The Cornerstone Alehouse (Invited)

The CornerStone Alehouse opened their doors for business 7 years ago with only 3 items in their menu. As the Brighton Estate started to evolve, the business also strived to improve on their food offerings to the locals and other visitors. These days they are serving a variety of new items whilst still keeping the popular daily specials in the menu.

When hubby and I reached the premise, we went to the wrong area which was the bar. Little did we know that they actually separated the bar from the restaurant area. The restaurant was brimming with people on Sunday night but since it was quite spacious, we were shown to our table straightaway. In one look, the premise can probably host up to 60-80 people at any given time. There are some outdoor seating available as well and during the daytime people can enjoy the beautiful lake view.

“The CornerStone Alehouse restaurant was very fitting for a fancy dining or date night especially with its realistic prices, pleasant space, and accommodating staff.”

I ordered the Chefs Selection as it was comprised of most items in the entrée list and is a good option if you are looking for variety. The nice waitress (Alyce) informed us that the tasting platter's portion was quite large and other patrons who ordered it struggled to finish their mains afterwards. With this in mind, I decided to order the platter as my main.

The platter came with a bowl of buttered garlic prawns, lime aioli spiced whitebait, rocket salad, crumbed camembert cheese, arancini, chorizo, bruschetta, and Turkish breads with dips. The arancini with tomato relish, mushroom and melted mozzarella cheese was my favourite of the selection. This was a good dish if shared among 2 people and could certainly hold its ground as a main for 1 as the waitress attested to.

Hubby ordered a lamb rump and it was so scrumptious that I kept on taking some for myself. The lamb rumb was cooked in medium rare and the portion was generous for $34. The rump was rested in a good composition with pesto potatoes, broccolini and roasted capsicum jus. The meat itself was very tender.

Hubby’s meal came with peppery gravy which mixed really well with the jus from the lamb. The dish was definitely a mark above the average "pub grub" standard. The beauty of this dish was that the portions were in line with what you'd expect from pub food but the presentation and flavour was leaning more towards the finer dining side of the spectrum. This was winning combination and the lamb rump will definitely be our go-to-dish next time and I'm keen to try the paella that they just put in the menu too!

Desserts were chocolate macadamia brownie punked up with salted caramel sauce as well as tiramisu with Tia Maria.

One of the enjoyable parts after eating was when we had a chat with the Supervisor, Jack, about the restaurant. He was very friendly all throughout the night and there was no fault with the service that we received. Cutlery and napkins were brought to the table straight after it got cleaned, which was quite efficient. We felt that it could be more than just a local pub. If anything, the CornerStone Alehouse restaurant was very fitting for a fancy dining or date night especially with its realistic prices, pleasant space, and accommodating staff.