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The Bridge, 49 Bridge Street, Bendigo 3550 VIC Australia

The Bridge, 49 Bridge Street, Bendigo 3550 VIC Australia

49 Bridge Street, Bendigo 3550 VIC Australia

(03) 5443 7811

On our second night in Bendigo, we managed to book a table at what is generally held to be the top restaurant in town. The waiter showed us to our table, gave us the wine list, invited us to choose pre-dinner drinks, and left.

When she returned we asked for a menu, but she said she wanted us to order aperitifs first. We said we would choose our food, and then choose a wine to go with it. She had obviously been told not to give out menus until people had chosen pre-dinner drinks. To me, this kind of ploy is tacky and amateurish, and got the meal off to a bad start. Eventually we got menus and a wine list, and in the end were able to place our order. It was a laborious process.

My smoked Eel starter was delicious, but very fussily presented, everything square and symmetrical on an oblong plate. The creamed potato mentioned on the menu amounted to a teaspoonful squiggled underneath the eel. L's Scallop tortellini was OK.

My Duck confit main course was fine, the red cabbage delicious, and the fresh cherries inspired, but L's Duck Gnocchi was dull and dumplingy, and he couldn't finish it.

Bendigo is Gold Rush Country, in the 1850s thousands of men rushed to the Victorian gold fields, among them thousands of Chinese. The Chinese heritage is still very visible, and our waiter, despite anything else I may have said about her, was very sweet and incredibly beautiful. Tall and blonde, she had european features, except for her distinctive almond eyes. L was very taken with her and kept finding lots of questions for her.

The meal was OK, but The Bridge is pretentious and not quite as good as it thinks it is.