Welcome to Country Comfort Inter City Restaurant

We went along for a quick, cheap meal as we had a voucher in our entertainment book. We were pleasantly surprised with our meals and the portion sizes. My husband ordered the sirloin steak which he said was lovely and I enjoyed the lamb shanks which were very tasty and melted in my mouth. It's clear that most of the patrons were staying at the hotel as many ate alone. They had a large wide screen TV over the bar so we watched the news while we ate. Not exactly the "special occasion" type of place, but great for yummy, and plentiful plates, or for something on the go.

We were a little disappointed after the wonderful experience we had the first visit last month. The lamb ($24) which we ordered again was chewier. Also disappointing was the battered seafood platter ($24) which came with 2 scallops, 2 small pieces of fish, 2 prawns, 5 calamari rings, small bowl of mussels and chips. The seafood was fried a little too long and the batter had a peppery taste where I'd prefer the normal beer batter anytime. To my dismay, there were no gourmet greens and all was served were a handful of pea sprouts. It is possible due to the choice of dish as the last time we had a generous serve of greens with the steak. Thank goodness though, the chilli mussels were really delicious but it was such a tease with the small serve.

Our kids had steak & mash and bangers & mash but gourmet greens were absent when they had that the last round with the fish & chips and nuggets & chips. At least there were some steamed vegies (cauliflower, broccoli and carrots). However, the vegies were rather raw and should have been steamed much longer. The ice cream with fruit salad still came with freshly cut fruits but it was no longer the monstrous magical heap it was the last visit. Saying that, the kids meals are still good value at $9.50 which comes with a drink (juice/soft drink), main meal (6 choices) and dessert (3 choices).

Located within the Country Comfort Motel in Belmont, not many know of the existence of the Firehouse Bar & Restaurant. As such, they were not busy for a Saturday night and diners seemed to be hotel occupants. We wouldn’t too had it not been for an ad in the local paper. My goodness, I have never come across such big serves for kids. For $9.50, there is 6 different choices of mains and 3 different dessert choices plus a soft drink. The kids had a fish & chips and nuggets & chips. To our utmost surprise, the kid’s mains came with gourmet greens (which in my opinion is a waste on most kids but I gladly had them) and a generous serve of tartar (fish) and tomato sauce (nuggets). Their serves were double the size of many other places we have been to. We should not be shocked by now but when the desserts came out, the kids (& adults) were mesmerised. Their fruit salad & ice cream and pavlova with fruit salad were even larger than adults serves at some restaurants! And again, it was “gourmet”. One would think it would just be straight from the can but oh, no the kids were pampered with freshly cut watermelon, strawberries, apples, pears, rockmelon and the pavlova even had passionfruit dressing. Again, it could very well turn out a waste as passionfuit may not be akin to kids taste-buds but who cares, the lucky parents get to profit from that. We were indeed extremely impress with the kids meals and the trouble they took for presentation. It is simply beyond comprehension, a 5 star kid’s meal indeed!

For the mains for us adults, we ordered their popular dishes; kangaroo fillet and braised lamb shanks. The meals were nicely presented as well. The mains came with fresh vegetables (broccoli, cauliflower, carrot, squash & bok choy) and either mash potato fried in breadcrumbs (?) (lamb) or pumpkin in pastry (roo). The kangaroo was very tender. Pity about the sauce though, which we found too sweet. The lamb shanks were the biggest two shanks I had ever seen. Tender enough but did not have the “melt in the mouth” effect and could do with more gravy. Cost a reasonable $24 each and were absolutely good value.

If you have kids and manage to get whole of the Southern Gazette local paper, cut out the advert with the current special of 2 kids eat free when dining with 2 adults on Fri/Sat/Sun nights. Your kids will love you for that. We were indeed surprise that besides the complementary main dish, they even offered free dessert for the kids too! To keep the kids occupied before the food arrives, Firehouse also offers colouring books too. Go check it out and give your kids a treat (and yourselves too).