SUNSHINE SOCIAL – 64 Glengala Rd, Sunshine West – www.sunshinesocial.com.au  

Sitting at my desk yesterday and up popped an article on the Domain property website – “Everything about Sunshine is hot”, it said. Things have certainly come along in this western suburb just over 10kms from the city. And Sunshine Social is a pretty good example of this.

Someone asked how you’d describe the cuisine at Sunshine Social. I said “modern Australian barbecue”. Think what you’d whack on the barbie if you had people coming around tomorrow – some sausages, chops, skewers, ribs? Maybe a chook or some lamb if you had a kettle or smoker. You might play around with the marinades or flavours, and you’d make sure there were some fun, flavoursome salads. Well, that’s kinda Sunshine Social.

Housed in a former servo, it’s bright, open, relaxed, fun. To start, there are nibblies like marinated olives and grilled veg; kabana with mustard pickles; or Saganaki with lemon honey. We tried the dips with Turkish bread. The dips are made in house, the eggplant with green chilli was lovely and smoky with a not-too-alarming kick; the Pistachio, pea, mint and parmesan was surprisingly refreshing.

The lamb shoulder had gorgeous flavours.

For mains, you’re looking at something cooked on the grill or a burger. The burgers are some of their biggest sellers, but we headed straight for the grill.

Anything cooked on the grill comes with your choice of side – think charred corn on the cob, chips, or a slaw salad.

The slow cooked pork ribs were a winner. Literally, I won lunch. They’re cooked sous vide, whacked on the grill and finished with a house-made Sunshine BBQ sauce. I paired them with a zingy coleslaw, it was plenty of food. They were just as they should be, tender, falling off the bone, and tasty as hell.

Winner winner! The slow cooked pork ribs.

For Scorchy, there was almost too much lamb shoulder. Our waitress told us honestly not to expect that Middle Eastern-style, slow cooked, falling apart lamb you might be thinking of – this is marinated with garlic, rosemary and olive oil then cooked on the rotisserie over charcoal for 2-3 hrs. It ends up a bit more like mum’s roast lamb of a Sunday or the stuff you get in a souva. Scorchy paired it with a very simple salad of tomato, cucumber, and iceberg lettuce. Maybe a little chewier than I expect with shoulder, but gorgeous flavours.

There are three skewers on offer, we tried the Peanut Satay pork with green chilli salsa. Again, maybe a little on the chewy side, but a generous serve and some nice flavours.

There are some great sounding larger salads on offer, we tried the Sweet potato – served with chickpeas, caramelised onions and dressed with parsley, spring onion and a house yoghurt dressing. Loved it.

Kate loved the sweet potato salad.

Check out the specials on weekends too – thinks like a 1kg rib eye with chimichurri, chips and slaw to share with mates.

We were absolutely stuffed after our feed, but if you can leave room it’d be worth it just to try the retro desserts on offer – who could go past a slice of choc ripple cake, a choc top, frog in the pond, or ice cream sanga!

It was clearly popular with Sunshine locals, pretty busy for this Monday lunchtime. Service was relaxed and friendly, there was plenty of parking, and the flavours were as diverse as the multicultural melting pot that is Sunshine. Yep, the sun is definitely shining on this western suburbs gem.