Thursday, January 23, 2014

Berowra Waters Inn - Berowra Waters


For my birthday this year, my hubby spoilt me with a meal at Berowra Waters Inn. It's a restaurant that I'd always wanted to go to - except that they closed down before I got to it. Imagine my surprise and excitement when it re-opened again shortly after! Located in a serene and tranquil 'middle of nowhere' place on the Hawkesbury, the restaurant is only accessible by boat or by the extravagant seaplane. On the upside, it meant that the view was spectacularly amazing!

For a Friday night, the restaurant was surprisingly not that full. We were served by two friendly and attentive waiters - one with an awesome Frenchie accent. The restaurant offers a degustation menu but was flexible enough to accommodate for my pickiness. As I'm not really into wines and hubby had to drive, neither of us opted for the matching wines.
Berowra Waters Inn
We were first served with an amuse bouche of an oyster wrapped in squid ink, oyster cream and cous cous. ZOMG seconds please! The oyster was really creamy and greatly complemented by the squidy inky taste. The oyster cream was also delicious - smooth and rich.
Oyster with Squid ink and oyster cream
We were offered a choice of white bread or white onion brioche. I favoured the white bread more. It came with a house made tomato butter and black olive crumbs. Surprisingly, I enjoyed this butter more than I thought.
white bread, white onion brioche with tomato butter and black olive
The first official course we had was the scallops with knäckebröd. It looked so pretty and as a bonus, the scallops were cooked perfectly. The knäckebröd provided that additional crunch and texture.
scallops and knäckebröd
The next course was one of my favourites. It was a confit ocean trout with smoke milk and dashi. The dashi came in the form of foam, as well as super delicious crackers. It was sooooo yummy! Tasty and delicate, all at the same time.
trout, smoked milk and dashi
The sole was the next course. The sole was a finger slice sitting a top of bits of carid prawn. The yellow orangey stuf on top was absolutely delcious... but I can't for the life of me remember what it was. The broccoli puree sauce was super delicious and bits of pine nuts added to the overall flavour of the dish.
sole, broccoli and carid prawn
Kale was a part of our next course. Having cooked kale chips at home and actually enjoyed it, I was happy to see it on the place. There was kale cooked several ways - baked (or fried?) thinly, wrapped around the duck mixture, as well as boiled and chopped and mixed with some other stuff (memory failing). The main star of the dish was the duck, again, cooked two ways. It was tender and tasty. There was also mustard and a cherry sauce on the plate.
duck, cherries and kale
Our last savoury course was the slow cooked beef short rib with onion. Could not fault the tenderness of the beef, covered in a herb concoction, and could not fault the creamy puree that it sat next to. Hubby loved it!

short rib and onions
The next course was the one that I needed the restaurant to change for me. It was goats cheese wrapped with beetroot, all sitting ontop of a licorice powder. All three ingredients I did not eat. But hubby happily enjoyed the dish.
goats cheese, beetroot and licorice
Instead, I got a caramelised pear with apple jelly and apple strips. It was sweet. Very very sweet. Not the type of sweet I like unfortunately.
caramelised pear with apple
I thoroughly enjoyed the palate cleanser - a shot of coconut cream with pineapple foam. Such an awesome combination! Loved it!
coconut cream with pineapple
The finale of the night suited my tastes muchly. It was a chocolate mousse cream cake with hazelnut icecream, chocolate bits and shavings, and apricot. Yum yum yum!
hazelnut, chocolate, apricot
I felt extremely satisfied by the end of the meal. It was really deliciousness. The service was great. View was amazing. Would definitely want to come here again so I hope it survives the years!!!

Ratings:
Food - 9/10
Service - 8/10
Ambiance - 8/10
Value for money - 7/10
Overall - 32/40

Berowra Waters Inn
Lot 22/ Warves
Berowra Waters
NSW 2082
Tel: (02) 9456 1027

1 comment:

Helen (Grab Your Fork) said...

Oyster with squid ink sounds like a genius idea! Looks like you had an amazing meal!