S Haslam
I took a couple of pics at my pre-opening meal last week at Tweed River House, due to open this week. Expect beautiful, stylish interiors, a view from the deck over the Tweed River to Mt Warning, relaxed friendly vibe to the service, great food and a very good wine list. I thought the Thierry Anjou (Loire, chenin blanc) chosen for me was an excellent white for the afternoon, but if you want to pay $250 for a bottle, or drink by the glass from $12, you can.
Head chef Joseph McGrattan also has Gareth Hughes in the kitchen with him, and whilst the emphasis is, of course, on local seasonal, sustainable food, they actually mean it. I had a five-course vegetarian meal with too many highlights to mention (oh all right: baby fennel, smoked beetroot, roast artichokes, saute mushrooms from a supplier I’d never heard of, anise myrtle and garlic butter). Four of my dishes were also gluten free, making it easy, and so were three of the five dishes from the meat/seafood menu (it looked like the lobster was pretty popular).
As the afternoon wore on, cows emerged on the slopes of the distant paddocks towards Mt Warning, and the sun shone through my dessert, the ‘hot toddy’ which contains rum from the local Husk distillery up the road.
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