WALKABOUT - Reading {Review}

Sunday 13 August 2017

Exterior of Walkabout Reading
Walkabout Reading
A few weeks ago I was invited to review an Australian style bar called, Walkabout. You all know how much I love food, so there was no way that I was going to pass up the opportunity. Of course I invited my restaurant review partner-in-crime, the lovely Lisa of United Cakedom! I wasn't 100% sure whereabouts in Reading this place was, but Lisa is a local so she's always great at directing me to where I need to go. Honestly I was a little surprised to find this place tucked away down a side alley, it looked amazing, and despite being well hidden there were a fair few people there.

Interior of walkabout Reading
Beach bar Interior
Once inside I was surprised to see that the interior looked much more like that of a bar at the beach, it almost felt like we weren't even in Reading anymore. We were seated in a very comfortable booth, and had a very good view of the entire bar, which I always enjoy as I love to people watch. Failing that though there were TV's plastered everywhere playing some football game or another, which a fair few groups of friends had clearly come to watch. Personally I'm not a fan of watching sports in bars, however that didn't put me off at all. The atmosphere in Walkabout was great and you could tell that everyone was enjoying themselves, and the whole place felt very relaxed.

Picture of my mocktail, the Virgin Aussie Sunset
Virgin Aussie Sunset
In Walkabout it's standard that you would go up to the bar and order your food, which would then be brought up to you by the server, very much what you would expect from this type of place. However we were very lucky to have a server come over and take our order so that we never had to leave our booth. Whilst we were navigating the menu, we decided to order a few drinks, of course I rarely drink alcohol anymore so decided to go with a Virgin Aussie Sunset, which included; passion fruit puree, pineapple juice, orange juice, vanilla syrup and grenadine. It came in a lovely tall glass, garnished with some passion fruit, and it was absolutely delicious. This was super refreshing and sweet, and was exactly what I was expecting when I ordered it. Lisa decided to be more adventurous and went for something called a Jaffa Can, which had Vodka, Kahlua, and Triple Sec all poured into a Sanpellegrino Aranciata can, which she very much enjoyed.

Picture of cutlery holder
Interesting cutlery
Once we placed our order our server brought out our cutlery and I was pleasantly surprised at how it was delivered. This may seem like a really small and silly thing to highlight, but it's something that I hadn't seen before and it was a nice touch. Basically the cutlery is delivered in a small cardboard sleeve, with a bright and colourful design and quote on it. Now I don't know about you, but normally when I go to a pub or a bar for food, either you have to get your own cutlery, or the server that brings it out just chucks it all into a pile in the middle of the table for everyone to fight over. This idea, whilst simple, definitely made me smile!

Parmi burger with fries
Parmi burger with fries
Once we had properly settled in we went right ahead and ordered our food. I was stuck between two meals and was struggling to decide. Lisa was once again more adventurous and decided to go with the 'Roo Burger' which is made with actual Kangaroo imported from Australia. We were told by our wonderful server that it has a particularly gamy flavour, which unfortunately I wasn't brave enough to try. I instead ended up going for the Parmi Burger, which is a breaded chicken burger with ham and cheese sandwiched together, and topped with salsa, which came with standard fries. This burger was humongous and every bite tasted better than the last. If you know me then you will know that burgers are one of my favourite foods, and I can be very particular about them, and this burger certainly didn't disappoint!

Roo burger with Sweet Potato fries
Roo burger with Sweet Potato fries
Lisa's Roo Burger also looked and smelled amazing, and she was very pleased with it. She decided to go with sweet potato fries with hers for a change, and honestly when they arrived I took one look at them and was so jealous! Thankfully Lisa is an amazing friend and she let me help myself to a few of hers and honestly I was blown away. Sweet potato fries are my favourite and normally they can be a bit soggy (but still delicious), but these fries were so crispy, it was unreal! Hands down the best sweet potato fries I have ever eaten, how ironic that I didn't even order them...

picture of my Gigantic Freak Shake
Gigantic Freak Shake
Once we were done with our main courses, our thoughts turned to dessert. The item that immediately caught my eye was the Freak Shake, it sounded jam packed of stuff and had so many different elements and each one sounded more delicious than the last. I decided to go for a single, but if you are wanting to share with a friend then they do offer the same dessert in a larger size. As you can tell from the picture above this dessert is full to the brim and it includes; vanilla ice cream, chocolate fudge milkshake, a Nutella rim covered in Smarties, a wedge of chocolate fudge cake, a cookie, candyfloss, chocolate sauce, a flake, and mini marshmallows. When it came out I couldn't stop myself from smiling, my inner child was bursting to eat this! To be honest I struggled to finish the dessert, I soldiered on and ate as much as possible, but I have to admit, it defeated me. Our kind server managed to find me a takeaway box though so I was able to at least bring home the rest of the fudge cake for my boyfriend to try...

I left Walkabout feeling very full, both physically and emotionally from such a laid back and enjoyable meal. If you are looking for a place to go and enjoy some beverages with your mates, and maybe to experience some interesting food then Walkabout is definitely the place for you. You can check out Walkabout's full menu here.

**I was invited to review this restaurant and in return was given my meal and drinks for free, however all opinions in this post are my own**
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