St. Katherine's

Turkish Cherry Soda, Craft Athens Lager

St. Katherine's
26 Cotham Rd
Kew, VIC 3101
Ph: (03) 9207-7477
Website

When St. Katherine's opened in Kew, I was quite interested to visit, but there was a bit of negative buzz about it in my parents' circle of Kew locals regarding price and quality, and it fell off the list of restaurants that I wanted to try.  However, I was very impressed with my recent visit to Hellenic Republic, and seeing St. Katherine's delicious-looking $19.50 two-course 'Xpress' lunch on Joyce's blog, I thought it would be a good, low-risk way to try the restaurant.

The bar at St. Katherine's

I popped in with my parents on a weekday - it wasn't full but had a pleasant atmosphere.  I particularly liked the bright airy space (great for food photos), and the colourful tiles and old tomato tins on the tables (great for Instagram - don't forget to follow me, sarahcooksblog!)

Self-serve cutlery

As you can see in the photo at the top of this post, my dad had an Athens Lager, and I had a clear cherry soda.  I was actually hoping to get that Espa brand red cherry drink I enjoyed so much at Hellenic Republic, but the clear cherry flavoured Turkish soda was a refreshing substitute and thankfully didn't taste of artificial cherry or Dr Pepper!  (According to our friendly waiter, St Katherine's has all the flavours of the Espa soft drinks except for the sour cherry, so I'll have to trek out to Brunswick East when I want my fix. D'oh!)

The first course was a tasty selection of dips and other snacky bits and pieces.

First course

Clockwise from top left, we have: tamara; mahammura (roasted sweet pepper dip with walnuts and pomegranate molasses); crispy deep-fried school prawns; a lamb pide topped with minced lamb, tomato, garlic, parsley, Aleppo pepper and lemon; a bowl of grilled and popped corn with almonds, chives and red onions; and warm pieces of bread in a bag.

The lamb pide reminded me of my favourite item from A1 bakery, lamachun (lamb pizza), with its spicy and sour meat topping.  I also really liked the corn dish, enjoying the contrast between sweet juicy corn kernels and aerated, puffed corn.

For me, the highlight was definitely the school prawns, all salty and crispy.  I love that you can eat the whole prawn, shell and all!

The main course comprised three very "Sarah" dishes: grilled spiced salmon, slow-roasted chicken, and a rice pilaf with herbs, dried apricots, carrots and toasted pumpkin seeds.  (Y'all know I love dried fruit and rice!)

The salmon was a little salty for my taste, but it went well with the milder-tasting pilaf and chicken.  Both chicken and fish were cooked skillfully, remaining lovely and tender.

Despite being one of the smallest options on the menu, after the two-course 'Xpress' lunch, we were comfortably full and didn't feel like a full dessert.  You must get heaps of food if you go for the $40 lunch option!  However, we saw that coffees come with a little square of cake, and thought that would be a nice way to round off the meal.

We thought they were brownies, but they were actually little squares of very tasty, moist walnut cake.  Our waiter was super-nice and gave us a few extra pieces when we told him that it was going to be our dessert! Yay!

Greek coffee with walnut cake

And some more Instagram shots (bear with me, I'm new to Instagram and am addicted!)

Hehe... even more walnut cake squares... our waiter slipped these onto our table as we were leisurely chatting and enjoying our coffees.

We greatly enjoyed our lunch at St. Katherine's - aside from the good food and excellent value, the service was fantastic.  The waiter who served us was very switched on, efficient and friendly - joking around with us but never being intrusive - basically making the experience even better for us diners.

Based on our experience at lunch, I'd definitely want to go back and try out their full menu, including their famous "Katherine's Fried Chicken".  With my local KFC just down the road from St. Kat's, it'd be easy to do a side-by-side comparison.  Hmm... future blog post perhaps?

Turkish Cherry Soda, Craft Athens Lager

St. Katherine's
26 Cotham Rd
Kew, VIC 3101
Ph: (03) 9207-7477
Website

When St. Katherine's opened in Kew, I was quite interested to visit, but there was a bit of negative buzz about it in my parents' circle of Kew locals regarding price and quality, and it fell off the list of restaurants that I wanted to try.  However, I was very impressed with my recent visit to Hellenic Republic, and seeing St. Katherine's delicious-looking $19.50 two-course 'Xpress' lunch on Joyce's blog, I thought it would be a good, low-risk way to try the restaurant.

The bar at St. Katherine's

I popped in with my parents on a weekday - it wasn't full but had a pleasant atmosphere.  I particularly liked the bright airy space (great for food photos), and the colourful tiles and old tomato tins on the tables (great for Instagram - don't forget to follow me, sarahcooksblog!)

Self-serve cutlery

As you can see in the photo at the top of this post, my dad had an Athens Lager, and I had a clear cherry soda.  I was actually hoping to get that Espa brand red cherry drink I enjoyed so much at Hellenic Republic, but the clear cherry flavoured Turkish soda was a refreshing substitute and thankfully didn't taste of artificial cherry or Dr Pepper!  (According to our friendly waiter, St Katherine's has all the flavours of the Espa soft drinks except for the sour cherry, so I'll have to trek out to Brunswick East when I want my fix. D'oh!)

The first course was a tasty selection of dips and other snacky bits and pieces.

First course

Clockwise from top left, we have: tamara; mahammura (roasted sweet pepper dip with walnuts and pomegranate molasses); crispy deep-fried school prawns; a lamb pide topped with minced lamb, tomato, garlic, parsley, Aleppo pepper and lemon; a bowl of grilled and popped corn with almonds, chives and red onions; and warm pieces of bread in a bag.

The lamb pide reminded me of my favourite item from A1 bakery, lamachun (lamb pizza), with its spicy and sour meat topping.  I also really liked the corn dish, enjoying the contrast between sweet juicy corn kernels and aerated, puffed corn.

For me, the highlight was definitely the school prawns, all salty and crispy.  I love that you can eat the whole prawn, shell and all!

The main course comprised three very "Sarah" dishes: grilled spiced salmon, slow-roasted chicken, and a rice pilaf with herbs, dried apricots, carrots and toasted pumpkin seeds.  (Y'all know I love dried fruit and rice!)

The salmon was a little salty for my taste, but it went well with the milder-tasting pilaf and chicken.  Both chicken and fish were cooked skillfully, remaining lovely and tender.

Despite being one of the smallest options on the menu, after the two-course 'Xpress' lunch, we were comfortably full and didn't feel like a full dessert.  You must get heaps of food if you go for the $40 lunch option!  However, we saw that coffees come with a little square of cake, and thought that would be a nice way to round off the meal.

We thought they were brownies, but they were actually little squares of very tasty, moist walnut cake.  Our waiter was super-nice and gave us a few extra pieces when we told him that it was going to be our dessert! Yay!

Greek coffee with walnut cake

And some more Instagram shots (bear with me, I'm new to Instagram and am addicted!)

Hehe... even more walnut cake squares... our waiter slipped these onto our table as we were leisurely chatting and enjoying our coffees.

We greatly enjoyed our lunch at St. Katherine's - aside from the good food and excellent value, the service was fantastic.  The waiter who served us was very switched on, efficient and friendly - joking around with us but never being intrusive - basically making the experience even better for us diners.

Based on our experience at lunch, I'd definitely want to go back and try out their full menu, including their famous "Katherine's Fried Chicken".  With my local KFC just down the road from St. Kat's, it'd be easy to do a side-by-side comparison.  Hmm... future blog post perhaps?