Balk Restaurant @ Bolton on the Park

Located at Bolton on the Park Motor Inn, Balk Restaurant dares to step outside the norm by nailing its gastronomic colours to the minimalist mast with a nod towards the principles of nouvelle cuisine. At first glance, a menu offering just four entrees, four mains, a selection of tortillas and three desserts might seem niggardly when compared to multiple choices adorning the menus of most other dining establishments in Wagga. Yet as I discovered on Friday July 28, you can't judge a book by its cover: Baulk's slender tally of choices conceals visionary excellence in design, preparation and presentation of each of its dishes.Our party of five elected to bypass the quartet of First Course offerings (including guacamole wontons, chicken wings with sesame lime mayo, Asian beef empanadas and corn croquets) in favour of tortilla ($3.5 each, or three for $10) followed by a Second Course item. The cornflour tortillas were small but exquisite. We sampled Five Spice Duck and Pork Belly varieties, noting their concentration of flavours with a perfect marriage between meat and tangy slaw.For second course, three members of our party ordered Market Fish (barramundi) served with chilli and lime crust and pineapple salsa. This was unanimously pronounced excellent, with alternating spicy and sweet overtones enhancing the succulent white flesh. One of us selected slow cooked brisket, served with iceberg lettuce and consumed (as with Peking duck) by wrapping the diced meat in a lettuce leaf. As for myself, I dared to be different by selecting the chicken breast with tequila, risotto and bok choy, and here again the flavours were distinctive yet subtle, highlighting to perfection the two symmetrical lengths of moist chicken breast. Beautiful!Having previously decided to forego dessert, what did we do? Why, we called for menus and studied the three dessert offerings, namely a confection of pina colada, pineapple, coconut and lime; deep fried churros icecream with potato chip praline and chocolate sauce; and popcorn sundae with candy and fairyfloss, the latter described by our personable waitperson as "My ten year old's absolute favourite."As it turned out, four of us ordered the pina colada dish for which a resonant lime sauce embraced a scoop of icecream. The fifth person, no doubt recalling trips to the movies, chose the popcorn and fairyfloss number, later ruefully observing its overriding sweetness.Visually, portions throughout appeared smallish, as if in deference to the nouvelle cuisine tradition, itself a revolt against a longstanding tradition of heroic portion sizes. But appearances can be deceptive. All of us were satisfied, albeit without that bulging sensation that screams for one's belt buckle to be released two notches.This was in short an imaginative and exquisitely careful assembling of ingredients for which each food type was respected and enhanced by touches of sauce and spice. Finding such food in a motor inn environment is remarkable, as was the presence of a waitperson providing such warm and helpful attention.Only one discordant element must be mentioned: the music. The motor inn management should realise that music based on an unrelenting rhythmic thumping is counter productive to the enjoyment of fine food.

We went for dinner last night. A great setting, and the dark bricks and furniture make for a very nice ambience. That's where it ended. The chicken entree was very nice, but the fried prawns (scampi) were tasteless and boring. Quantity doesn't make up for a lack of quality, and the garlic aioli won't cure everything. The crispy skin pork belly was also unimpressive. Too salty, not cooked down enough, and the crackle was not very well done. The best part of the meal was the green vegetables. They were delicious. We were left with the feeling that that they were trying to be "fine dining" (the prices suggested so), but not quite making it.

Wow! What an impression Balk left on both my husband and I. This was our first visit to the Bolten on the Parks restaurant Balk, and we were so very impressed. The service was second to none and the food was nothing short of amazing. The weather outside was wild and wooly but the atmosphere inside was warm and friendly. We had absolutly no complaints or suggestions on improvements as we could not fault a thing. Thanks again for an amazing date night. We will be back!

My boyfriend took me here for dinner for my birthday & we loved it. It is a bit pricey but the food was delicious & the atmosphere & service was awesome!

Dined with another couple. Had four separate entrees and mains. Presentation of meals very good but there was no taste in any of the meals. One entree, the calamari had batter which tasted like a Dagwood dog! The cheese platter and the desserts were the only meals that had flavour. Overpriced for what we received. Staff service fair with little knowledge of the menu.The four of us will not return. If you pay with hard earned money then you expect something to tempt your taste buds.