The Oak Room, Ashburton by Obelix

We've been making an effort to explore the Ashburton Villlage shopping strip.  It's still low key enough to find a park without too much hassle and there's a few cafes and eateries to choose from.  In the past we've explored Two Seeds, The Resident and Chicken Central.  This time round, we thought we'll try a cafe the other end of the village strip, the Oak Room.

The Oak Room is a family friendly sort of place.  My sister and young nephew joined me for lunch and they accommodated by placing us at a table which we could park a pram.  The menu was a mix of breakfast and lunch items.


I've been trying in vain to stick with a minimal carb diet with little success due to my abysmal will power.  My sister's waffles and fried chicken were like kryptonite.  I caved big time and was soon stealing most of her waffles.  These were warm and fluffy with a hint of orange scent.  It came on a bed of raw waffle batter - almost as good as the cooked waffles and topped with fried chicken tenderloins and coleslaw.  Out of sheer politeness, I restrained myself from eating her fried chicken as I've consumed most of her waffles.  This was the special for $17.50.


I ordered for myself the grilled calamari with Asian inspired salad.  It was not as spectacular as the waffles and chicken however I was pleased it came with shredded Chinese cabbage instead of mesclun.  The fish sauce in the dressing was somewhat overpowering in its saltiness.  It would have been nice to have a bit of cellophane glass noodles mixed into it to break up the saltiness.  The calamari itself had a pleasant charred flavour and were tender.


For drinks, my sister ordered a chai latte and I went with their Red Alert juice which was a mix of beetroot and carrot.

Verdict

We really liked it.

Overall

The Oak Room is a solid local cafe.  Family friendly.  Service was reasonably quick.  Good staple breakfasty/lunchy menu.

With the Entertainment Book dining offer, we got up to $25 off our bill (click on these links to find out how we're raising money for FareShare by asking our Aussie readers to buy a copy of the 2016-17 Entertainment Book).

Find it at

The Oak Room
305 High Street
Ashburton 3147 Vic
Phone: 9885 3338