BlueFire Churrascaria Grill: Super Tuesday!

Location: 477 Docklands Drive, Waterfront City, Docklands

Phone: (03) 9670 8008
Link: www.bluefiregrill.com.au
Cuisine: Grill, Modern Australian, Brazilian

Wandering around Docklands in search of a good Tuesday deal, we stumbled across BlueFire (which I had been wanting to try for quite a while but had almost forgotten about) and had a quick skim of the Super Tuesday deal. We were very impressed with the half-price Churrascaria and dessert (bringing the price down from $65 to $32.50) and decided to give it a go.

Tasting platter: marinated olives, dips (corn, eggplant, spinach & fetta), roasted peppers and warm flat bread

The Churrascaria started off with a tasting platter to share consisting of three dips (spinach and fetta, eggplant, and corn), warm flat bread, marinated olives and roasted peppers. The dips were very good - particularly the corn dip which was sweet, juicy and fresh tasting. The flat bread was warm and slightly fluffy inside, cut into perfect sized portions to go with the dips. The olives were very salty (as olives should be but I guess I'm not a huge fan) and the roasted peppers were sweet and had a nice smokey roast aroma.

Grilled seasonal vegetables

Sauces: tomato, honey mustard, caramelised onions

After we were done with the tasting platter, the waitress brought out the grilled seasonal vegetables and condiments. The vegies were extremely well done. The corn was notably the best part - much like the dip, it was sweet and juicy. The batons of carrots were soft and sweet on the inside, with a slight crispiness on the edge from the grilling. The wedges of potatoes were also very soft on the inside,crisp on the outside and seasoned with a variety of herbs. The sauces a bit on the average side. The caramelised onions were very good - nice caramelising and sweet jus. The honey mustard was pretty good too but I found it didn't work as well with the way the meats were marinated. Tomato sauce was, well, tomato sauce.

Plasma screens in the dining area

A 'passador' slicing meat at our table

Finally, we were ready for the meat and seafood. The 'passadors' brought around huge skewers of meat/seafood and sliced it at the table. As it was all-you-can-eat, I took a little too much of everything at the start. By the second round, we knew what tasted good and what we didn't like, so stuck with just getting the meats we had liked. You can even watch the meat as it cooks on the plasma screens in the dining area.

Each type of meat and seafood was marinated differently, although most were quite subtle flavours.

Pork (smoked tomato and chilli marinade)

One of the best cuts of meat we had. The pork was tender and moist, and had a nice form with a good balance of the fatty bits and the leaner bits. The flavour was a little bland, but the meat was cooked perfectly and the meat juices and caramelised onions worked well.

Chicken (five spice marinade)

My favourite meat of the day - the chicken was moist and cooked very well (it looked like it would be a lot drier than it turned out to be - and it was very well flavoured. No need for sauce for this piece!

Fish (lemon, garlic and herb)

The fish looked good, but tastewise was a bit of a disappointment. The fish was rather tough and dry (not in terms of chewing, but I judge fish by how soft and tender the inside it). It also lacked flavour which could have made up for the dryness (it was grilled after all).

Calamari (garlic, herb and paprika)

Looking quite dry, the calamari was actually very nicely cooked and soft to chew. However, there was a slightly fishy aftertaste indicating the possibility of not being fresh, and not enough of the marinade to cover it up. Would have been nicer had it been fresh or salted.

South-American spiced sausage

This one was also a winner. The sausage was bursting with flavour and had a nice spicy kick to it. However, the spiciness meant we didn't consume as much as we would have liked to of it.

We finally gave up and turned over our coasters to the red 'no more' sign. The waitress cleared our table and brought out our desserts (normally $15 each, at half price).

Black and white Baileys and Valrhona chocolate mousse

Beautiful soft and airy chocolate mousse, with a hint of Bailey's flavour. Nothing to complain about. I liked the added touch of the little wafer roll. Cute.

Chilled chocolate tart with vanilla ice cream & warm chocolate sauce

I was almost hesitant in ordering this dessert after the chocolate tart at Mecca Bah, but the description was so simple and tempting, so I thought I'd give it a go. I was very glad I did try it. The chocolate inside the tart was smooth but was soft like ganache and went amazingly with the ice-cream. The tart was a little too solid - would have been nicer had it had more of a crunch. The little crisp on top added a nice crunchy texture to an otherwise very smooth dessert.

~Service~

The service was generally top notch, as one would expect at a restaurant of its class. The waitresses were polite, the passadors were friendly and the food came out quite quickly (or in the case of the meats, sometimes a little too fast!). The one thing we were annoyed at was having to pay for water (we were given the option of 'still or sparkling' and no 'tap'). Other than that one issue, we had a very pleasant time and came out extremely full!

Overall Impression: 9/10