childhood memories with one of my faves

When I was younger I used to come to Shelley Beach every weekend with my family, so it always sparks up special memories every time I go back. This weekend I decided to go back to my roots, and tried The Boathouse Shelley Beach, which opened three weeks ago.

We all know my love and affiliation for The Boathouse cafes (see my review on Palm Beach and Balmoral Beach), so to try the Shelley Beach cafe was absolutely on the cards. My husband and I got there at about 8.30am on Saturday and were lucky enough to score a table out the front, and in the sun. Best seat in the house in my opinion.

The Boathouse Shelley Beach is surprisingly big, and I would guess is their new flagship. As you would imagine the interiors, menu and vibe are on par with its sister cafes, but it feels much more spacious, with a variety of areas where you can sit - by the beach, on the side amongst the garden, the large open plan inside, by the coffee bar or on more intimate tables. It's also perfect for people watching!

We ordered the obligatory coffees - double shot skim cap and a skim latte. As the coffee beans are from Single Origin, there were obviously no complaints. And as silly as it sounds, I love the chocolate anchor that comes on the cappuccino. The best looking cap in town...

For breakfast we ordered the Coconut bowl, nut crunch, coconut panna cotta, coconut chia pudding, with dates, apple & fresh berries and the Avocado, tomato and poached eggs on charred toast with goats curd and basil. I am obsessed with anything coconut so I was in my element and scoffed the coconut bowl down fairly quickly. It was exquisite, but could have done with more nut crunch to fill me up more. The avocado and poached eggs were nice, but we probably wouldn't order it again. The bread was a little too thick (too hard to cut/chew), the avocado was too 'lemony', and too much goat curd for my husbands liking.

I'm still perplexed as to the fact that you need to line up for a good 20 minutes to order and there is barely any service needed, yet we pay premium prices. But... it works. And I loved it. And I shall be back.

Cafe: The Boathouse Shelley Beach
Price (for 2ppl): Food $36; Beverages $8.50
Hours: 7am - 4pm; 6pm - l0pm (Tue - Sat)
Must order: Coconut Bowl
Coffee: Single Origin Coffee Roasters

the dish you have to try (that isn't on the menu)

My husband is an avid coffee drinker, and always turns to The Beanhunter for the best coffee finds. So, when we were in Dubbo their app happened to be my new best friend, because I came across this incredible little gem called Brigade Espresso. Not only is it built in an old fire station, but it happens to have the highest rating in Dubbo.

Small and quaint with plenty of super-friendly staff, Brigade Espresso's interior has a warehouse contemporary feel and looks as though there is space out the back for pop-up art galleries (they were packing up when we were there). The perfect place for any social outing!

The coffee beans are sourced from Ethiopia and Kenya, but roasted in Dubbo. You don't get any fresher then that, and you can taste it in the coffee. Delicious.

The menu isn't extensive by any means but certainly has enough variety to cause confusion as to what to order. We went for the Homemade Banana Bread, Mascarpone & Honey; Avocado & High Valley Feta on Wholegrain Sourdough and Roast Pumpkin, Spinach, Spanish Onion with High Valley Feta & Balsamic.

The meals came out fairly quickly - surprising as they have a tiny kitchen behind the service bench that they cook from. Each meal was beautifully presented, tasted amazing and was substantial in size. I would have loved to see a little more texture used in their dishes though...

And just as I thinking this, the staff brought out a sweet dish for us to try. Nothing but an absolute feast for the eyes, and literally ticked all the boxes. This dish isn't on the menu, but I'm sure you can request it... in fact, I highly recommend you ask for it - Apricot and Caramel Biscuit with Mascarpone, Honeycomb, Caramel Popcorn, Pistachio Fairy Floss, Mint and a drizzle of Honey. Absolutely ridiculous. I would drive all the way back to Dubbo (it's 5 1/2 hours from Sydney!) this weekend just to eat it again. It's pure perfection.

I'm in Dubbo a couple of times a year, and it's safe to say I'll be swinging past here again! What a great little cafe.

Cafe: Brigade Espresso Bar
Price (for 3ppl): Food $35; Beverages $13.30
Hours: 8am - 2pm
Must order: Apricot & Caramel biscuit, Mascarpone, Honeycomb & Pistachio Fairy Floss
Coffee: Suburban Coffee Roasters

two doors to tapas in dubbo

I spent the June long weekend in Dubbo visiting one of my best friends. It's always such a great trip going there, and to witness how their food scene is ever-evolving. There are a couple of 'go-to' restaurants and cafes, one of which is Two Doors Tapas and Wine Bar. Opening mid 2008, the restaurant combines recycled stone and brick interiors to bring Spanish-style tapas to the NSW countryside. The ambiance is relaxed yet busy; the staff a combination of laid-back, frantic and unfortunately rude.

Our booking (for three and a toddler) was 6pm - 7.30pm on a Saturday night, however they asked us to come at 5.45pm as they were expecting a busy night. The wine menu was fairly decent and sourced worldwide - we opted for the Maude Pinot Noir from Central Otago, New Zealand. We didn't get to 'taste' the wine, but luckily it was delicious!

As the restaurant is Tapas style, we ordered all our dishes at once and they came out in piecemeal. Our first dish was a half serving of the "Carnivore Board" - a share board that houses prosciutto, thinly sliced pancetta, gourmet salami, Danish fetta and sundried tomatoes. Nothing too special here. The meat was nice quality, but we only received the prosciutto and gourmet salami, and one sundried tomato each... The biscuits were traditional water biscuits you can get at the supermarkets.

Next up is one of my favourites, a full serving of Potato skins deep fried and seasoned in Two Doors spice, served with a herb and tomato sauce. Every time I come here I order this, or a variety of these (the menu changes each season). If you like salty chips, you will love these. Super tasty, big enough serving, and you can have on its own or with the tomato sauce.

We then had the full serve of the Seafood paella with tiger prawn, vongole clam, green muscles, peas and spicy chorizo sausage. This was an absolute disaster. We had to ask the staff whether we received the full serve, that's how tiny the dish was. Would hate to see what a half serve looks like! On top of that the paella was gluggy, had absolutely no taste, and unfortunately we didn't receive one piece of chorizo. Needless to say, this meal was not finished.

With mixed feelings, we were provided with our final fish for the evening. The full serve of Spice rubbed chicken breast with mild spiced chorizo sausage, roasted chickpeas and spanish onion, finished with sweet pedro sherry was actually really nice. The chickpeas were questionable, but I really liked this dish. Not much texture, but the flavours and serving size were great.

At 6.45pm we were asked by the owner whether "we needed the high chair for much longer as the family who had the 7.30pm booking had come early". Personally I thought this was the height of rudeness. We were still well within our booking time, we have a 15 month old baby with us sitting in the high chair still eating, our meals still hadn't been cleared and we had been trying to get their attention to order dessert. We told her we were almost done, and asked if we could order desserts to ensure we were out for 7.30pm... 30 minutes later, I went to the front desk to ask whether we could order our dessert (note our plates still hadn't been cleared). We didn't get out desserts until 7.40pm.

For dessert we ordered House-made churros, sprinkled with cinnamon sugar, accompanied by rich dark chocolate ganache. These are hands down the best churros in Australia. Absolutely delicious. Huge serving, thick churros, however the 'sprinkling' of cinnamon sugar was way over the top. I had to scrape some of the sugar off as it was a little too much. We also ordered the Two Doors renowned rocky road, served with vanilla bean ice-cream and the Sticky Date cheesecake special. The Rocky Road was nice, but a little too rich. The cheescake? Not quite sure this could ever work together, and unfortunately it didn't. One bite and the fate was sealed... they should never be combined again. Especially without the sticky date sauce.

This review is a tricky one. Two Doors has a unique position where it is the only decent restaurant in Dubbo. The buzzing atmosphere is only great if the staff can keep up, and unfortunately they simply can't. It's also worth noting that our table didn't get any water, despite asking for it. We had a terrible experience in both the food and wait staff, however I have been here a couple of times prior and had a great time. All I can say is that yes I would come back and eat here again, but I don't have high expectations. There is a perfect opportunity for another fantastic restaurant to enter the Dubbo scene, and fight for the competition. Until then...

Restaurant: Two Doors Tapas and Wine Bar
Price (for 3ppl): Food: $152; Beverages: $63
Hours: Lunch Tue - Fri from 4pm; Dinner Tue - Fri from 6pm; Sat from 10am; Closed Sun & Mon
Must order: Potato skins & Churros