Lulo, Hawthorn

It’s always a shame when a well loved restaurant suddenly turns…not so good. As we work until fairly late on most nights, when we want to eat out there’s always not too many choices. Glenferrie Road in Hawthorn is a culinary destination that we frequent from the number of restaurants that are still open when we get there and Lulo was a restaurant that we’ve been to many times.

The photos here belong to the first few times that we dine there and we were quite impressed with the quality of the food and service. Being a Spanish tapas restaurant, the decor is well matched with mood lighting, classic Spanish decorations and a nice selection of drinks to match with their delicious food.

The meal came with, I believe, house made corn bread which had a great texture and was tasty.

We had ordered the mushrooms ($18) with roasted assorted mushrooms, truffle custard and mushroom textures. Although it wasn’t a pretty dish, it tasted so earthy and wholesome we totally loved it and ordered it every time we went. Sadly, this dish has been taken off the menu.

We also tried the free range butterflied spatchcock ($22) which was marinated in herbs and green chilli. The spatchcock was cooked perfectly, it was juicy and slightly charred on the outside so it had a wonderful charcoal aroma. I believe this dish has also been deleted from the menu.

The pork belly ($18) with apple cider puree and Colombian chimmi churri was delicious as well. The pork was tender and of course apple cider always goes well with pork. I’m not sure if this dish is still on the menu or not.

The duck with apple salsa was just ok, the duck was juicy and well cooked but the dish overall didn’t pack much punch.

Overall the meals we had there were quite good, enough to bring us back quite a few times. That is until our last visit a few months ago. We did arrive quite late but seeing as we were seated and the kitchen was still open, we thought it shouldn’t have been a problem. We were not provided with water for a long time and then we had to ask for it before it was brought out, this had never happened before. The drinks we had ordered were forgotten as well and had to be reminded. We were told quite a few things on the menu were sold out – which was fine since it was our fault for dining so late. But it was the manager being indifferent to our existence which ruined the whole experience. They didn’t charge us for one of the drinks in the end but didn’t give an explanation so I wasn’t even sure if that was compensation for the bad service. What was a great dining destination had become a distant memory. Perhaps the staff were just having a bad day that day or maybe they have changed their priorities. Either way, I’m not in a hurry to return.

If you want to try it for yourself and you’re in the area however, don’t let me stop you. My bad experience might have just been a once off.

Lulo

Phone: (03) 9818 8321
Address: 798 Glenferrie Rd Hawthorn, VIC
Website: http://www.lulo.com.au/
Opening Hours: Tuesday to Saturday 11:30am – 3pm, 4:30pm to 11pm, Breakfast in Spring and Summer