What: Leaves and Fishes
Where: 737 Lovedale Road, Lovedale
Prices: Start or share, $18 to $23; follow or share, $35 to $46; finish, $15; cheese, $18; extras, $5 to $10
Chef: Sean McQueen
Wines: A small list of well-chosen local Hunter wines, none by the glass
Hours: Lunch, Wednesday to Sunday; dinner, Friday and Saturday evenings; High Tea, Sunday afternoon
Vegetarian: Separate menu with five or six items
Bookings: 4930 7400
Bottom line: Two starters, two mains, two desserts, $150 without drinks
Its bush setting ensures plenty of leaves, and the large dam in front of the restaurant must contain lots of fishes although today none have made it onto the menu whose fishy components lean towards the marine variety. Although half of the restaurant is airconditioned, a table on the cantilevered, shady verandah will reward you with water views and the cool illusion of permanently falling rain created by spray from the roof. This might defy belief on a blue sky day but if there are clouds you can be easily deceived.
Batter as light as a butterfly wing binds and crisply coats a jumble of grated zucchini and chunky prawn. A dish of house-made spicy tomato sauce is perfect for dipping and a small salad of peppery garden rocket makes a refreshing texture contrast.
Classic Niçoise salad is one that lends itself to many interpretations. Here, the tuna is just seared, then coated in finely chopped fresh parsley before being sliced and placed over a raft of green beans. Two hard-boiled egg halves and a smear of capsicum puree are there but where are the olives, boiled potato and tomato of the classic version? A bit of creative poetic licence is forgotten after one bite of the sea fresh tuna and al dente beans. This is an imaginative and well-conceived dish.
Crispy whole fish of the day is baby snapper, a misleading description as a large rectangular plate is needed to contain the substantial fish and its crown of salad and seared pak choy. Crunchy skin contrasts with meltingly tender flesh. The pea sprout salad is a texture and flavour delight. Its ginger-tinged, Asian-inspired dressing and a squeeze of lime are the ideal seasoning for the fish, making redundant a dish of rather bland sauce on the side.
While the menu leans towards sea there are still enough land dwellers on the menu to keep the carnivores happy with pork on the specials board, and chicken and 300g rib-eye on the main menu. Crispy-skinned duck is a restrained and elegant dish. The magret (breast fillet) has been seared to crisp-skinned and pink-fleshed perfection, sliced and fanned over green asparagus beside a disc of potato cake. Shreds of candied orange and a citrus sauce enriched with ginger butter complete a well-balanced dish.
A lolly jar of mixed ice-creams will appeal to your inner child with its vision of multicoloured balls, but the reality falls short. There is nothing wrong with the three balls of gelato (strawberry, lemon and green apple) interspersed with a few blueberries and strawberries; it's just not what you would imagine.
On the other hand the chocolate brownie, fig and almond gelato and honeycomb is in-your-face honest. A square of rich, squidgy brownie in a puddle of creme anglaise is topped with a decent scoop of creamy fig gelato and a piece of tooth-achingly sweet honeycomb. A few blueberries, raspberries and strawberries might convince you that this is really healthy.
Like the loaves and fishes in the Bible, the Leaves and Fishes is more than a sum of its parts.
Email a friend