Hairy Canary
212 Little Collins Street, Melbourne
03 9654 2471
Spanish, Tapas
$$$
Food
- Eggplant Chips with Cimichurri
- Paella del mar y montana
The Good
Eggplant chips were overall pleasant. They were fried just right with not-too-much batter and were cooked through well. The seasoning was not bad but could do with a bit more salt/chimichurri as it got slightly bland later on.
Paella was decently sized and served with a generous amount of mussels. Mussels were very fresh as were the prawns. Chorizo had a nice salty flavour although on the tough side. The rice was cooked through well and was flavourful from all the ingredients. Only let-down was the chicken, which we will elaborate on later. Overall flavours complemented each other well together and ingredients extremely fresh. Not bad at all.
The Mediocre
Nothing.
The Bad
The chicken bits in the paella were a bit of a let-down. Overcooked, tough chicken breast isn’t great, paella or not. While I understand undercooked chicken means food poisoning, they should’ve cooked the chicken just before the seafood and not with the rice.
The Verdict
Overall a very decent joint for a paella. Great value for money given the freshness and generous amount of seafood, and it tastes good too!
Would Penguin Eat Again?
Most definitely!