Half Moon

Pub food at fine-dining prices. That pretty-much sums it up.

My now-wife and I had our first date at Half Moon 12 years ago, so it's become something of a semi-regular pilgrimage for us. In recent years, however, the overall experience has become nothing short of disappointing. It's not that the food is bad, it's just that it's not terribly good either. And certainly not for the price you pay.

First of all, the menu has deteriorated considerably, and has now been largely reduced to a selection of burgers, parmas and other such pub staples. The "proper" meals did not, to my palette, taste anything like what was advertised. If the wellington had proscutto then it was so low quality as to be undetectable, while the mac-and-cheese side contained "pancetta" that tasted like ham and "gruyere" that tasted (and stretched) like chedder. The lamb shank tasted like...well, lamb meat. Nothing else. The treacle tart was badly burnt around the edges, resulting in a bitter, unpleasent finish to the meal. And as for the $36 "half lobster tail salad" consisting of 3 small morsels of lobster...there is a reason why nouvelle cuisine has never made a resurgence since the 80s!

I know there are serious challenges facing the hospitality industry at the moment, and I hope that Half Moon are able to overcome them. Going forward though, it seems there is a choice they need make: either be a pub that serves pub food and charges pub prices, or be a fine dining restaurant that charges...and, more importantly, delivers...accordingly.