty good to us, so in we marched.

The interior was like a cosy, modern home with darkly coloured walls and beautiful wood floors.  

The waiter informed us that dishes here are meant for sharing.  The method of ordering is different, too.  Each table gets their own paper menu and you place a tick on the dishes that you want.  For the four of us, the waiter recommended ordering six.

Menu

Our food didn't take too long to arrive.  First up was the Annatto basted whiting fillets.

Annatto basted whiting fillets with crushed olive and white bean salsa $18.50

The fish was fresh and nicely seasoned.

This came at the same time as our order of a bowl of French Fries.  Shoestring fries, well-salted with mayo and tomato sauce - simple.  There's always something about the smell of saltwater that makes me crave some good ol' french fries.

French fries with mayo and tomato sauce $7.50

 Next we had the Kachai chicken.

Kachai chicken with pineapple chilli sweet and sour $14.50

The chicken nuggets were coated with a crispy batter that was salty and gingery with hints of tanginess.  I expected some sort of sweet and sour sauce with actual pineapple chunks but was slightly disappointed to discover it was actually pineapple flavoured chilli sauce.

There was a slight lull before our next round of dishes.  Next we had the Egg fried rice.

Egg fried rice $8

It was a really tiny portion especially considering that it was meant for sharing - smaller than a single person dish in most places.  Flavour-wise it was nice, but very salty.  The uncooked bean sprouts sprinkled over the top to us seemed unnecessary and we left it all behind.

We were looking forward to the Mexican Shredded Beef.

Millionaire Mexican shredded beef with tequila and beer mop sauce $17

We were surprised when the Mexican shredded beef came presented almost like a beef patty.  The shredded beef was tender and came apart at the push of the fork, with seared crispy bits over the top, however there were a lot of fatty bits mixed into the heap.  It was also a really small portion to be shared amongst four.

Lastly, we had the Sticky soy caramel pork belly.

Sticky soy caramel pork belly on bean shoot salad $22

I didn't taste much of the caramelisation here - to me it was like a tasty braised soy pork belly.  As tasty as the pork was, the way it was cut into small cubes, meant that you would occasionally get pieces of fat only.  Some people love the moist, unctuous fat on these pork bellies, however the health-conscious like AS and MerlinFan just left them behind.  Underneath the porky cubes was a very small island of rice, barely enough to soak up the soy sauce.  

Although the food here didn't really wow us, it was pretty tasty despite being on the salty side (I love salt though).  We felt however, that the prices were expensive for the small portion sizes.  Service was attentive without being intrusive and our dishes were appropriately timed - we were in and out for six dishes in an hour.




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