Pittwater Life December 2020 Issue

Tasty Dining Morsels Guide
Tasty Morsels
Former Starfish fare finds a
new home that fits it to a tee
Beach Road
2 Beach Rd, Palm Beach
Open: Tues-Sun, 11.30am-
2.30pm;
Wed, Fri, Sat, 5.30-8.30pm
(from December 1)
P: 9974 4079
Crispy duck leg and green
paw paw salad, sticky
lamb ribs with soy black
vinegar glaze and panko and
sesame crumbed eggplant
chips with tahini yoghurt
doesn’t sound much like your
average golf club menu.
Maybe it’s time to head up to
Palm Beach Golf Club. Mid-year,
the club decided to spruce
up the menu and turned to a
familiar face to bring a little
sparkle. Who better than Phil
Martin to take over the head
chef role?
For the past couple of years,
Martin has been working down
in Balgowlah where he opened
Tru Blu Mediterranean, but
it’s his time in Avalon that will
resonate with Pittwater locals.
If those Asian influences
ring any bells, Martin’s culinary
legacy is Starfish, which was a
hugely popular part of Avalon’s
dining scene for 12 years.
And it’s back. Beach House
is a transported Starfish 2.0
with 70 per cent of the old
menu. Other dishes are either
heavily influenced by it or have
been adapted to pump out the
number of dishes, Martin says.
Club crowd-pleasers still
get a nod. Skim over wagyu
burgers, wraps and beerbattered
fish for fussy tweens
and traditionalists, and the
excitement starts.
Simplicity is essential. Night
or day, Martin’s easy Asian slaw can be
quick-andcrunchy
cabbage, carrot,
plated up for a variety of
dishes on the menu. The
cucumber, sprout and
herb salad simply swaps
dressings. Chilli caramel
sweetens the crispy king
prawn salad and chilli
tamarind brings a certain
umami mouth-pucker to
the Thai beef salad.
The star of our lunch
is the grilled fish of the
day. It’s fish and chips
with a deliciously Asian
twist. It’s also another
favourite from the
Starfish Hall of Fame.
The barramundi is perfectly
cooked so it is soft and melty
and the skin is crispy. And
if you’re looking for quality,
mass-produced chips, these
waxy, twice-cooked chips come
close to deep-fried heaven.
They’re crunchy on the outside
and fluffy inside. Instead of
with Beverley Hudec
Tiny Morsels…
Beco chain is juiced
up for the summer
Beco’s three cafes in Mona Vale,
Avalon and Newport are all set
for summer with new fruit juices
and smoothies on the menu. Gym
Recovery and Beco’s Summer Juice
zing with healthy combinations that
include lemon, ginger, coconut water
and mango. Less-virtuous cafe goers
can have naughty treats like iced
chocolate and iced Nutella.
Parallel Roasters
perfect for home
Drip Coffee Traders’ main focus
is coffee. Instead of opting for
a Sydney artisan supplier, this
Collaroy Plateau cafe grinds
beans for the house white and
espresso blends from Brisbane
company Parallel Roasters. The
brand is available to take home,
too. Small 250g bags retail for
$16.50. The cafe also rotates
different single-origin coffee
each week for batch brews, iced
lattes and long blacks.
Sardinian ravioli
is pure Ambrosia
Ambrosia Food Creation is new to
Elanora Heights. This part bakery,
cafe and catering business showcases
traditional homemade food. Go
for sourdough loaves, cakes and
homemade pasta. Owner Francesca
Giglio is taking orders on culurgiones,
or Sardinian ravioli. Shaped like an ear
of wheat, they’re stuffed with mint,
cheese and potato.
Goan is good
at Spice Bazaar
Chefs Praba Karan and his wife
Nirup opened Spice Bazaar in
Narrabeen back in October 1999.
After 21 years, chicken tikka masala,
vegetarian samosas and tandoori
lamb cutlets remain local favourites.
The menu also has southern Indian
dishes like tamarind-spiked Malabar
fish curry and chicken Xacuti, a Goan
curry flavoured with coconut, chilli
and spices.
Tasty Dining Morsels Guide
a squeeze of sweet-vinegary Beach Road is a restaurant
tomato sauce, Martin makes an within a club, so it is functional
intensely satisfying chilli jam rather than fancy. Table service
using brown sugar, vinegar, is a welcome new addition.
mustard seeds, chilli, garlic No more pinging buzzers and
and ginger. It’s a thick, sticky queues at the counter do make
double-dip sauce that works it feel more like a restaurant.
beautifully with both the fish The best tables are on
and the chips.
the deck. And if you missed
Pan-fried barramundi morphs out on Starfish first time
into a more sophisticated, around, now’s the time to
same-priced dish on the evening enjoy Vietnamese spring
menu. No chips, aioli and Asians rolls, pork belly bao buns or
slaw here; this time it’s served the delectable blue swimmer
with Asian greens, chilli lime spanner crab omelette with
dressing, rice and peanuts. crisp shallots… at club prices.
82 DECEMBER 2020
The Local Voice Since 1991
Three of a kind: Summer Cocktails
Coastal Mexico comes to
Avalon at Alma, where
the Mexican restaurant
has new seasonal cocktails
(right) that brim with native
and sustainable ingredients.
Life’s A Peach is made
with homemade peach
liqueur steeped in vodka,
dessert wine and sugar.
Nothing is wasted; the
dehydrated peach skin ends
up as a garnish for the
cocktail.
The Local Voice Since 1991
Flower power salutes
summer at Jonah’s. This
pretty pink cocktail is made
with house-infused red berry
Belvedere vodka, lemon and
cloudy apple juice. That
intense pink colour comes
from hibiscus flower syrup.
The drink is served in a
martini glass and garnished
with a hibiscus flower and
berries. Ideal as a pre-lunch
or dinner drink on the
terrace.
Head to Avalon Beach and
you’ll find an American
brunch favourite. Beach
House at the surf club is
serving bottomless
mimosas on weekends.
Order the $25-a-head
special between 10.30 and
11.30am and you’ll have 90
minutes to enjoy the classic
combo of house bubbles
and orange juice. Perfect
with salmon tartare or fish
and chips.
DECEMBER 2020 83