Circle 8, Newtown

Belaroma coffee. 191 King St, Newtown; seating near the street, indoors, or in the courtyard out the back. Lots of staff, lots of menu choices, but notably missing the straight eggs-and-toast that you can add sides to.

Coffees come in a range of sizes. There’s a bit of a backlog, so my yard-coffee is a while in arriving. At 550ml, it’s probably too large to judge, but it seems a good temperature, and the flavour is inoffensive: pleasant enough to drink the whole thing.

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9 Comments

  1. Terrible restaurant.
    My friend ordered risotto which was like mush. She sent it back to the kitchen & didn’t want to order anything else. When it came time to settle the rest of the bill, they tried to charge $15 for the risotto. My friend politely said that she wasn’t going to pay coz she didn’t eat the risotto so the waiter was ordered by the rotten chef to call the police. The police came to the restaurant, it was a joke. The chef didn’t once come and apologize or ask what was wrong with the food or anything – NEVER GO THERE!!!!

  2. Emily,
    I’m a regular customer of this particular restaurant and I was shocked to read your comments. I’ve never had a bad meal there, I’ve always found it to be amazing food, huge portions, great service and really cheap. Fellow readers, I’d advice you to ignore Emily’s obviously biased comments and go and try it, you’ll be back again and again.

  3. This restaurant is now known as Grub n Tucker. The food is amazing and excellent value for money. The two male waiters are excellent. We have been to this restaurant several times and have never been disappointed. The duck dishes are amazing and the steaks tip top.

  4. I have had several bad experiences at this place, now called Lucifer’s (?) including one with the risotto almost exactly as that described by Emily (minus the police… Damn!).
    We ate there today for the last time. My girlfriend ordered their Club Sandwich and they served her an oversized, impossible to get in the mouth let alone eat… thing that tasted like a cheap hotdog. When we complained the waitress (who is the owners girlfriend!) told my girlfriend that she doesn’t know what she’s talking about, everyone else ;loves it, she just doesn’t know how to eat it and if she feels that way then don’t come back. Then when she brought us the bill (after my girlfriend had returned to work) she told my mother, aunt, brother and I that we weren’t being charged for the Club because “…she (my girlfriend who wasn’t paying anyway) just walked out without saying anything!” and “…if she wants to have that attitude tell her she isn’t welcome here.”
    Needless to say I had a word with the owner who went on to argue the waitress’ point that everyone else loves their Club Sandwich (by the way, that’s the same thing they said about the risotto and every other bad dish I’ve had there!), told me that she is his girlfriend andat no point did i feel like a customer. The waitress in question even butted in on the “discussion” with the owner to defend herself again!
    I will never go there again and will put up reviews all over Newtown so everyone knows what they’re like!

  5. I strongly disagree. Sounds like you’ve got some issues aside from restaurant dining.

    I’ve lived in newtown for 2 years finishing my postgrad and starting a career. Studying n working long hours, I’ve eaten out a lot. Amidst Newtown’s renowned smattering of exotic foods (Thai inparticular) which become very samey after a while, finding a relaxed, afforable high-quality mod-oz restaurant was awesome.

    On a student’s wage, I could actually afford to keep coming back to a restaurant with a diverse, unique and ever changing menu. I’ve been there about 10-15 times now – every mate or date I’ve brought along has agreed it’s a great place for dinner or hot chocolate before or after drinks or a movie.

    For dessert, they do an old fashioned french-style Hot Chocolate which you can’t imagine till you’ve tried. It’s da bomb.

  6. Oh and the staff are really decent people! I don’t know which one of them is the owner but 9 times outta ten the service has been friendly accurate and prompt

  7. I am so sorry for those who have had a bad experience as mine has been so positive. Not only was the service fantastic, the food was equally so. Yes, the servings huge, but the flavours and the meal was amazing. I look forward to going back to the Grub n Tucker again.

  8. I’ve had both good and bad meals at Circle 8/Grub and Tucker…Choose wisely and you’ll get a good meal…The breakfast is huge and cheap and fantastic for those with bad hang overs.Caeser Salad wasn’t so great.Their dinner’s are quite nice…The bruschetta was FANTASTIC, but my partners lamb and 4 cheese risotto tasted okay until he got to the couple last mouthfuls and found that the flavour had completely changed and turned a bit ‘yuk’.My most recent trip to G&T was a delicious beef burger, IT’S AMAZING! so rich and sinful.Much Much burger than their old vegie burger I had about 3 years ago which was a tasteless polenta cake on a stale bun.

    Stick with breakfast and beef burger and you’re in for a treat.

  9. I had a terrible meal here last night. My ‘350g’ sirloin steak was approximately 6oz cooked weight (medium-rare), making me think that the chef had been splitting portions in two. My order of ‘rare’ was turned into ‘medium-rare/medium’ before it hit the plate, grey and bland low quality cow. I guess that’s what I should have expected for $19. The mash was so-so, the amuse-bouche so-so (but free), and the ‘pancetta’ which the steak was meant to come wrapped in was solid, thin strips of bacon. If you slice something thinly it doesn’t make it pancetta, and there’s a big difference between them in taste.

    The ‘crostini’ which turned up weren’t the ‘barramundi crostini’ we ordered, but a plate of part-grilled bread & dips. The bread was verging on soggy – not good for ‘little toasts’ (they needed to be toasted, not waved at the grill), and the dips didn’t form a coherent set of options – fine basil/oil puree, gentle chilli jam, guacamole (actually just mashed avocado) & sour cream.

    My wife’s chilli and lime pasta was overcooked, with a sauce of melted tasty cheese and lime rind, some straggly capsicum skins and a side pot of the overly sweet chilli jam mentioned earlier – no flavour integration and a massive clash with the pasta. She managed no more than a couple of forkfuls before feeling sick.

    Whether it’s still called Grub & Tucker 6 months from now remains to be seen, but we won’t be going back to check.

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