Mavis Revisited

Eating good food with great friends (even if they lurk on my blog and can’t be bottomed to comment) is one of life’s pleasures. As I got to choose the venue it was a pretty easy decision to go Mavis’s. When I booked and enquired as to what would be on the menu, I was charmingly told that they would probably decide on the day. The menu is a classic table d’hote (an old fashioned, but excellent bridge between the degustabinge and a la carte. Everyone has the same number of courses, so there is none of that horrid anti-social gap time when the greedies gobble embarrassedly while the more restrained are simply fanging just to be fed. The menu was simple, unpretentious with no self love language.

For starters: soup in a mug, pate and a nicely plated stack of eggplant, tomato and boccocini which had been plated by a chef, not an engineer.
Mains were roast pork loin, seafood pie and a sound vegetarian option (sorry don’t remember as my vegetable loving carnivorous friends didn’t order it). These were accompanied by a simple well –dressed green salad and new season chats which tasted like the soil they came from. These were seriously fine spuds. Desserts included a gorgeous pavlova with fresh seasonal fruit, chocolate brownie (deliriously fudgy) and a well made lemon tart.
We drank a WA rose which was perfect for the meal. I was able to have a cocktail, because Sir Tuesday Knight was driving. I’m partial to a well made cocktail without umbrellas and pink giraffes. There was plenty of good water throughout the meal.

The restaurant has received some good press in the SMH and Jetstar mag and the whole place was buzzy with only one empty table. Service was unhurried and professional. Our plates went back to the kitchen empty. Peter kindly lent/ gave me some camera batteries as mine were flat after the first photo. Guess I’ll have to go back sooner rather than later to return them. Darn!! I love this place. It seems so simple, but is quite rare in restaurant land to eat good, honest, well cooked food at such reasonable prices. ($34.50 pp). I’d advise booking because this place will soon be difficult to get into at short notice. Read the website for details.

http://www.maviseskitchen.com.au

We left feeling quite satiated (unlike leaving a Bangalow restaurant with that verb used as the name, where we had spent 4-5 times as much money. It was good but I could have detoured to Milk and Honey for a couple of slices of pizza for afters.
Thanks for a great night Blog Lurkers!! Be afraid…be very afraid as I have now unflattering photos of us all and have no hesitation about using them if you don’t comment at least occasionally! Oh b….. mine will be the most unflattering of all.

Milk and Honey

An Italian woman shared with me her ideas of milk and honey men. They are men that cherish, nurture and encourage you to to be the best you can possibly be. This was over stirring the biggest pot of sauce, that I have ever seen. It was in a basement underneath a school. As the women stirred, they gossiped and shared stories of men. I was removing the green bits from the worst strawberries, that I have ever met.
I digress this is a restaurant review after all.
Well Milk and Honey at Mullumbimby is like the milk and honey men. It is for me, as a paid up carnivore, inspires me to eat better and be nicer. The food is so fresh, mainly vegie...there are meat options, but quite frankly i don't give a damn. It is a cheap eat usually less than $20 per head for greedy people. Service is Mullum laid back and I have never been there when it it is not busy. The desserts are up with Phillip Searle's... I'm not a dessert eater, but despite my pleadings..you do have to order your own, otherwise no-one else will share.

If I was going to have last one meal before I left this earth, i would go to milk and honey. I would take a fine bottle of wine from around the corner bottle shop...sit out side amidst the passing traffic, order a salad, a couple of pizza and pretend that I would not order dessert.
I would love the friendly service and admire the maniac who sweats the wood oven and makes the best pizza ever. I would be amazed at the freshness and perfection of the salad, tremble at amazing taste of the whatever I ordered..they are all good. I would ask for chilli... and lots of anchovies...it is after all my last meal. But I would leave my last tastes for the dessert. I would still be amazed at the perfection of it all.

Mavis's Kitchen

Everyone should have a kitchen like Mavis.
I confess! I went to Mavis’s Kitchen somewhat reluctantly. On Friday nights I don’t like to travel too far from home, but it was an invitation that I dare not have refused. The website directions were clear even for the terminally direction challenged and whereis.com.au promised that it would take just 32 minutes from Kingscliff.

I’m not sure what I was expecting…. Let’s just say my expectations were not high.

I was completely blown away by the sheer beauty of the beautifully restored Queenslander set in an amazing garden, nestled under the majestic Mt Warning. The restoration has been done with love, intelligence and elegance. This restaurant really is one of the most lovely that I have had the opportunity to dine in.

The menu is simple, but every dish was excellent. The website says that is homestyle cooking using good organic ingredients. The dishes that I tasted were exactly that (everyone’s home should have this style… sigh!) No rubbish menu language; just a brief description of what you could expect to eat. I find this refreshing. I had the pate, which was rich and fresh tasting. I thought that Jen’s bruschetta was worthy of menu envy with its fat white anchovy draped over roast capsicum and maybe goats’ cheese. Ann’s soup served in an enamel mug disappeared quickly. The mains were equally as good. Again no-one shared …… Grrr! My excuse was that I was enjoying mine so much I forgot to offer. The choices included filo baked salmon with a roast capsicum sauce, chermoula dusted chicken with the best couscous ever and a perfectly prepared risotto. The desserts were served after an intelligently offered wait and were all devoured with enthusiasm. The menu will be changed according to what is in the garden.

There is no BYO. You really wouldn’t want to with extremely reasonable prices and interesting wines. Wines are priced at mid $20s and $30s with some fine choices by the glass. Once again it is an intelligent and elegant list. Great non-alcoholic choices plus good water (no charge) continually refilled. There are also organic wine choices. I had a cocktail; Lychee and mint something that I can’t pronounce. I asked for it to be light on alcohol as I was driving. The request was met and the cocktail was great.

The service was excellent. Friendly, knowledgeable and well –timed.

This restaurant is fantastic. The people operating it have got passion and integrity. Oh! I forgot to mention, three courses were $34.50!!! You can also stay there and enjoy the wine list. They have elegant looking cabins and you could even climb Mt Warning in the morning. ……or have breakfast and then lunch and maybe stay for dinner again.