Rick Steins at Bannisters - Easter Sunday Lunch

 Sunday 4 April

We were up early but not early as the clocks were reset from daylight saving. However the sun was shining again and the sea looks flat and blue. How boring eh? We walked the length of Mollymook beach, some 5,000 steps and decided to have a swim. Well, at least Flashy decided he would. So, in he goes, up to his knees and decides that 20c is not too far above freezing, so he backs out slowly, hoping no one notices. A really great morning of walking, relaxing and getting a NSW sun glow. Back home we do the ironing and dress up for our lunch at Rick Stein’s Bannisters restaurant, perched on the hill overlooking the blue Pacific. A mixed result this was. The service was good, the restaurant bright and clean with good views. The opening Champagne was cold and refreshing. Entrees. Flashy had the sashimi. Pretty standard fare, well presented and fresh. Lady P had the Japanese fish cakes, which were a chopped up version of the sashimi, lightly floured and panned off. Pretty stunning stuff there. The Pewesy Vale 2015 Riesling was excellent and presented at the correct temperature. Our waiter was experienced and friendly. So what happened? Nothing really catastrophic, just that the mains came out almost 5 mins after the entrees were cleared. The combination of a firm fleshed snapper with a smokey spec brown sauce, sounds like a Rick idea and in theory it would be good. Flashy ordered this dish. Apart from a tad too much salt, the sauce and smokey spec would magnificantly crown a veal dish. Sadly, it masked any flavour of the fish. It could have been any protein. A huge bowl of shoestring fries helped a bit. Lady P ordered a steamed whole snapper with an Asian based sauce and caramelised garlic sprinkles. While she ate the whole lot, apart from the eyes, it too was over salted. Score 3/5. The redeeming dish was the dessert. Two lovely scoops of home made raisin ice cream, a shot of espresso and a shot of Kahlua with a biscotti was a nice version of a affogatto which we shared. The taxi service was not answering, so we asked reception for a ride home, please. No problem there. A nice local guy took us home in Bannister’s Merc.