Lunch in Civic today was at Babars. I used to be a big fan of the place when it was the nearest bar to Electric Shadows back in the day.
At 12.15pm it certainly wasn’t over crowded and we were able to get a great shaded table on Bunda Street with wonderful views of the passing citizenry. They had hordes of staff on for the level of trade.
It was nice that we had menus within minutes of sitting down. Thirty seconds later being asked if we’d made a selection from the big menu was more problematic.
We thought ordering a a couple of beers while we decided would work but sadly the beers hadn’t arrived when the waiter came back for a second go.
Which is where we hit a snag, our waiter’s english really wasn’t up to the job. When you have to point to the club sandwich on the menu, to get across that’s what you want, there’s a problem.
The drinks did arrive eventually though and the food, in its turn, was pretty good.
Jazz was thrilled when the prawns in his linguini arrived without their tails, tailed prawns being something of a bugbear for him. He also said the chilli was making his head itch, apparently a good thing.
My club sandwich was pretty good, the turkey and bacon feeling like they came from an animal and not from a factory. It was tall, but not unmanageable and the cranberry sauce and aioli applied strongly, but not overwhelming.
All up not a bad lunch, in fact pretty good. But for the money (~$20ea with a beer) the service really needs to improve. Fluent English really is essential for front of house work at a cosmopolitan cafe/restaurant.
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