It’s been a bit over a week since Eat Drink Blog 6 has finished. In my roundup of my 15 favourite things about Eat Drink Blog 6 I mentioned I wanted to do a separate post about the experience at The Boathouse by the Lake.
The Boathouse is one of my favourite Canberra restaurants for fine dining. The Boathouse was an option for the final session of the conference and we had to provide our preferences well in advance. Given I don’t drink alcohol I wasn’t that interested in the brewery or the winery visits. I would have been happy with coffee, but really I had my heart set on The Boathouse. It seems I wasn’t alone, Amanda Whitley said The Boathouse was the popular choice amongst all the delegates. I’m just so grateful I got my first choice.
As we arrived on the bus with Amanda as our leader we were escorted to the main verandah for a drink and some canapes. The view of Lake Burley Griffin was pretty good for an overcast day.
The session would consist of lunch during which we would enjoy a cooking demonstration. We met the owner, James Souter, two chefs John Leverink and Alex O’Brien and the sommelier Kate Hibberson. James explained how he and his wife came to own The Boathouse purchasing the restaurant from James’ father.
The first dish was a raw tuna, avocado and wasabi jelly entrée. We were treated to a new ingredient in wasabi sesame seeds which John explained he sourced from the Good Grub Hub. This stuff is dynamite. They’re on twitter too.
A slight digression, Simone from Play with food found out how to mail order the wasabi sesame seeds and shared the information with me through twitter. The Hungry Mum aka Belinda also got into the twitter conversation and ‘threatened’ to buy up all the wasabi sesame seeds. I felt my happiness was at risk so I immediately placed an order for three bottles. I’ll keep two and give one to a friend.
@Yummy_Lummy @TheBoatHouseBTL @playwithfood_au #grabsCreditCard #BuysAllTheWasabiSesameSeeds
— The Hungry Mum (@Thehungrymum) October 21, 2015
I suggest you follow Simone, Belinda and me on twitter and you can see how the conversation has developed over a week.
Back to The Boathouse. The entrée was fabulous.
The main course was a lovely duck breast.
I think everyone was taken by the dessert. This is an Alex O’Brien creation which he and John said is a controversial element of the menu. Apparently people love it or hate it. The chefs love it so it stays on the menu. I loved it too.
I’d highly recommend The Boathouse by the Lake to any food lover living in or visiting Canberra.
Tonight I used some of the wasabi sesame seeds on my baked salmon with wilted kale, peas, corn, almonds, shallots, spring onions, lemon zest, chilli flakes and wasabi sesame seeds
I received my wasabi sesame seeds today. Thanks to John Leverink and Simone Emery.
The boathouse looked amazing! I will have to jump on and see if I can grab some of those sesame seeds too.
Go for it Shari. They’re quite good.
Looks really nice!
Thank you 😀 It was a delicious time 🙂
what a great trip down memory lane! Shouldn’t have read this on a fasting day- tummy is now rumbling 😉 Fab photos, amazing food and great company – what a tops day.
Oh noes, I forgot about fasting Monday. Good thing it’s now Tuesday 😀
Great post Gary! It was a brilliant experience. I need to get me some of those wasabi sesame seeds too. Your baked salmon looks delicious! Omnom
Thanks Chrissy. The wasabi sesame seeds are easy to order. I got mine in the post pretty quickly.
Great Post 🙂 Especially for those who took cupping instead… I would have loved to be there. I will one day.
Thanks so much for this great address: The Good Grub Hub. I soooo want those sesame seeds now. I just bought miso coated wasabi in a store in Sydney 🙂 But those…. Oh my!
Flore, these wasabi sesame seeds really have a nice heat to them. A great condiment for so many dishes I reckon especially fish like salmon and tuna.
I will definitely follow your advice and buy some.
I hope you enjoy them
Great review.
Its definitely on my list to take hubby to on our next trip to Canberra. Loved it!
Thanks Simone. I thought I would wait until I got my wasabi sesame seeds before I posted 😀