bar 9 central.

I was pretty excited when I heard that Bar 9 had opened up their sister shop down in Adelaide Plaza just below David Jones.  Having heard raving reviews about their original shop on Glen Osmond Rd, but never having had the chance to go, this was a good compromise despite the limited menu items.

Overtaking the space which T-Bar previously occupied, Bar 9 has kept the shelves and even stocked their own brands of tea.  Pretty rustic and laid back, the cafe has a few two-person tables and several large communal tables in the middle.

Mushrooms on toast with poached eggs, pesto, pine nuts, goats curd & sourdough: $17.00

Where do I begin with this failure of a dish?  The mushrooms were incredibly sour to the point where I had tears welling up because of it's sourness.  The poached eggs were bland and had no seasoning, although cooked to runny perfection.  The basil pesto pretty much drowned my bread and the goats curd didn't taste like anything.  I only managed to figure out how to make the meal taste a bit better towards the end of the meal where I combined a bit of everything into one bite.  I was not impressed.  

Pear bruschetta with walnuts, goats curd, black pepper, balsamic vinegar & prosciutto: $14.00

I was able to try out a few elements to this dish but wasn't really wow'ed by what I tasted.  The poached pears were really sweet, almost sickly.  The prosciutto was pretty good and had a nice salty flavour to it.  Eaten with the fresh pear slices it actually tasted pretty yum.  Ultimately it felt like there was just way too much going on in the one dish.  My friend ended up eating each item separately because it just tasted weird when eaten together.

I was so disappointed with this place.  The meal left a sour taste in my mouth (pun intended) and the service wasn't particularly a stand-out either.  Maybe they were having an off-day, who knows?  I think I'll go and try the real Bar 9 next time.