Having got out of the habit of a Sunday drive sometime late last year, it was with a happy heart that S and myself piled into the car on Sunday to head towards Peppermint Bay. Hopefully to find a fire, good food and stunning views. Unfortunately only two of the three were to be found.
The last time I was at Peppermint Bay was around Christmas last year, when Mum, Dad, the dog and I took a drive for lunch and an exploration of the Woodbridge Markets. As I remember the food was fresh, tasted good and serving sizes were reasonable for the amount paid. I dont know whats happened in the intervening six months, but this time the two of us left feeling disappointed.
We arrived just before what looked to be a large and lateish lunch rush at around 12:45. The set out has changed at fair amount in 6 months. Where there used to be seats in the bar area and outside, with a few down the ramp for bar overflow, most of what used to be the more formal dining resturant is now also casual dining. The moveable wall of the function room is gone, and this space has been converted into the more formal dining area. I am not sure if this is a permanent change, or a temporary one to accomadate the fact that sitting outside was not adviseable due to the wet seats and very very soggy grassed areas. Either way, it makes the space feel alot more open and relaxed.
I ordered the scallop & salmon pie, potato puree and broccolini, while S had shaved garlic roasted lamb, kofte sauce, dressed rocket and minted yoghurt pizza. The wait for the meals was not that long, considering what we had ordered. The disappointment started when the meals arrived.
Now I dont mind pot pies. In fact I quite enjoy them. The scallop and salmon pie came presented in a very cute little cauldron about 12cm in diameter and about 8cm deep. There was a layer of what looked like lovely fluffy pastery on top, nicely glazed in a grid pattern. GREAT I thought, lots of fish and scallop in this! Oh the joys of ignorance. I carefully peeled off the what was actually very thin pastry layer to be confronted by the potato puree. HMM I thought, maybe this should have been a fishy shepards pie. I stuck my fork in, questing for the fabled salmon and scallops. I pulled out, potato puree. No fish. I dug in again, right at the bottom, covering about the last 2cm of the bottom of the pot was a gelatious mass that was the salmon and scallop filling. Now granted the 4 scallops I could find were lovely - soft and but with a nice bite to them. The salmon did not really have any taste at all, and the gravy was literally a jelly type concotion with a texture and taste that I could not quite place. Overall it was very bland, except for the extremely salty bit at one edge, which tasted like someone had forgotten to flavour the broth and dumped salt into it and not stirred it. The broccolini was tepid, so I didnt even attempt to eat it. It was however a lovely colour. I ate about 2/3rds of it before having to give up. This dish had so much potential, but the execution was sadly lacking. Its a pity as the type of weather really was suited for a lovely hearty pie with a good filling.
S's pizza was not much better. The base was well made, but not seasoned at all. There was a distinct lack of garlic taste in either the lamb or the base. The lamb was cut finely, but for some reason still had quite a greasy texture on the tongue. In fact for what should have been a very tasty pizza it had very little taste at all. The presentation was good, but the actual execution of the dish was once again lacking. It was obvious no one had tasted the seasonings in either of our dishes. Now S is one who very rarely leaves anything on his plate, but he gave up after 2/3rds of a pizza saying it was a bit like eating greasy cardboard.
While disappointed in our mains, we thought that desert may redeem the kitchen. S had the warm chocolate & orange pudding with vanilla ice cream and I went for 2 scones with jam and cream. The chocolate and orange pudding by all accounts was ok, but more cake like than pudding like, with what apparently had the texture of a crust on the outside. There were nice bits of distinct orange zest in the pudding, and the chocolate sauce was good but not spectacular. The ice cream however got the thumbs up. My scones were from the display case, but were not heated up prior to serving. I know this is a small niggle but warm scones go so much better with jam and cream. The scones overall were lovely and fluffy, and coupled with raspberry jam and thick cream actually tasted quite good. However I was rapidly getting full so S finished the last half of the 2nd scone for me.
Not sure how much we paid all up including drinks, but looking at prices on the online menu the pie was definately NOT worth $22 and the pizza was pushing to be $12 worth of value. However the fire and the view outside were lovely. I hope this was just an abirition in what is usually a good solid bet for a nice lunch after a drive. However next time I go, it wont be with such high expectations.
I hopefully will become more regular in my blogging habits again. The last couple of months has been very difficult for me due to family reasons, and the last year in generally has been physically and emotionally very taxing. Consequently I have suspended my PhD enrollment for three months to try to sort my life out. While my money is very tight, I will still hopefully be able to make comments on places when friends take me out for dinner/lunch/coffee.
I am in London for a week from the 15th to the 21st of July, so expect some blogging on trying to find cheap eats in the the capital. A friend has promised to take me for Dim Sum at a place he knows, and another friend and I intend to be ladies who lunch and do the chocolate High tea at Mandeville hotel behind Selfridges. Expect blog posts on both. Until then...eat well.
