Marrickvillains

Friday night just gone was the inaugral Marrickvillain evening. For some time, Mel's sister Shelley has been talking about getting a gang of us locals together and making the most of our suburb (as opposed to going to neighbouring Newtown, which admittedly has a much better range of places to go however isn't nearly so handy. Or so Marrickville.). So, a group email later, and a bunch of us met at the local for pre dinner beers. The REM bar is not the most civilised venue in the world. When we first arrived, Mel was seated next to a rather drunk man having a bit of a 6.30pm nap. Bless. No matter how many times that pub is done up, the natural decor provided by Marrickville locals will always take over!

The main feature of the night was always going to be the Portuguese Club, where we ventured for dinner. As the name suggests, this is a Portuguese venue - not unlike a Portuguese RSL. It's in the middle of nowhere really - you have to walk down towards Sydenham station, pass under a rail bridge, cross a footy field and there you are! We got there lateish so had to leg it in for dinner. The food is very home-style Portuguese. I had the quails, which sadly were disappointing, not having much flavour at all (although they did come with two types of carbs - rice and chips, hurrah!). However the rest of the meals were deemed good - the pork and clams was the winner (I've had it before and it is indeed delicious). The vegetarian in our midst didn't have many options though - I think he ended up with a garden salad and garlic bread. Own fault really, for shunning meat I say! My dessert choice sucked also - I ordered a chocolate flan (greedily trying to cash in on both regular flan and a chocolate treat). It had either been cooked too long or left sitting too long, neither of which is particularly heartening. However Mel and Shelley both liked their choice - they sensibly stuck to flan proper and it was apparently tops.

The highlight of my evening was a game of Portuguese bingo, in the hall between the front bar and the restaurant. The only difference to any other type of bingo was that the numbers were called first in Portuguese. At the time I was convinced I was fluent; I can't remember a single digit now...except perhaps Novo - Nine (that was how he said it!). We did appallingly. Shelley actually won in the $95 round however didn't realise til the next number had been called, thus missing out. 'You snooze, you lose' holds fast in competitive bingo, it seems!

We then adjourned to the front bar, which was holding raffles. What doesn't this place do?! And they were totally Portuguese style - salt cod and olive oil were the prizes, along with the more traditional meat and veggie trays. The bingo luck held, though, and sadly none of us walked away with anything.

Still, for the first locals night out, it got a big thumbs up from me. Lots of money spent on empty, fruitless competition, wines aplenty consumed, and an easy stumble home at the end of the evening. Hurrah for Marrickvillains!