Beluga

A five star meal is what we all want without paying ridiculous prices, and Beluga delivered this for our weekly lunch.
The Embley and Cox restaurant provides a sophisticated yet casual atmosphere with an expansive menu which has something for all tastes.
We received perfectly cooked dishes that arrived by warm and friendly faces, which coupled with the great décor melded into a seamless experience, that also provided value for money (which is hard to come by).
Great work team, we hope to be back soon
Food ⁹⁄₁₀ service 8.5÷10 décor 8.5÷10

This is a wonderful place to have a group dinner. We sat in a private room and had entrees, mains and dessert to share, all prepared by the chef without ordering. I really loved that because of the opportunity for variety.
The service was wonderful minus a little man who seemed to not have any idea what he was doing and kept telling us to order chicken when we weren’t really ordering. Awkward moment there. Maybe the chicken is really delish?

Hmm half price pizzas on Tuesdays, therefore ~$ 12 each. Cant go wrong there. Nice simple pizzas, great venue to socialise and catchup with friends.
Apparently popular for its High Tea, something for next time perhaps…

Beluga was full of people and popularity is always a good sign. The style of the place reminds me of our hotel in Spagna, Rome — all outrageously sparkly and shiny. Looking at the menu however, I thought it was glammed up pub food. However, it was made with good produce. The prices reflect this.
I highly recommend 2 dishes.
The first thing served to us was the South Australian mussels, chorizo, fennel and white wine ($ 30) in a covered pot — opened right in front of us to showcase its freshly steamed shelled delight. Each fat juicy mussel was permeated with a meaty flavour from the chorizo as well as an aniseed flavour from the fennel. Seriously good.
We had the highly recommended Apple Tarte Tartin with caramel sauce and vanilla bean ice cream ($ 14). I nearly regretted sharing. It is simply delightful and I cannot stress this enough. The apples were just baked and coated in an amazingly deep honeylike caramel sauce with a toffee quality. The flaky pastry under it was perfect — the right amount of lightness. The ice cream speckled with dots of beans — so amazing when you pair it with the tart.

For a restaurant that describes itself as ‘casual’, the prices are pretty exhorbitant in here. Really, Beluga has a bit of identity dysfunction if it thinks its snazzy appearance and menu littered with $ 100-​$ 200 caviar, $ 25 prawn cocktail, and $ 32 ribs are classed as a mere casual dining experience. Beluga should take some pride in its Claremont snobbery and drop the ‘casual’ tag, because it doesn’t fit.
If you think of Beluga as the high-​end place that it is, it’s a great place to have a tasty and sophisticated meal. Although the aforementioned dishes are over-​priced in my opinion, there are a lot of menu options that are more fittingly priced and worth every penny. The musroom gnocchi, the pesto spaghetti with Fremantle King Prawns, and the lime and paprika squid are clear highlights.