A lovely Calmbirth weekend away in Bowral, with a 4 course fine dining experience at Biota? Sign me up!
I did not expect to find somewhere that would remind me of Mugaritz this weekend, but Biota Dining did. A simple exterior housed a room that exuded warmth - from the quail egg on straw decoration on each table, to the suspended tree in the middle of the room, you could tell immediately that this would be somewhere different. And lots of small plates to share is my favourite style of dining.
P and I chose the 4 course menu (really choosing 8 dishes to share :-), which was great value at $84 (maybe we have spent too long with Sydney prices?).
Amuse: Trout Jerky
This was moreish - P (a jerky afficionado) said he could have eaten this as his entire meal.
House-made sourdough (warm!)and house-churned butter
I have a thing for warm bread, and sourdough. Combine this with fresh butter .. delicious!!
Cuttlefish with ink, celery, chilled oyster creme, sea lettuce and cucumber
I loved this. The squid was cooked perfectly, and the balance of interesting textures and flavours worked well.
Brined tuna belly, garlic, tomato, bronze fennel, toasted seeds
Another great, and delicate dish.
Sea prawn, rice porridge, cabbage, clam and periwinkle juices
Probably our least favourite. The prawn was too "fishy" - although I loved the modern take on congee.
Buckwheat dumplings, spinach, goat's milk, creamed sweet corn, eggplant
Nom. Simple but delicious.
Truffled onion shells
A step up from ubiquitous onion rings - and oh-so-much better.
Lamb rump and belly, heirloom carrots, farro, hazelnuts and olives
One of our favourites. The nutty base worked well with the tender lamb - and the carrots really tasted like carrots!
Charred hangar, licorice caramel, blackened carrot, horseradish, rappe
P found this a little dry, but I really liked it - full of flavour.
Warm molasses sponge, pear, malt powder, burnt butter ice cream
Delicious ...
Chocolate, salted caramel, horseradish, ginger juice sorbet, aero
Standout dessert - P inhaled this in a few seconds. The caramel worked so well with ginger and chocolate.
Overall, the food and service were excellent, and the innovative techniques combined with local produce would make me recommend this as a weekend trip. Our waitress asked us if how long we'd like to wait in between courses, and whether there was a particular order of courses we'd like to eat - it felt like this was really tailored to the dining experience we wanted.
Our one gripe was that one of the truffled onion shells had dough that had not been fried, but that was really a minor issue in what was otherwise an impeccable evening.
Two thumbs up from us!
Biota Dining
18 Kangaloon Road
Bowral
(www.biotadining.com)
I did not expect to find somewhere that would remind me of Mugaritz this weekend, but Biota Dining did. A simple exterior housed a room that exuded warmth - from the quail egg on straw decoration on each table, to the suspended tree in the middle of the room, you could tell immediately that this would be somewhere different. And lots of small plates to share is my favourite style of dining.
P and I chose the 4 course menu (really choosing 8 dishes to share :-), which was great value at $84 (maybe we have spent too long with Sydney prices?).
Amuse: Trout Jerky
This was moreish - P (a jerky afficionado) said he could have eaten this as his entire meal.
House-made sourdough (warm!)and house-churned butter
I have a thing for warm bread, and sourdough. Combine this with fresh butter .. delicious!!
Cuttlefish with ink, celery, chilled oyster creme, sea lettuce and cucumber
I loved this. The squid was cooked perfectly, and the balance of interesting textures and flavours worked well.
Brined tuna belly, garlic, tomato, bronze fennel, toasted seeds
Another great, and delicate dish.
Sea prawn, rice porridge, cabbage, clam and periwinkle juices
Probably our least favourite. The prawn was too "fishy" - although I loved the modern take on congee.
Buckwheat dumplings, spinach, goat's milk, creamed sweet corn, eggplant
Nom. Simple but delicious.
Truffled onion shells
A step up from ubiquitous onion rings - and oh-so-much better.
Lamb rump and belly, heirloom carrots, farro, hazelnuts and olives
One of our favourites. The nutty base worked well with the tender lamb - and the carrots really tasted like carrots!
Charred hangar, licorice caramel, blackened carrot, horseradish, rappe
P found this a little dry, but I really liked it - full of flavour.
Warm molasses sponge, pear, malt powder, burnt butter ice cream
Delicious ...
Chocolate, salted caramel, horseradish, ginger juice sorbet, aero
Standout dessert - P inhaled this in a few seconds. The caramel worked so well with ginger and chocolate.
Overall, the food and service were excellent, and the innovative techniques combined with local produce would make me recommend this as a weekend trip. Our waitress asked us if how long we'd like to wait in between courses, and whether there was a particular order of courses we'd like to eat - it felt like this was really tailored to the dining experience we wanted.
Our one gripe was that one of the truffled onion shells had dough that had not been fried, but that was really a minor issue in what was otherwise an impeccable evening.
Two thumbs up from us!
Biota Dining
18 Kangaloon Road
Bowral
(www.biotadining.com)
