Symphonie - Saint Ives Australia

Downtown is a place where you’ll find a plethora of restaurants, some good and some bad. One of the things that always catches my eye down there though is a quaint little family owned joint. The subject of today’s visit is the Symphonie Restaurant located at the bottom of an office tower on Pender St.

Not sure why anyone would have a burger or clubhouse from this place when there's FIlipino and other more interesting choices on offer.  Although the selection on any given day might be somewhat limited,  They are all really well done.  Extra care, attention and flavour shines through.  (even with their Adobo)  This is not just another generic sandwich joint and is worth your time and energy.

This is a small restaurant located near the Bentall Centre serving up Filipino food, with some Indian and Western dishes as well. In addition to their regular menu, they have specials that vary depending on the day. You order at the front counter, and the staff brings you your dishes if you're eating in many people appear to opt for take out). I had their Fillipino Special with Tocino and Kare Kare off of their specials menu. While I'm not raving about the food, the dishes were still tasty, and their prices are very reasonable. This is definitely worth a visit.<br/ <br/ Kare Kare $12):<br/ 3.5/5<br/ This is part of their Tuesday lunch special, and consists of beef pork along with various vegetables cooked in a peanut butter sauce, and is served with rice and some kind of shrimp/fish paste. This is the first time that I've had kare kare so I don't know what it should be like, but I did really enjoy the peanut sauce/broth, which was savoury and had a great fragrance from the peanut. The meat was also very tender; I do find there to be a bit too little meat and a bit to much vegetables however.<br/ <br/ Fillipino Special with Tocino $10):<br/ 3.5/5<br/ Their specials consist of garlic fried rice, 2 fried eggs, and your choice of either longanisa, tocino, and tapa; I had their tocino. I requested for their eggs to be overhard; however, when I received it, the yolks were still runny I'm one of the rare people who don't like runny yolks). They were still tasty however, and were actually quite well seasoned. The tocino was a bit dry and tough, but was flavourful and had a nice hint of sweetness. I quite enjoyed the rice, which was fragrant from bits of garlic.<br/ <br/ Summary:<br/ Food: 3.5/5<br/ Price: 4/5<br/ Service: N/A<br/ Overall: 3.5/5<br/ Recommendations: Kare Kare, Fillipino Special

Efficient FRIENDLY service. Great food (omg! the butter chicken). Turkey sandwich was so fresh, tasted like homemade. 20$ for 2 lunches with pop. Excellent value!