Mealballs & Sons

Bought through: Ouffer

Voucher for: Enjoy Some of Melbourne's Finest Food in Trendy Fitzroy! Only $39 for a Meatball Feast for Two including Two Mains, Two Side Dishes, Two Desserts, and Two Glasses of Wine or Pints of Beer. Choose from a Tempting Menu Featuring Confit Duck, Slow Cooked Organic Lamb, Free Range Chicken and Much More. Valued at $88 - Top Rated on Urbanspoon


Meatballs and Sons

I love the signage for this eatery and the manager was the friendly, chatty sort, keen to impress the house beer to Alister - though truth be told, he was calmly nonplussed about the wheat beer bevvy on offer. 

I don't pretend to be any type of expert on alcohol so I demurred on this front and concentrated instead of the welcoming decor, staff and the bbq boisterous foodie options.

The offerings were certainly tasty to look at, and the menu seemed to be edging for a homestyle aw-shucks kinda feel - a little Americano, but mainly from their provisions personality write-ups.

We had chosen for our meatball mains: the skewered bourbon glazed pork with battered corn cobs; and the greek lamb with creamy Persian feta, baby spinach, olives and sun riped tomatoes. Both were tasty, with the pork the comfortable winner from a satisfying taste perspective. 

Our sides were the soccotash - a fabulous name for a simple dish of sweet corn with shell beans, some cut tomatoes and mixed capsicum; and the cauliflower gratin with aged cheddar that had Alister pronouncing that he needed to make this type of dish more often at home - it's simple, relatively healthy and absolutely delicious.

Now, as you may suspect, I quite delight in a dessert and our end notes were the homemade brownie with mascarpone and berry coulis; with Mum's home baked apple (mini) pie with custard layer and cream. Both were comfort food choices with the pastry of the pie being my favourite, though Alister was a little harder to please and found the overall meal, including dessert, enjoyable but not extraordinary. 

US homecooking flavours are filling and fine for me though, and I think this is a reasonable charmer with a easy smile and subtle surprises.

Pros: spacious decor with a warm welcome and a nostalgic Northern American nod in the menu; reasonable prices

Cons: homespun styled cooking may not be to everyone's taste