Looking for something quick on a late Thursday night, we strolled along Chapel Street looking for somewhere half decent and found ourselves at The Wolf & I. We had been here before for drinks, however never made it past the beautiful bar to the dining room area so thought we would give it a go.
ATMOSPHERE
The Wolf & I offers two separate spaces, the front area acts as their main bar area with high top bar tables, black bar stools and a beautiful wrap around bar. Along the back wall showcases vintage sewing machines propped up on the wall, which is offset by the concrete floors.
Moving past the bar, you will find yourself in their main dining room. This is a cosy, intimate space with dimmed lighting, both dark feature walls and brick feature walls and beautiful white ceilings. The decor in the space is very homey with rustic wooden tables and chairs and featured wooden antler light fixture.
FOOD
Being here before and knowing it was a pub, I didn’t set my standard too high, however they have set a new bar for the meaning ‘pub food’. Yes you have all your standard pub meals like parma’s and chips, however beef cheeks, mussels and confit duck tagliatelle? I’ll take this menu any day!
Being a Thursday night, they had a daily special where you get the parma or beef cheeks with a glass of house wine or beer for $20. Of course, we both went with this, getting one of each.
I went with the ‘Braised Beef Cheeks’, with potato puree, baby spinach, braised shallots and a red wine jus. The meat fell apart at the touch of your fork and was incredibly rich in flavour. The potato puree was okay, however came out a bit cold. The flavour and the texture of the cheeks made up for the average puree.
Their ‘Wolf’s Chicken Parmigiana’ served with green salad and shoestring fries is one of the better parmas in the city. Maybe not the best presentation, however quite tasty and served with a generous amount of chips.
SERVICE
The service was probably the only downfall of our night. We were served by two different waiters, one who was very attentive with bringing our drinks and ensuring everything was up to par and the second who took our food orders. We had also ordered two starters as we weren’t sure how long our food would take, however they were never brought to our table.
I had also ordered a second glass of wine to come with my Thursday night special and they had brought it when I still had a full glass from the first glass of wine I had ordered.
Overall for a pub, the food was top notch, the atmosphere was cosy, and the service a bit average. I’d probably come back here with a group of people next time. They have daily specials running throughout the week, so would be keen to come back and check out what they have to offer on different nights.
