Tommy Gunns Barwon Heads — Restaurant in Victoria

Chef’s Selection Menu x2 @Tommy Gunns this evening for our 23rd Anniversary:

We love TG’s for several key reasons reinforced by our experience this evening which I precis as follows:

1. the atmosphere and ambiance is terrific - warm, congenial, familiar, relaxed and always comfortable. Music selection is wonderful and mood enhancing. So many venues get this wrong.

2. One can discern the heart and soul of a place by watching, listening and observing the owners, the chef and kitchen hands and the floor staff operating as a connected team. The staff and service at TG’s are exceptional across the spectrum . The staff are congenial and happy. They love what they do and are clearly respected and looked after. This shows to customers; as a result, the standard of service is warm, sincere, caring and attentive but never fussy and always relaxed. This is what it should always be in a good bistro but often isn’t. TG’s absolutely nail it.

3. The food and wine are consistent and of very high quality cooked by Kalindu and his team with passion and love. We opted for the chef’s selection - a series of tasting plates. We thoroughly enjoyed each and every dish; again, quality ingredients, well prepared and cooked, excellent balance of flavours and no individual ingredient overpowering. Good, honest, quality and satisfying bistro food without fuss - what sheer delight! Scanning the reviews we were perplexed to discover a “ local” who recently and unceremoniously awarded this selection one star which, based on our experience is utterly perplexing. We have conscientiously and with diligence awarded 5 at $70 pp and can only assume that perhaps, this was drafted in a parallel or inverse universe.

The wine selection is top notch and good quality and effortlessly balances differing red and white varietals and regions.

We thoroughly recommend TGs for the considered reasons set out in this review and will be returning with family and...

We were really excited for our trip down based on reviews and recent articles and were disappointed with the overall experience.

Food was the highlight overall. Steak and the butter was sensational. Other dishes offered were also good. We were took up the 5 course savoury of which apparently bread and butter was 1 of the courses… however, larger meals were well sized so that made up for the technically 4 course meal.

We attended Sunday and were offered Saturday menus. No information provided on the Sunday surcharge amount as required so the final bill was a bit of a shock.

No discussion at the beginning of the feed me menu or any specials available (specials board located round the back). Luckily we had planned ahead and reviewed the online menu and requested the feed me menu.

Upon entry drink order was taken separately and delivered individually, instead of taking everyone’s drink order at once. We ordered a bottle of wine shared between the two of us.

After our first glass each we asked for another glass and were asked if we wanted another bottle?!? We stated that we’d only had one glass each and we had allot left. They seemed to fumble around with finding the said wine bottle and when the waitress returned she clearly stated that it was found in the fridge and no one had had any out of it?? Which seems strange as we only had about 1.5 small glasses of wine left.

We sat at the front, we were smoked out constantly from the Banh Mi fire out front. Went home absolutely stinking and feeling gross, we all had to shower. Suggest maybe a charcoal fire might be less offensive to customers so close by.

Maybe they had an off day but the experience was underwhelming and not what we’d expected of a restaurant that comes under the umbrella of a...

A restaurant with a real buzz to it.

We had an absolutely stunning dinner last night, but I want to start with the vibe - led by the incredible service team. One gets a real sense of family as you walk into the restaurant - the lines between customers and the front of house are immediately blurred and the traditional boundaries between the kitchen and the front of house follow the same trend. There is a happy hum and a sense of belonging as you walk into the restaurant for the first time - even if you’ve just come from the other side of the world. It is the sort of place that you want to be part of - and to belong to this crowd.

We loved the sharing plates - it just makes sense in a place like this, and it gave us a chance to get a much broader sense of the menu. Must haves? Well our group was fixated on the Qukes with the silky, whipped taramasalata and beautifully offset by the slight zing from the delicately crisped salt and vinegar saltbush. We went back for seconds. Is it wrong to use your fingers to wipe up the last scrapings of the moreish smoked applewood butter - with a side of crusty sourdough? Other highlights? Definitely the Brussel Spouts - plump, nutty sprouts with an unctuous macadamia cream and offset with a beautiful hint of spice from the chimichurri. The Blue Fin tuna tartare was on point, and I would have happily settled for the beautiful Scotch fillet steak and mizuna salad and crunchy fries as a traditional but extremely well balanced dish on its own.

We left, with a sense of having been hugged by the experience - and a feeling that this is a place ready to burst into a party at the first excuse. We’ll be back to see if we can make...