OK. I was sick of my working week. Tired of the city monotony – the sea of dark suits, mediocre paper-cup-coffees and less than sanitary train rides to and from the daily grind. I needed an escape from the “real world” to the ever ellusive garden of Zen to unwind. To me this is somewhere peaceful and quiet with waterviews and great food in its surrounds – and I think I may have found it just an hour’s drive north of Sydney. It is Killcare.

Whilst many of you may not have heard of Killcare, you will undoubtedly have heard of Italian restauranteur extraordinare Stefano Manfredi best known for Restaurant Manfredi, Bel Mondo and di Manfredi coffee. He now runs the restaurant at Bells @ Killcare – a gorgeous, boutique European style country house hotel (and very much recommended by us for a relaxing weekend!).

I think 9 times out of 10 a chef that serves exceptional produce is automatically destined for greatness. There is no need to complicate things here. Stefano grows his own vegies in a garden at the back of the hotel, he selects only the best produce from around the globe (our goat cheese was air freighted in from Italy) and pasta is made fresh on the premises.

Our first taster was some smoked ocean trout served on some toasted panini rubbed in garlic and drizzled with olive oil. Simple yet delightful, the trout flesh was firm and screamed with flavour.

We were then presented with a salad of goat cheese, radish and garden greens served with what I believe was a crushed walnut sauce. Unlike any goats cheese I had previously experienced, this one had been air freighted in from Italy and is much milder and softer than its Australian counterparts. The salad greens were picked fresh from the garden, crisp and succulent.

Pacific oysters with a simple eschallot dressing - we couldn’t resist.

Thi was intrigued by the seafood and pearl barley stew with prawns, vongole and mussels. A lovely rich and flavoursome broth laden with fresh seafood and soft pearl barley.

Now we get into our mains (no I did not have an entree – while all the starters filled me up, it has left me more than enough on the menu to come back to visit soon – yes, this meal was really good!). I ordered the duck and pork ragu pasta and enjoyed watching the sous chef freshly roll and make the pasta from scratch. This is the type of ragu that my mind conjours when I see it on a menu. Beautifully rich, delicate and “melt in the mouth” tender it blended in superbly with the velvety strands of fresh egg pasta.

Satisfied with the dishes thus far, Thi wanted to see how a real chef does rabbit. Cooked simply over the grill on the bone (yes very fiddly but worth the prize!) with a coating of lemon and olive oil the rabbit was succulent and tasty

A meal without wine? I don’t think so! It was a warm evening so we stayed on the whites. A 2002 Tyrell’s Vat 1 Semillon to start and as I had more time to explore the wine menu I spotted a bottle of French Vouvray for only $50! The 2006 Marc Bredif was soft on the pallete and I’d say it was borderline semi-sweet! Perfect to trail off the meal in preparation for dessert (nope we couldnt fit in dessert but the staff talked us into it – and yup was definitely worth it!) 

 Feast your eyes on our desserts …

Excited and pleased with our stay, we had to get a signed copy of Steve’s cookbook Seasonal Italian.

Thanks to Steve and the great staff at Bell’s for one of our best meals in 2009!

Where: Bells @ Killcare
Location:  107 The Scenic Rd, Killcare Beach (Central Coast)
Opened: Dinner
Dress: Smart casual
Price: Entrees about $24 and Mains about $35 each.

Written by Rob

Tapas seems to be the new Thai in Sydney and we are not complaining! I can think of nothing more enjoyable than trying a variety of small plate “tempters” with a few friends and ploughing through a few bottles of Spanish wine (yes the Ramon Bilbao Crianza Tempranillo is fantastic!)

This is exactly what we did on Saturday night at Catalonia in Kirribilli (http://www.catalonia.com.au/). We were seated downstairs and it was oddly quiet for a Saturday night (a slight cause for concern but it was a very wet, stormy evening). We were far too adventurous to be limited by the set menu so we ordered the following from the selection of ~20 dishes on offer with my thoughts on each…

Zucchini flowers with goats cheese mousse and honey (Texturally satisfying and greeted with the strong yet not overpowering flavour of the goats cheese. The honey didn’t add much for me)

Patatas bravas (Essentially twice fried potatoes)

Chorizo with beans and saffron potato puree (were good but lacked the special kick that makes a dish truly memorable)

Crisp pork belly with lavender sauce, apples and swisschard (Surprisingly the pork belly was done extremely well. Not overly fatty not salty with a perfectly crisped skin. Thumbs up here)

Smoked duck, brussel sprouts, turnips and truffle sauce (I am a big fan of smoked anything however this duck would be more accurately described as cured as it didn’t retain much of the smokey flavour that I’ve come to love. All-in-all it was nice, with the soft textures of the duck working well with the crunch of brussel sprouts and turnips but I would of liked a bit more “smoke”)

Scallops with jerusalem artichoke, medjools date, spinach and curried ’amargo y dulce’ (The scallops were juicy, plump and sweet with a well developed crust – cooked exactly how I’d expect)

Prawns with ajo blanco, sobrassada and ‘rossejat’ catalan fried pasta (These prawns had great flavour and the fried pasta really leant an amazing crispy dimension to the overall dish. Another dish to get my thumbs up)

Pimentón braised lamb, panisse, parsley and olives (I can’t actually remember what this tasted like which is never a good sign.)

We ended the night with some hot churros served with melted chocolate and some coffee.

Overall we had an enjoyable evening at Catalonia however I cannot help but compare it to Bodega in Surry Hills which is by far our favourite tapas restaurant in Sydney.