Cottage Point Inn, Cottage Point

I have wonderful readers - they're like me and get excited over new food discoveries and want to share them with others and my inbox is full of fantastic reader recommendations, many of which I follow up and/or intend to follow up. Cottage Point Inn was one of those places that reader Wayfarer emailed me about. I saw that it was a gorgeous, secluded spot in Cottage Point, accessible only by car, boat or seaplane it was that remote. I also saw the prices for dinner and accomodation and promptly filed that away for a special occasion.

Fast forward almost 1.5 years later and I'm glad to see that it's included in the SIFF Let's do Lunch prgrame which means for $35 we can enjoy a main there, a glass of wine and a coffee! There was a false start, one booking had to be postponed because of apartment renovations so I find myself with my friend MamaMia driving up towards Cottage Point,about 45 minutes drive from the North of the city. We go through the Kuringai Chase National Park and follow the signs towards Cottage Point. Much of the scenery obscured by a screen of trees but the anticipation whets our appetites further. "There are a lot of proposals here" MamaMia tells me and I can imagine the secludedness and the accomodation lends itself to wedding proposals.

We pull up and she looks down at my feet. "Good no heels, you can't walk down there in heels as it's quite steep" she says. Indeed there is a woman that removes her stilettoes before going down the sraitrs. There's a wharf to the right and a sign saying "Only restaurant visitors past this point" and we head towards the restaurant. A woman walks towards us with a clipboard and greets us warmly and we take a seat. As it's slightly breezy, the plastic has been erected and blankets are on the backs of chairs.

I'm one for entrees, I always seem to prefer them to mains and the king prawn dish with champagne cream, butter brioche and avruga black herring roe is just screaming my name so I opt out of the Let's do Lunch option and go for this entree instead. MamaMia goes for the Let's do Lunch which is fantastic value as mains range from $39.50-$46. The local tap water isn't drinkable so mineral water needs to be ordered (there is an option with the Let's do Lunch to have a 500ml bottle of San Pellegrino with your meal instead of wine).

We sit back and watch other couples and groups being taken to their table. Each time guests come down the stairs a member of staff comes to greet them and everyone in the restaurant looks up and surveys the new arrivals. There is a Kookaburra that is perched on the balcony. A waiter takes a small bowl of strips of beef fillet (only the best will do) and feeds it to the Kookaburra who is perched on his arm and who takes pieces, holds them in its mouth and poses for the cameras (ok it's just me here) and then swallows them with a flourish. We're told that the kookaburra comes every day and must be fed or he or she will pinch food from the plates! They also have baby kookaburras and now all of the family come for some beef fillet.

We help ourselves to the bread roll, a warm sourdough bun that is fantastic. I usually prefer butter to olive oil and balsamic but this balsamic is nice and fruity (and apparently available for purchase according to the menu).

Our food arrives and my prawns smell heavenly. They're fantastically fresh and they go so well with the champagne cream and avruga black herring roe and softly sauteed spring onions. The only part I don't really go for is the toasted prawn butter brioche. It's too hard and crouton like and dry.

Roast, organic, free range Thirlmere chicken breast with mousse filled zucchini flowers and eggplant and tomato salsa $35 as part of Let's do Lunch

MamaMia's lunch is more substantial in size as it's a main and I try a bit. Whilst the chicken breast isn't dry, it isn't particularly moist either but the dish is very filling.

I know that the line between women and dessert is a thin one and it doesn't take much persuading from looking at the dessert menu to give it a try so we choose a dessert each.

MamaMia and I tossed up who would get either of these desserts as we both independently honed in on the same two desserts. MamaMia took this one while I took the other one (didn't matter, we'd still taste the other one). The Chocolate and Salted caramel tart is judiciously salted with the filling oozing out over the edge slowly. And before you get too excited (as we did) the chocolate macaron isn't a real macaron nor is it a macaroon, it's just a chocolate biscuit. Still the whole dessert is pleasing and rich.

My dessert looks huge, with the square of layered filo, poached bananas and generous dollops of white chocolate mousse. I always think white chocolate goes so well with passionfruit as well as tangier fruits like raspberry so I do like this combination, especially paired with the golden filo but the bananas are disapppointing as they taste floury and plain. Rather than poaching them, flambeeing them or sauteeing them in butter and sugar would have been nicer.

We take a stroll to the nearby casual Cottage Point Kiosk, a place that yayasyumyums reviewed a while back which looks like a nice, casual place to eat. The climb back up to the car has us winded (it's much steeper than you'd think) although this means we may have started to work off part of the dessert.

So tell me Dear Reader, where were you proposed to or where would you like to be proposed to?

And because it's Wallpaper Wednesday here's a little Halloween gruesomeness to get you in the mood for Saturday night! A bloody brain pannacotta wallpaper!

Cottage Point Inn

2 Anderson Place, Cottage Point, NSW

Tel: +61 (02) 9456 1011

Bookings essential

www.cottagepointinn.com.au