Flinders Lane Kitchen & Bar — Restaurant in Stamford

I had the absolute delight of bringing a group of my friends here on a Saturday night. There was live music playing as we walked in, some people dancing on the dance floor; the atmosphere was abuzz but not overly so - perfect for a 30 year old young professional like me.

I was seated close to, but not at the bar per my request (MAJOR points to the sweet hostess) and asked for a wine recommendation. She asked about my tastes (which I won't get into here at the risk of sounding like an arrogant d-bag...I know...too late). She came back with a 2009 Chianti Classico. She absolutely nailed it - a home run of Babe Ruth proportions.

After some conversation, my table-mates and I decided on getting a sampler of a bit-o-everything, so enough of my rambling, let's dive into the food we had:

Brussel Sprouts: I'm starting with these because, without a doubt, these were my favorite dish of the night because of how caught off guard I was by them. They say they are truffle honey glazed, but I'm pretty sure they're lacing it with a delicious mixture of heroine and crack cocaine sauce because I destroyed one order by myself, then had to order another for everyone else.

Tamarind Glazed Wings: Usually I see tamarind and I think of an earthy root akin to licking the bottom of a boot, but the execution of these wings was phenomenal. Excellent crunch factor and a well balanced tamarind glaze. F* buffalo Wild Wings.

Chicken & Lemongrass Dumplings: Again, excellent. Traditional dumpling shape and these made for an amazing appetizer. Not too heavy on the stomach. I'm also super NOT into lemongrass (or yoga, or green tea or any of that yuppy nonsense) but the balance between the sweetness of the lemongrass and the poultry was great.

Fried Arancini Balls: It's mushroom arancini...if you don't like arancini, you're basically a war criminal and should be shunned. What I loved about this dish was the black garlic mayo - went super well on other things also.

Dank Dranks: We rotated drinks as well - notables: Starting with my favs, you MUST MUST MUST MUST have the espresso martini. Served with 3 lil' beans in the thick foam on top, if Starbucks had their liquor license, this would be a shoe in for drink of the year. Easily. Unreal cocktail, and it packs a punch. Screw a red bull/vodka.

If you're a big fan of cucumber, which I happen to be, especially in the heat, I'd recommend the Cucumber Marg - nothing hidden here, but it's done very well.

I'm also a huge fan of Moscow Mules, and their Grapefruit mule was delicious.

All-in-all a phenomenal experience at Flinders. The only critique I have is about its identity (and maybe the music being a bit loud, but I didn't really help things by sitting basically on top of the speaker). The restaurant seems to be struggling to find its audience in Stamford, but it's not Flinder's fault. It's Stamford's fault. Stamford needs to wake up and smell the Roo (yeah, we had kangaroo also and it was UNBELIEVABLY DELICIOUS - oh, we also had the gnocchi...get on that as well. Amazing.)

Lastly, I drove from the Bronx to Stamford for this place, so that should be the last testament to how good I thought this place was. Readers, reviewers, mates, Sheilas (is that a not nice word?) get down to...

Ever since I found out there was an Australian spot in the East Village, I've been wanting to try it because the menu seemed interesting. It always changes but the types of dishes did seem to parallel the ones you'd find in Oz (at least from my brief experience vacationing down there). I learned that Australian cuisine is not one specific food or one particular group of food, rather it's many, many different types of food from different cultures, since the country is so diverse. It's a melting pot of food, if you will. So, a lot of things caught my eye on the menu, from curry to some sort of a Thai soup.

To start, we had the diver caught scallops (macadamia-chili relish, braised hijiki, good water farm greens). I wasn't too keen on the macadamia-chili relish but I think it was just because I don't like nuts in my food. The scallops themselves were great though, and I don't even normally like scallops.

For my entree, I went with one of their specials - the chili crab linguine, which was tossed in extra virgin olive oil. They give you a good portion of crab meat, which was something I really liked about it. It did taste a little bland but it might just because I'm used to eating saucy, heavier pasta dishes so this was a nice change.

My boyfriend ordered the coconut curry laksa (grilled shrimp, bean sprouts, tofu, and vermicelli). The broth was really good. It was nice and fragrant, and coconutty - but not overly so. The small bite of shrimp I had did not taste fresh. It tasted really mushy but maybe that was just one that slipped through the cracks.

For drinks, I had the pear ginger. I don't really like cocktails because most of the time, they're too sweet. This one was no different but since I love ginger and ginger drinks, I just had to try it.

Overall, I had a great experience at Flinder's Lane. The food was good and so was the service. I would definitely come back in the future to see what new dishes they add...

It was my first time at this restaurant and it had a good reputation until the previous chef left (according to the patrons next to us). Our server was fantastic, BUT the appetizer with caviar tasted extremely fishy and was one of the worst dishes I have ever had. The chicken sandwich was good, but not worth the high price. My friend got the shrimp pasta that was also terrible. The drinks were great and the bartender (I believe her name was Emma) was so sweet. After our dinner, the waiter gave us "free drink" tokens for our "next visit." we had closed out our tab, moved to the bar area, and attempted to then use our tokens. The bartender was so sweet and made us the drinks, then the manager (whos name is Ross) came over and aggressively put the tokens back on the table and said this cannot be used today and would be used for the next visit. After spending about $450.00 on the worst food ever, we assumed that using the free drink token would not matter if it was used the same day or the day after. In all honesty, I never want to go back to that restaurant, so I was not planning on taking the token. Not only that, Ross gave us 3 tokens back (there were 4 of us). When I asked if we could have the other token back, he immediately said he "definitely" gave us the fourth, and threatened to "check the cameras." He also said we couldn't use the tokens because we already had sample shots of their blueberry drink- which we did not. I told him he was more than welcome to check the cameras and we were never given the shots, but the aggressive, abrasive, know-it-all attitude as a manager of a restaurant is quite alarming. The wait staff was fantastic and the bartender was kind. I really hope they either get a new manager, or a new chef. This restaurant is in such a good part of Stamford, its unfortunate that it went downhill so quickly because of a new chef and a...