Birthdays, FOOD, Food reviews, Friends, Uncategorized SURPRIISE BIRTHDAY DINNER @ THE BOATHOUSE 1 November 2007



The Boathouse
Ferry Road
Glebe, NSW 2037
$$$$$

“I’ll pick you up at 6:30 after work”, he said. This also just so happened to be the evening of my birthday (31 Oct).. so of course I went “Oooooh!!” He’d hinted that friends may be invited, so I poked around best I could to get someone to spill the beans on who’s going, and where it was. Unfortunately, my friends are rather good at keeping secrets and convinced me that they knew nothing about the dinner, nor were invited.

So at 6:30pm, I hopped into the car and we picked up one of the girls, then headed to The Boathouse. Oooooooooh!! I’d only been there once, years ago when an agency took me there for a lunch. I remembered the food was blimmin’ fantastic with gorgeous views, but just hadn’t had the chance to go back. ‘Til now πŸ˜› The restaurant is an expansive open room that looks out across Blackwattle Bay at the fish markets and the city behind, or left towards the stunning Anzac Bridge… and are famous for their awesome modern Australian food.

Mid-way, came the next surprise: call from my parents! Well, I kinda knew the surprise in the car, because the original plan was for Chris to call mum & dad on his phone then pass the phone to me. But his phone died so they called me directly instead πŸ˜› It was soooo nice to hear from them, right during my birthday dinner! It’s one of the most thoughtful things anyone has done for me πŸ™‚

The service is probably the only not-so-great thing about the restaurant. Whilst professional and polished, it lacked that certain element of warmth and general friendliness. Much to our disgust, Chris had planned to surprise me with a Tiramisu birthday cake (ok, that wasn’t the ‘disgust’ part, that was the ‘swoon’ part!) but they point-blank refused to cut/serve the cake.. saying “you can order dessert instead”. Bloody hell! ;(

Fortunately, the food was really fine and absolutely delish, especially their star dish, the Snapper Pie. We went a little crazy with the oysters at the start too, and polished off the meal with some decadent desserts. It was a beautiful meal, downed with some beautiful wines, and amongst beautiful friends πŸ™‚


The Boathouse

Interior

Happy as a clam

Hee!!

Beautiful people

Rose wine: Longview “The Boathouse” Nebbiolo Adelaide Hills SA 2007 (AU$49)
White wine: errrr.. some Reisling that I forgot πŸ˜›

Bread. Not terribly exciting since the butter was plain.

The Boathouse are famous for their freshly-shucked, juicy oysters.
They were divine!! We ended up with 2 platters πŸ˜›

At ~$4 each, they don’t come cheap though..

Ocean Trout Roe with Potato Blinis, Wasabi & Creme Fraiche (AU$45)
This was ridiculously $$$$$$$$$4 but was just WOW.

I’ve never tasted this mix of flavours before in my entire life *swoons*

Looking rather snotty

Busy eating our caviar & blinis

Random table shot

Me and a girl friend

French friends!

Roast Tasmanian Southern Rock Lobster with Soy Beurre Noisette (AU~$100)
The lobster was tender, juicy and sweet. Ahhhhh!!!!

Roast Blue Eye Trevalla from Browns Mountain with Broccolini, Eschallot, Preserved Lemon & Oyster Salt (AU$41)
Very lovely and healthy, but I think I prefer creamier, richer dishes πŸ˜‰

Dishing out our Snapper Pie

Snapper Pie with Smoked Tomato & Mashed Potato (AU$45)
BEST DISH OF THE NIGHT. The rich buttery truffle-infused flavour was awesome!

Mixed Leaf & Cress Salad with Banyuis Vinegar Dressing (AU$8)

Hand Cut Fries, Fennel and Lemon Salt (AU$10)

Double Chocolate Pudding, Strawberries, Chantilly Cream & Chocolate Ice Cream (AU$18)

Grilled Mango Sorbet, Mango Pannacotta, Mango Sushi Rice (AU$18)

Petit Fours

All the girls

My wonderful friends

Thank you for organising such a wonderful birthday! πŸ™‚


Let’s Chat!




Let's Chat!

Whoo! Looks like an awesome night! But OMG, so expensive!! Yet, mmmm, the food looks SO good! Wonderful for a special event! πŸ˜€

But yes, totally BOO on them for not serving the cake!!!

omg i HATE it when places are that snotty and refuse to cut the cake or have the nerve to charge $$$ to cut the cake for you! That’s so cheap of them, like cmon its a birthday celebration. how dare you not cut the cake? I had a similiar experience too with my friend we had to go elsewhere for the cake cutting and such. But it looks like you had a happy birthday, so that is good…hmmmm oysters….

It was so $$ but really good :)~
sorry aboutnot replying to your email yet, my inbox is crazy full! But SO GOOD to hear the good news *hugs*

Hey There!

First let me say Happy Belated Birthday! Are you and Chris back together? I know I have been missing in action for a while but as soon as things settle I will update my lj! But it seems you had a great time and the food as always looks so good!

Happy belated birthday! πŸ™‚ the restaurant looks amazing – i better start jotting down all these fab places so i’ll know where to head for food when i go down to sydney again heh.

Whoo! Looks like an awesome night! But OMG, so expensive!! Yet, mmmm, the food looks SO good! Wonderful for a special event! πŸ˜€

But yes, totally BOO on them for not serving the cake!!!

What a wonderful celebration and the food looks absolutely delicious!

And I’m dying to find out about the happy story between you and Chris. πŸ™‚

Wow, the food looks fantastic and you look so happy! πŸ™‚ I am glad you had a great time. Chris certainly does know how to treat a woman πŸ˜‰

The caviar was amazing! Merrill and I almost always order the same dishes when we go to the Boathouse: oysters, snapper pie and the rocket & pear salad. At least now we have an extra dish to order! :p

What is up with my face? Looks like I had some bizarre facial twitch.

That being said, glad you had a great time πŸ™‚ I know I did. Gosh, it feels like ages since I’ve had Oysters so they really hit the spot. I must go buffet’ing soon to get my Oyster fill.

Sucks to the restaurant with their no external cake policy though. Tres silly…

You and Erica look fab in the top pic I reckon, thanks to the awesome photographer *nudge*
It was a fun night, just wish it was a Sat the next day!

Dang… I guess trying to bring a cake into a fine dining establishment probably isn’t the same as bringing your own cake into Lonestar or The Outback Steakhouse… πŸ˜›

omg i HATE it when places are that snotty and refuse to cut the cake or have the nerve to charge $$$ to cut the cake for you! That’s so cheap of them, like cmon its a birthday celebration. how dare you not cut the cake? I had a similiar experience too with my friend we had to go elsewhere for the cake cutting and such. But it looks like you had a happy birthday, so that is good…hmmmm oysters….

It was so $$ but really good :)~
sorry aboutnot replying to your email yet, my inbox is crazy full! But SO GOOD to hear the good news *hugs*

Hey There!

First let me say Happy Belated Birthday! Are you and Chris back together? I know I have been missing in action for a while but as soon as things settle I will update my lj! But it seems you had a great time and the food as always looks so good!

Happy belated birthday! πŸ™‚ the restaurant looks amazing – i better start jotting down all these fab places so i’ll know where to head for food when i go down to sydney again heh.

What a wonderful celebration and the food looks absolutely delicious!

And I’m dying to find out about the happy story between you and Chris. πŸ™‚

Wow, the food looks fantastic and you look so happy! πŸ™‚ I am glad you had a great time. Chris certainly does know how to treat a woman πŸ˜‰

The caviar was amazing! Merrill and I almost always order the same dishes when we go to the Boathouse: oysters, snapper pie and the rocket & pear salad. At least now we have an extra dish to order! :p

What is up with my face? Looks like I had some bizarre facial twitch.

That being said, glad you had a great time πŸ™‚ I know I did. Gosh, it feels like ages since I’ve had Oysters so they really hit the spot. I must go buffet’ing soon to get my Oyster fill.

Sucks to the restaurant with their no external cake policy though. Tres silly…

You and Erica look fab in the top pic I reckon, thanks to the awesome photographer *nudge*
It was a fun night, just wish it was a Sat the next day!

Dang… I guess trying to bring a cake into a fine dining establishment probably isn’t the same as bringing your own cake into Lonestar or The Outback Steakhouse… πŸ˜›