A post from No Experts Australian Correspondent
I have always been a fan of watching Rick Stein on TV, and loved his seafood cookery book with step by step instructions and photographs on how to deal with seafood, filleting, preparing crab, lobster etc. , it is a virtual seafood cookery bible.
Several years ago, we made a trip to the Seafood Restaurant in Padstow in the beautiful county of Cornwall, England, which we thoroughly enjoyed.
Rick Stein’s NSW restaurant is located in Mollymook some 3.5 hours South of Sydney. A weekend trip down the coast gave us the opportunity to book in for Sunday lunch. Now mid May is pretty much the start of winter, but we were blessed with a beautiful sunny day, and were delighted to be offered a seat on the terrace. I have to confess that I was surprised at how quiet the restaurant was on a Sunday afternoon.
Food was typical Rick, the freshest seafood, cooked simply with big bold flavors. I teased Mr T, as it appeared to me that he chose identical dishes to when we visited the Seafood Restaurant in Padstow a starter of Mussels with black bean sauce, coriander and garlic, and an Indonesian seafood curry for main course. In my humble opinion the black bean dominated the delicate flavor of the mussels, however Mr T was quick to disagree! The Indonesian seafood curry struck a nice balance, and I am sure will be chosen again!
For my starter I chose seared tuna served with guacamole and a lemongrass dressing. This dish was simple, but delicious, and one I will definitely re-create at home. For main course I selected the Grilled lobster, priced at an eye watering $21 (£13.60) per 100 gms. My 878gm example set me back a whopping $184 (£119.14) and goes on record as the single most expensive main course I have ever consumed!
For dessert, we elected to share a chocolate fondant with ice cream, which was lovely and gooey, and surprisingly light, I could easily have demolished an entire dish on my own. Overall the menu was pretty similar to the Seafood restaurant in Padstow.
Staff were friendly, and helpful, very accommodating to our requests to sit at the other end of the terrace and even offered to move our table, when our table ended up in the shade as the sun moved west. Occasionally, the staff were not always there when you needed them.
Overall this was a beautiful spot to spend a Sunday afternoon. Good fresh, tasty food, the produce is not highly worked. At $500 (£323.64) for two, though you might expect a little more technique for your money. If we were in the area, then I would definitely return, however, this is not a destination restaurant in it’s own right.
Marks out of 10
Food 7.5
Service 7.6
Ambience 8.2
I asked our Australian correspondent if the Lobster dish was worth the price.
Answer – It was delicious, however I wouldn’t have said it was worth it!
I seem to recall not having the lobster in Cornwall for that reason.
They could have just done a half! I would have been happy with that, to be honest.
so you didn’t say what the lobster was like? was it worth it?