the bathers pavilion occupies a prized position overlooking balmoral beach - a beautiful spot for a meal. there is a popular cafe in the building and then the more expensive a la carte restaurant, where we had the good fortune to be dining.
between two adults and two kids we had 10 dishes, and with the exception of a child’s fish and chips which fell into the ‘nothing special’ category, everyone of them was exceptionally presented and cooked. the last time i had a similar quality meal was at the dorchester’s a la carte grill in london - but this was better, lighter and more playful.
it began with an amuse-bouche shot of fennell and cinnamon soup - creamy and delicately flavoured - and a basket of caraway seed bread and some plain or salted butter.
we each ordered from the three-course set-price menu, good value at $95, and probably saving about $15 a head on the overall cost of adding up individual dishes.
our entrees consisted of a dozen freshly shucked oysters with mignonette vinaigrette, seared scallops with pancetta and pickled apple smoked yoghurt & chorizo oil and kurobuta pork belly with pickled pine mushroom, braised lettuce, hazelnut crumbs and pork skin.
the oysters were as fresh as you can get and presented simply with nothing too fancy to obscure their taste. the scallops were an attractive dish, but a lot of restaurants seem to be following the same rule with this dish these days and so it had a familiar look to it - perfectly cooked.
the pork, from the japanese strain of black berkshire and generally regarded as the best on the market, was light and full of flavour, neither overly fatty nor devoid of juice. the airy puff of crackling sat on top like a chinese prawn cracker, bearing little resemblance to crackling or rind, and all the artery hardening we associate with it. best though was the accompanying savoury bed of mushrooms, lettuce and nuts - delectable and a real winner of a dish.
for the mains we ordered the poached blue eye trevalla with crab consommé, new potato confit, wilted kale and herb emulsion, the ora king salmon with confit celeriac and avruga caviar, yuzu orange sauce and salmon crackling and duck breast with smoked pear puree, glazed australian wild fig, turnips and walnuts.
these were all beautifully presented. our waiter served the trevalla and then poured a small jug of consommé over the fillet. soft and falling apart it was given a little piquancy by the dobs of herb emulsion.
the salmon, again wonderful to look at, was perfectly cooked - the flesh soft and flaky, the skin crisp. the avruga, a herring derived caviar substitute, was arranged on the dish like blackberries and sat amidst cubes of celeriac and globs of herb emulsion. the smear of yuzu sauce, with its tart, grapefruit like notes was a good accompaniment.
perhaps the most satisfying of the mains was the duck - so tender and wonderfully combined with nuts and fruit puree - a real standout.
throughout this we weren’t over-indulging on the alcohol front, so only had a glass of wine each - both from the margaret river - at around $15-$20 a glass (whole bottles are roughly twice the price of a glass).
if we thought the appetisers and the mains were spectacular the desserts took it up another level again.
of these the raspberry meringue with strawberry, lychee sorbet, prosecco jelly, lime and olive oil curd was simply a work of art. stunningly presented the delicate meringue casing gave way to an orb of delicious sorbet. a real ‘wow’ of a dessert.
the dark chocolate mousse with hazelnut cremeux, sesame praline and dark chocolate sauce was the height of sophistication with richly satisfying ingredients and hints of gold.
lastly my mandarin mousse with valrhona dulcey blond chocolate, turmeric and lemon sauce with orange sorbet came out looking like some delicate japanese flower arrangement or a joan miro painting. again, so wonderful to look at and a beautifully conceived dish.
in addition to all this the staff were extremely relaxed and helpful and the atmosphere was refreshingly casual for such quality dining.
all up i couldn’t fault the bathers, an impressive meal worth every cent and agreatplace to treat someone to a genuinely classy meal.