It's interesting to see the restaurant industry adapt, change to and adopt trends. No booking policies, 2 course lunch specials, tapas, slow food. Doing a bit of freelance graphic work for a restaurant has also helped me observe how these influences can immediately effect the marketing plan or the approach a restaurant takes to engaging with it's customers intimately.
One thing that is of course important for a restaurant to acknowledge, is it's clientele, what slice of the market is the restaurant trying to cut? Based on this, how can one market their restaurant as an experience to the target audience and convince them to visit with wallet ready for expenditure?
I think what Trunk have done is quite clever.
I had been to Trunk a year or so ago for dinner and absolutely hated the experience. Stuffy, slow and pretentious service, underwhelming and overpriced food. I'm not that hard to please, and I'm usually extremely forgiving, but my friends who I had dinner with that night all agree with my extreme distaste for the place.
When I heard about Trunk Diner on tummyrumbles, I was extremely skeptical at first, but reading the reviews since it opened, my curiosity couldn't help but get the best of me.
Trunk Diner is Trunk's answer to casual daytime cafe cuisine, easy going food for the office crowd who want a quick, but tasty bite and maybe a glass of wine before going back to work. Or for someone like me who just likes a casual lunch in a relaxed environment. Ingenious in my opinion, firstly there was so much unused space at Trunk so converting the courtyard into a retro style marquee cafe gives customers options and a more accessible space. How often do people really go for $30 lunch mains after all?
It really is a polar opposite to what Trunk is, light, colourful and bright, you can't help but smile as you step in and are greeted in return with genuine warm smiles and prompt, attentive service.
I always love a generous sized chai latte, but unfortunately I found it a wee bit too milky for me, not quite enough flavour there! Although, I thought the sprinkle of cocoa on the top instead of cinnamon was quite a nice change. The chai tea, which David had, was much better.
So decisions, decisions! Salads, quesadillas, soups and burgers to name a few things on the menu. Oh the burgers. More on that soon.
I thought I might go down the healthy path and opted for the tuna salad with green beans, boiled egg, tomato, chickpeas, spinach, barley and lemon. It was definitely a generous serving as I positively found myself stuffed after! I loved how fresh and bright the whole bowl looked, baby spinach leaves were just so moreish! The ever light lemon dressing really accentuated the natural flavours of the tuna, and I also loved that the eggs were specifically sprinkled with some salt rocks. According to David, the bread wasn't too exciting, tasty, but a little bit hard for his liking. He was also a bit underwhelmed when I initially chose a salad, saying they all tasted the same, but when you do get a good salad, you can really enjoy it!
Although I suppose you can't blame him for being a little less impressed with what I got, when he ordered....the wagyu burger.
175 grams of fresh ground wagyu beef in a grilled brioche with baby cos lettuce, tomatoes and house made pickles. To go with his medium rare burger, David also decided to get caramelised onions and sauteed mushrooms. I love the little trays everything is served on, really does make you feel like you're in a diner right?
The burger came slightly deconstructed, with the additions already placed in the burger but the lettuce and tomato and pickles on the side, to put in as you please.
Which David did. And what a treat it was all together, the meat was just seasoned magnificently, was tender and the sweetness of the onions and flavours of the mushrooms really came through. It was a multitude of fairly strong flavours and different textures just melding together perfectly. I can only imagine how perfect this would have been if he had ordered some cheese to go with it as well...mmmm....
After finishing our meal, we skipped up to the dessert counter (we really do skip) and I couldn't help but coo over the adorable little dessert pies. So.
A banoffee pie appeared on our table. Oh my goodness, don't let it's small and humble exterior fool you for inside is an absolute smorgasbord of a party waiting to happen on your tongue. The bananas inside were so sweet and so prominent, then combined with a thin layer of extremely rich decadent chocolate, it was pure heaven. Once we got into it, we couldn't stop!
Until the last bite.
David: "You have the last bit"
Me: "Oh no, you have it"
*David makes a face at me*
Me: "No, no you have it"
David: "There's banana."
....
Me: "Banana."
I was just so tempted to get another dessert pie to try after that last bite, but David convinced me otherwise, since we were actually both pretty full after that.
Even on a cool day as it was, with an assortment of heaters within, the marquee does a wonderful job of keeping you warm whilst letting you feel like you're sitting outside with it's clear perspex sides.
So whilst I may not fancy Trunk himself, do I fancy the younger brother?
I think so. I think I do.
One thing that is of course important for a restaurant to acknowledge, is it's clientele, what slice of the market is the restaurant trying to cut? Based on this, how can one market their restaurant as an experience to the target audience and convince them to visit with wallet ready for expenditure?
I think what Trunk have done is quite clever.
I had been to Trunk a year or so ago for dinner and absolutely hated the experience. Stuffy, slow and pretentious service, underwhelming and overpriced food. I'm not that hard to please, and I'm usually extremely forgiving, but my friends who I had dinner with that night all agree with my extreme distaste for the place.
When I heard about Trunk Diner on tummyrumbles, I was extremely skeptical at first, but reading the reviews since it opened, my curiosity couldn't help but get the best of me.
Trunk Diner is Trunk's answer to casual daytime cafe cuisine, easy going food for the office crowd who want a quick, but tasty bite and maybe a glass of wine before going back to work. Or for someone like me who just likes a casual lunch in a relaxed environment. Ingenious in my opinion, firstly there was so much unused space at Trunk so converting the courtyard into a retro style marquee cafe gives customers options and a more accessible space. How often do people really go for $30 lunch mains after all?
It really is a polar opposite to what Trunk is, light, colourful and bright, you can't help but smile as you step in and are greeted in return with genuine warm smiles and prompt, attentive service.
I always love a generous sized chai latte, but unfortunately I found it a wee bit too milky for me, not quite enough flavour there! Although, I thought the sprinkle of cocoa on the top instead of cinnamon was quite a nice change. The chai tea, which David had, was much better.
So decisions, decisions! Salads, quesadillas, soups and burgers to name a few things on the menu. Oh the burgers. More on that soon.
I thought I might go down the healthy path and opted for the tuna salad with green beans, boiled egg, tomato, chickpeas, spinach, barley and lemon. It was definitely a generous serving as I positively found myself stuffed after! I loved how fresh and bright the whole bowl looked, baby spinach leaves were just so moreish! The ever light lemon dressing really accentuated the natural flavours of the tuna, and I also loved that the eggs were specifically sprinkled with some salt rocks. According to David, the bread wasn't too exciting, tasty, but a little bit hard for his liking. He was also a bit underwhelmed when I initially chose a salad, saying they all tasted the same, but when you do get a good salad, you can really enjoy it!
Although I suppose you can't blame him for being a little less impressed with what I got, when he ordered....the wagyu burger.
175 grams of fresh ground wagyu beef in a grilled brioche with baby cos lettuce, tomatoes and house made pickles. To go with his medium rare burger, David also decided to get caramelised onions and sauteed mushrooms. I love the little trays everything is served on, really does make you feel like you're in a diner right?
The burger came slightly deconstructed, with the additions already placed in the burger but the lettuce and tomato and pickles on the side, to put in as you please.
Which David did. And what a treat it was all together, the meat was just seasoned magnificently, was tender and the sweetness of the onions and flavours of the mushrooms really came through. It was a multitude of fairly strong flavours and different textures just melding together perfectly. I can only imagine how perfect this would have been if he had ordered some cheese to go with it as well...mmmm....
After finishing our meal, we skipped up to the dessert counter (we really do skip) and I couldn't help but coo over the adorable little dessert pies. So.
A banoffee pie appeared on our table. Oh my goodness, don't let it's small and humble exterior fool you for inside is an absolute smorgasbord of a party waiting to happen on your tongue. The bananas inside were so sweet and so prominent, then combined with a thin layer of extremely rich decadent chocolate, it was pure heaven. Once we got into it, we couldn't stop!
Until the last bite.
David: "You have the last bit"
Me: "Oh no, you have it"
*David makes a face at me*
Me: "No, no you have it"
David: "There's banana."
....
Me: "Banana."
I was just so tempted to get another dessert pie to try after that last bite, but David convinced me otherwise, since we were actually both pretty full after that.
Even on a cool day as it was, with an assortment of heaters within, the marquee does a wonderful job of keeping you warm whilst letting you feel like you're sitting outside with it's clear perspex sides.
So whilst I may not fancy Trunk himself, do I fancy the younger brother?
I think so. I think I do.
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This salad looks amazing!! Epic indeed. Keen to try this place, sounds great :)
ReplyDeleteHeidi xo