Oh Man! This was a real treat. After 6 months of collaboration with Pizza 4P’s, those lovely people at Heart of Darkness decided to go it alone and present their own food menu to compliment the excellent craft beer menu. Their discerning customers are already used to a standard of excellence when it comes to beers; the brewery has some 70 plus craft beers to their name already. Now it was the turn of the kitchen to try to impress.
I was really looking forward to trying some of the dishes on the new menu and Chef Phil Segal absolutely did not disappoint. In fact he went way beyond not disappointing, this was mightily impressive. Good beer needs good bar food, I love fine dining as much as the next man, but in it’s right place. This was serious good, I like simple bar meals, well chosen, beautifully cooked and expertly presented. Chef Phil achieved this.
Chilli Cheese Fries
Available with chorizo, beef or chicken we opted for the beef and loved it. The portion, as with everything, is generous and the combinations of fries, meat and cheese is delicious.
Nachos
This has always been one of my favourite bar foods. There is something really satisfying about nachos when they are good, and these were very good. The corn chips were perfect and the salsa, chilli, sour cream, guacamole and cheddar cheese provided a very filling topping.
The vegetarian chilli sauce makes both the Fries and the Nachos perfect for vegetarians, just omit the meat choices. In fact there are many other vegetarian options on the menu. Heart of Darkness have a philosophy of including both vegetarians and carnivores.
BBQ Wings
These are beautiful presented and come with choice of Ranch or Blue Cheese dressing, I tried both. They were delicious but the blue cheese really did it for me. The wings are meaty and perfectly cooked.
The Cannibal Cauldron
This was a tasty treat. A healthy slab of flatbread with beer infused chorizo and steamer clams, tomatoes and garlic and a generous covering of Mozzarella cheese.
Heart of Darkness Craft Beers
As always the beers were top drawer. I have tried almost all of Heart of Darkness beers now and I still haven’t had one that I didn’t like. Watch out for their next brewery tour and learn how they do it. The consistency of their brewing is astonishing. I started with my usual go-to starter the Patient Wilderness Wheat. A light easy drinking, beautifully balanced white beer. Moving on to the Without a Wink Golden Ale, again a top drawer beer. The Crawl Away White IPA is an unusual take on the IPA model. I really like this one.
I was lucky to be here the day before Heart of Darkness launched their new Director’s Cacao Porter. So I got a preview and managed one of those all important “first logs” on the Untappd website. I know, all a bit trainspotting really (and I don’t mean the movie). But, wow! This was more chocolate than Charlie’s factory.
The new menu at this popular Ly Tu Trung Venu is guaranteed to be a winner. I am pleased to endorse this whole Heartedly (see what I did there?) John Pemberton and his crew continue to get things right.
