Dani at the Bondi Grill House in HB
The Bondi Grill House in Huntington Beach is a great place to dine for a blend of Australian and South African influence and even a little Asian flare! Last night I thoroughly enjoyed a variety of fabulous food at this dining establishment that is only two months young! Located in the Bella Terra Shopping Center in Huntington Beach, their location is quite central. Amidst several stores, a movie theater and less than 10 miles from the beach, Bondi Grill has a little something for everyone!
Bondi Grill was named after the famous surf spot in Australia where they also have sister restaurants that operate under the name Hurricane’s Grill. The Bondi Grill House location has a nice size dining room and a spacious patio decked out with natural stone, brick walls, and unfinished wood tables. There will also be a second and larger location coming to The Market Place in Tustin that is scheduled to open late 2014!
Dani with one of the co-owners, Peter Hough
“We are thrilled to bring the Bondi Grill House concept here to North America,” said co-owner Peter Hough. “It’s our high quality meats, secret sauce and unique grilling method that set Bondi apart from other restaurants. We look forward to welcoming Orange County residents and visitors alike to our Bella Terra location, and later this year, at The Market Place.”
Now let’s get on to the food!! We had such a great variety of specialties at the Bondi Grill House in addition to some fabulous hand crafted cocktails!
Boerewors – South African Sausage
We started off our evening with some items from the starters menu that included a Garlic bread roll, Boerewors, which is a house-made traditional South African sausage served with Monkey Gland sauce (a tangy barbecue sauce with dried apricots, traditionally served with meat in South Africa). I really enjoyed this dish & I am normally not a sausage fan. These sausages were a blend of 80% meat and 20% pork, so that made all of the
Peri Peri Prawns
difference for me. The flavor profile was perfect and with the monkey gland sauce, this appetizer was delicious! The second starter we tried were the Peri Peri Prawns, sautéed with butter and peri peri sauce (spicy Portuguese sauce). The prawns were definitely a crowd favorite! I loved these as well, but I am not a big spicy person, so if you have a hard time with spicy food, ask for the sauce on the side. I would definitely order this again next time, but I would have the sauce on the side to decide how much of it I want on my shrimp. :) The last appetizer we had was the Roasted Artichokes served with tzatziki sauce. I love artichoke, so naturally I loved this dish and how can you ever go wrong with tzatziki sauce? :)
Arugula, Orange and Beet Salad
We ordered two salads with our meal, which were the Spinach & Strawberry Salad with fresh goat cheese, spiced candied almonds and poppy seed dressing, and the Arugula, Orange and Beet Salad with wild organic arugula, red beets, orange segments, goat cheese, spiced candied almonds and organic quinoa. I absolutely love salad and while it is hard to pick a favorite between these two, I am going to have to say the
Spinach and Strawberry Salad
arugula, orange and beet one was my number one choice! I am usually not a big quinoa fan, but this salad made me desire more. The blend of the quinoa on the salad (I had never tried quinoa on a salad before) gave it the perfect crunch and blended with the beets, goat cheese, and fruit, it was so flavorful! Bondi also has numerous other gluten free options, so be sure to check out the menu and see what they offer!
Lamb Burger
Next we moved on to one of the Bondi Burgers and an item from the “Butcher’s Best” section on the menu. We had the Lamb Burger, which included a half pound of grass-fed lamb with sundried tomatoes, feta, red onion, lettuce, tomato, pickle and tzatziki and the Pulled Pork Sandwich which included a half pound of slow cooked bbq braised pork topped with house made coleslaw on an artisan bun. Both of these items were fresh and
Pulled Pork Sandwich
flavorful. My personal favorite out of these two, if I had to pick only 1 was the lamb burger. I always love lamb burgers and the meat was cooked perfectly. There was a perfect blend of spices and flavors in this burger. The pulled pork also was full of flavor and I fell in love with house made coleslaw used on this sandwich!
Bondisaurus Pork Ribs
The last entrees we tried were the signature Bondisaurus Pork Ribs, which are 3 lbs of free range, all natural, lean pork ribs. These ribs are so very delicious and photographic as well!! See my pictures. These babies are basted in a house made, proprietary sauce and cooked at 825 degrees for a perfect sear! These ribs are hormone, antibiotic, and steroid free and are even fed a 100% vegetarian diet! Bondi is the first
Beef Back Ribs
restaurant to serve these Australian ribs in North America. As if the bondisaurus ribs were not enough, we also tried the Beef back Ribs that were tender and juicy in flavor. The sauce on the ribs definitely hit the spot. You can get the sauce spicy or sweet. Needless to say, I did not go home hungry!! Both of these plates of ribs were to die for and were served with onion rings, sweet potato fries, and French fries. I LOVED the sweet potato fries! These are a must try.
Sticky Date Pudding
We finished off our meal with Bondi’s signature Sticky Date Pudding, a traditional Australian dessert of cake with California dates, served warm with vanilla ice cream and salted caramel sauce. While I was full from so many of the other items above, I naturally had to take some of the food home to make space for dessert!! I loved this dessert…I am currently obsessed with salted caramel everything and the sauce went so nicely with the dates and the vanilla ice cream!
Bondi Grill House Craft Cocktails
With our meal, we tried a variety of hand crafted wine based cocktails that were quite delicious! While there are 7 cocktail selections on the menu currently, my 2 personal favorites were the Strawberry-Basil Smash made with Sauvignon Blanc wine, strawberry syrup, fresh strawberries, basil and soda water and the Karora cocktail made with Pinot Noir wine, 15 year sherry, Carpano Antiqua, bitters and Luxardo cherries. A full bar menu will become available shortly in addition to wine and beer. Stay tuned! These wine cocktails are a must try though! They are so delicious and refreshing! :)
Me and My love at Bondi Grill
Coming August 1st to the Bondi Grill House is an amazing Happy hour menu that includes 9 different items that each cost under $9!! In addition to the appetizers, there will also be 50% off of all wine, beer, cocktails, and bottles of wine! Something awesome about this happy hour menu is that it will be served daily from 3:00-6:00pm & 9:00 pm to close!! Now this is definitely a Dani’s Decadent Deal!!! :)
Peter Hough and our Happy Dining Group
Believe it or not, there are a variety of other menu items I did not try that include flame-grilled steaks, chicken and more, which are served in generous portions and made with the same sauce and cooking method. Bondi uses only the freshest ingredients and I cannot wait to go back and try other items off of the menu. Two items mentioned above that I will definitely revisit are the beet salad, the lamb burger, and the Pork Ribs! I hope you enjoyed my review about the Bondi Grill House located at the Bella Terra Shopping Center in Huntington Beach and I would love to hear your thoughts about this fabulous dining destination below.:) Also, Stay tuned for gift card giveaways on my facebook page for this fabulous restaurant throughout the months of July and August 2014!! :) Happy eating!!
Dani with Cocktail
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