Dining Out - Horsham Sports and Community Club

Horsham Sports and Community Club

On my regular trips to Adelaide I pass through Horsham and I've always considered having lunch at the club that overlooks the park. For one reason or another I've never managed to do this before, either due to the amount of time it would take or not passing through during the lunch period (12 - 2 pm). Mostly, when I'm passing through I just want to grab some food, take a stroll through the park and get back on the road, but this time I decided that I wanted the inside break and went into the club.

First off it's a club, so you have to sign in, which is easy with a drivers license that they just scan. The printed receipt is your day pass.

On the day I was going through, they had a lunch special where a 2 course meal was $13.50, which I had to at least take a look at. They had around 6 different standard pub meal options as the main course option, and 4 options for dessert. I also took a look at the main menu also, but what I felt like ended up being just a schnitzel anyway, so it was cheaper to get the special than just the schnitzel.

I grabbed my beer (Asahi) that I'd also got and returned that to my table with my buzzer that would tell me when my meal is ready. As with many bistro dining locations, you are your own waiter. In this case though, you also get to finish off your plate from a selection of bain marie dishes from roast vegetables to a variety of salads.

It didn't take long before my buzzer went off and I headed up to the counter to get my food and add the options to the plate.

^{What's that? Chips on top of the Schnitzel? Oh yeah, I added them from the bain marie, along with the other vegetables}

^{Quite a reasonable range of options to add to your meal. I decided on 3 hot options in Roast Potato, Roast Pumpkin, and Cauliflower Cheese as well as the chips.}

The schnitzel was quite good. For a chicken schnitzel, it was quite thin, which isn't really a bad thing, as they can often be too thick for my liking. It didn't taste like it had been over pounded to make it thin, so it's likely that the breast was sliced or probably butterflied before being pounded. It was cooked perfectly to leave it with a consistent golden colour on the outside, and the chicken inside was still moist. Of the extras that I selected, the chips were passable, and the pumpkin was forgettable, while the potato and cauliflower were both very good. One of the problems with bain marie extras is being able to work out what is good and what isn't. Sometimes they just look better than they are going to be (and chips are often a bad call, but can be surprising. These weren't which is why the roast potatoes were also picked up).

I was pretty full from the main course when a staff member cleared my plate and asked if I was ready for my dessert. Less than 5 minutes later I was collecting the Strawberry Mousse from their cold dish servery. I'm glad there wasn't much of a wait on it, as it meant I didn't waste much time waiting for one of the most disappointing desserts I've had in a while. While it was presented well enough, the mousse had not been made properly and was grainy and quite disgusting. I could only eat about a third before I gave it up as a bad idea.

^{If only it was as good as it looks...}

I have however learned that if I've got more than 30 minutes available for my lunch break, This is a comfortable location with at least a decent main course. It's a little more expensive than take away options around it (KFC, Subway, Maccas), but not too different to the local cafe in price, and certainly better food than at least the chains. I'll be back in the future, but I also want to try the RSL around the corner from it at some point too.

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