Norfolk Island
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I spent the last four days in Norfolk Island. This was a follow up trip to the week I spent there in December.
Olive Café
This time I was there for three nights. I stayed in a different place and rather than eat a continental breakfast at the motel, my work colleagues and I elected to enjoy breakfast at The Olive Café.
The Olive Burnt Pine 2899, Norfolk Island Telephone number +672 24406
Wednesday 15 January 2020
Eggs Benedict
The Eggs Benedict with bacon was really good. Nicely poached eggs with no vinegar aftertaste. Soft runny yolk. Tasty bacon. Best of all the bread did not require a steak knife to cut it.
Thursday 16 January 2020
Savoury mince on toast with two poached eggs
The savoury mince was good. It reminded me of leftover mince on toast when I was a boy. The poached eggs meant, the soft runny yolk could co-mingle with the mince juices and add to the creamy mouthfeel. The rocket was quite a bitter contrast in taste and highlighted the comforting taste of the mince, egg yolk, and butter on the toast.
It’s not common to see savoury mince in the trendy hipster cafés of Canberra. I think it should be introduced.
Friday 17 January 2020
Vegemite on toast
After three nights of full service meals, on Friday morning, I could feel my trousers were fitting a little more tightly. As much as I would have killed a plate of bacon, poached eggs, and buttered toast, I vacillated between granola and Vegemite on toast. I noted that “Merv’s honey” wasn’t available. Apparently Merv’s bees make the best honey on the island. I went with Vegemite because only the ignorant don’t like Vegemite 🤪 right?
The amount of butter provided was prodigious and even for a butter lover like me, I only used a small fraction of what was provided. It’s a pity it was probably wasted.
Hilli Restaurant & Café
The flight across from Brisbane to Norfolk Island had a large tour group on board. What we didn’t expect was that making reservations could prove difficult.
We all loved Hilli Restaurant & Café but we didn’t anticipate we’d eat there two nights consecutively.
Hilli Restaurant & Café Queen Elizabeth Ave, 2899, Norfolk Island Telephone +672 3 24270
Tuesday 14 January 2020
Kingston Pork belly $38
Slow roasted pork belly garnished with a wedge of crispy crackling and complimented by a port and plum jus.
Just simply delicious. The serving size was great and puts local Canberra restaurants to shame. It also puts to shame the restaurants I’ve dined at in Melbourne too when I’ve eyed pork belly only to be disappointed by a sliver of pig muscle.
The crackling was perfect. The jus was delicate yet flavourful. I’d happily eat this again.
Baked lemon curd tart $16
This is a traditional lemon curd in a coconut biscuit base served with a mixed berry coulis and a mango coulis. Three of us asked for this and none of us were disappointed.
Wednesday 15 January 2020
Duck liver pâté $19
The Chef’s fragrant house made duck liver pâté is served with what I think are sweet pickled accompaniments and toasted crostini.
I love offal, and pâté is one of my favourite things. I wasn’t expecting this to be served at refrigerator temperature but it makes sense otherwise the fat cap of what I assume to be duck fat would be gelatinous or even liquid. This was a perfect starter. Note this is not safe for people who suffer from gout.
Simon’s Waters lamb shank $39
This is a slowly braised New Zealand lamb shank, with a fragrant Mediterranean vegetable based Ragout with hints of rosemary, olive oil and tomato encrusted in a golden flaky puff pastry.
This is a great way to serve a lamb shank which, let’s face it, can be a bit boring. One of my colleagues mentioned he would give this a try the next time he made lamb shank.
Hilli Chocolate Hazelnut Tart $16
This had a crumbly and delicious hazelnut and coconut base topped with a Belgium chocolate filling and wedded to a crumbled honeycomb.
Bounty Bar & Grill
A relatively new iteration of what we were told is a reinvention of a restaurant.
Bounty Bar & Grill 14 Ferny Lane, 2899, Norfolk Island
Thursday 16 January 2020
Local Norfolk Island Rump steak with chips, honey carrots, and béarnaise sauce.
I asked for rare but the steak was delivered to the table medium. It was still tender and had a good flavour to it. The chips were okay. The béarnaise sauce was good.
My other concern is that it tool more than two hours for the meals to arrive.
Trio of ice cream
On my menu this was written as Tnoof Ice cream 😂🤪
The ice creams were vanilla, chocolate, and white chocolate.
The Olive Branch at the Norfolk Island Golf Course
The Olive Branch is a branch of the Olive Cafe (see above) and is the café for the Norfolk Island Golf Course.
Each week is themed.
Norfolk Island Golf Club, 1 Quality Row, Kingston 2899, Norfolk Island Telephone +672 3 23603
Caesar salad with smoked fish
The theme was gravy with advice that on Norfolk Island, gravy is cream.
This sort of baffled me and my work colleagues.
Anyway, I asked for anchovies and there were no anchovies. The Caesar salad was okay. It could have been better of there was more Caesar salad dressing. For a gravy or cream theme, it seemed to be lacking the cream…
The view was pretty good.
Flight food.
I flew between Canberra and Brisbane on Qantas and then between Brisbane and Norfolk Island with Air New Zealand. The meals on Air New Zealand were okay. The breakfast on the Qantas flight was pretty good too.
Final thoughts
- What did you think of the offerings I enjoyed?
- Do you mind eating at the same place on consecutive nights?
- Did you like that I tried to eat as much local meat, fish, and produce as possible?
You get around Gary!
Oddly enough, I travel a lot less now than what I did when I was living in Darwin. In that job I was away for a few nights at least every two to three weeks.
Excellent choice of eats Gary. I hope you, friends, and loved ones are all safe from the devastation the fires are leveling against the Great Downunder. We are all praying for Australia and our Aussie friends.
Thanks Daniel. It’s been a trying summer and yesterday three US aerial firefighters died when their C130 crashed and killed all onboard. So far six firefighters have died this bushfire season. We are grateful for the sacrifice of life and time from friends in the US, Canada and NZ who have come across to help.
Where I live in Canberra has been under threat in parts. Many of my work colleagues have either lost property or know someone close who has lost property. Thanks for your thoughts and prayers.
I can’t imagine the depth of heartache for all the losses. I do know that Australia is a strong nation because of its people.
Thanks Daniel.
All the best Gary!
When traveling, I don’t mind eating at the same place on consecutive nights, if the food is good. Looks like you enjoyed some very tasty dishes!
I ate very well while on the island 😃👍
Welcome back Gary! I’m confused by the gravy cream part a bit. Is there cream in every dish (some dishes like the caesar) don’t have cream and yours didn’t. How quirky!
It was really odd Lorraine. When I looked at the other meals my work colleagues had there was neither gravy nor cream on their meals either. I think it must just be a quirky thing to the Olive Branch at the golf course. It was a gorgeous view though from the table we had outside on the deck. I could easily sit there all afternoon and chat with friends.
Great meals. One day, I’d like to try vegemite. I understand the secret is to butter your toast liberally and spread just a very THIN layer of vegemite over the top. 🙂
That’s exactly right. It is all you need to get the salty taste.
Gorgeous! 👁👁🍃
Thank you very much Gail 😃
You must have packed on a ton of weight with all that lovely food! The golf course looks great.
I came back with an extra two kilograms.
I agree: eating locally raised food is important. I love eggs Benedict.
I like your idea of eating locally, Gary. We need to support the locals and everything else good about buying locally.
Thank you very much Irene 😃
It’s so important
What a wonderful week of eating – the eggs benedict, pork belly and savoury mince dishes appealed to me. (I’ve never heard of that as a ‘thing’). It is a good thing to seek out restaurants and cafes that offer locally sourced produce.
It really was very good. I’m not sure if I’ll be back but there are more items on the menu at the places we ate at 😃👍