Nic and Kolo, Applecross
I’d been meaning to visit Nic and Kolo for some time, it always has great reviews and is in a sweet location amongst the cafes of Ardross Street. Run by Nicole and Ben (nickname Kolo), Ben’s nephew is Brendan Pang of Masterchef and Bumplings fame.
With a sleek smart interior, and cool clientele, we read the menu with excitement, and I ordered a glass of Clare Valley sparkling to start the mood. Sadly it was a little lacklustre and the bubbles quickly went flat.
The menu is a mixture of Asian fusion and modern Australian with a little Italian thrown in.
We chose to start with tempura cauliflower and broccoli with spiced tamarind dressing, and the charred housebaked sourdough with hummus. Both were good dishes which we enjoyed.
For mains my partner chose the harissa chicken with tabbouleh and snow peas. He enjoyed it but wasn’t blown away by it. It could have been a little more spicy but was tasty.
I chose the saffron linguini aglio olio peperoncino, with prawns and prosciutto chips. The prawns were good but there was way too much garlic in the dish, I love the flavour of garlic, but I don’t want to eat huge lumps of it and there was so much barely cooked garlic that it made the dish unpleasant to eat.
We decided not to stay for dessert. When the waiter cleared the plates he didn’t ask how the food was, even though I had left most of the dish. When we paid, I mentioned that it wasn’t a pleasant dish to eat, and was asked if I liked garlic. Of course I like garlic, but there was just too much almost raw garlic in the dish. I was then informed that this was a dish that the team were ‘experimenting’ with and there had been an issue with their pasta supplier, but no offer was made to refund the dish, or offer a return voucher, free breakfast or just something to make me feel better about the experience.
I left puzzled as to why the reviews are so good for Nic and Kolo. Maybe the breakfast is amazing, but I won’t be going back to try it.
Last Visit – April 2022
Truly Scrumptious 
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