Horsham Sports and Community Club
On my regular trips to Adelaide I pass through Horsham and I've always considered having lunch at the club that overlooks the park. For one reason or another I've never managed to do this before, either due to the amount of time it would take or not passing through during the lunch period (12 - 2 pm). Mostly, when I'm passing through I just want to grab some food, take a stroll through the park and get back on the road, but this time I decided that I wanted the inside break and went into the club.
First off it's a club, so you have to sign in, which is easy with a drivers license that they just scan. The printed receipt is your day pass.
On the day I was going through, they had a lunch special where a 2 course meal was $13.50, which I had to at least take a look at. They had around 6 different standard pub meal options as the main course option, and 4 options for dessert. I also took a look at the main menu also, but what I felt like ended up being just a schnitzel anyway, so it was cheaper to get the special than just the schnitzel.
I grabbed my beer (Asahi) that I'd also got and returned that to my table with my buzzer that would tell me when my meal is ready. As with many bistro dining locations, you are your own waiter. In this case though, you also get to finish off your plate from a selection of bain marie dishes from roast vegetables to a variety of salads.
It didn't take long before my buzzer went off and I headed up to the counter to get my food and add the options to the plate.
What's that? Chips on top of the Schnitzel? Oh yeah, I added them from the bain marie, along with the other vegetables
Quite a reasonable range of options to add to your meal. I decided on 3 hot options in Roast Potato, Roast Pumpkin, and Cauliflower Cheese as well as the chips.
The schnitzel was quite good. For a chicken schnitzel, it was quite thin, which isn't really a bad thing, as they can often be too thick for my liking. It didn't taste like it had been over pounded to make it thin, so it's likely that the breast was sliced or probably butterflied before being pounded. It was cooked perfectly to leave it with a consistent golden colour on the outside, and the chicken inside was still moist. Of the extras that I selected, the chips were passable, and the pumpkin was forgettable, while the potato and cauliflower were both very good. One of the problems with bain marie extras is being able to work out what is good and what isn't. Sometimes they just look better than they are going to be (and chips are often a bad call, but can be surprising. These weren't which is why the roast potatoes were also picked up).
I was pretty full from the main course when a staff member cleared my plate and asked if I was ready for my dessert. Less than 5 minutes later I was collecting the Strawberry Mousse from their cold dish servery. I'm glad there wasn't much of a wait on it, as it meant I didn't waste much time waiting for one of the most disappointing desserts I've had in a while. While it was presented well enough, the mousse had not been made properly and was grainy and quite disgusting. I could only eat about a third before I gave it up as a bad idea.
If only it was as good as it looks...
I have however learned that if I've got more than 30 minutes available for my lunch break, This is a comfortable location with at least a decent main course. It's a little more expensive than take away options around it (KFC, Subway, Maccas), but not too different to the local cafe in price, and certainly better food than at least the chains. I'll be back in the future, but I also want to try the RSL around the corner from it at some point too.
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It's been a couple of years, but we surprised Mum at the RSL for her 60th (my folks were living in Horsham at the time).
It was neither tlhe best, nor the worst meal I've had, but overall wasn't bad.
Good to know. I give the eating places in remote areas much more leniency than I do for city based, but there's still some minimum level of standard that's expected. Glad to hear that the RSL isn't bad. I don't ever expect them to be the best, as that's not their position. They should be reliable and reasonably priced though
One word of warning though, if the Indian place on Firebrace St is still there (Horsham Masala I think was the name of it) I'd probably steer clear. Got a very nasty bout of Delhi Belly after eating there and almost missed my mate's bucks night.
Thanks for the heads up. I've got a pretty iron stomach, but I'd be unlikely to be stopping at an Indian place on my drive through. If I were stopping in town for a few days, I might though
The scary thing was that the food was delicious with no hint of a problem, but about 6 hours after eating there, all three of us were very ill for the next few days
Hmmm very yummy....
yes it was. Much nicer than the other options I've had in Horsham
I would have been rather sad about the mousse too as it does look really good. And at that price I would have definitely gone there over the fast food places if we had to eat out, everything ends up being expensive anyway so may as well be decent ;D
Absolutely. For around $20 I had a good schnitzel, veggies, a beer and a not so great mousse, as well as a comfy relaxing seat. If I'd gone elsewhere it would have been $10-$15 for my food and drink, and it would have been unlikely to be as nice or filling, and almost certainly not as comfortable or relaxing.
Sometimes club meals look a lot better than what they taste @ratticus so now that this club has passed the taste test you’ll be interested to see if they can be consistent with quality. I hope you had an enjoyable Easter with lots of rest and relaxation. 😊
Consistency is something I've found most clubs are good at. They may not always be good at making tasty food, but they're generally consistent. Both in looks and taste. I just wish more of them would be consistently good in both of those categories and there wouldn't be any gamble on the food when you go to clubs
yummmzz very spicy, hot, delicious plate of food. i also love to eat finger fried chips
The Strawberry Mousse looks very tasty
No spicy in this one, though I do love a spicy crumb on schnitzels. The mousse looked tasty, but it really wasn't unfortunately