We are back from an amazing coastal trip! Tanned this time. And I have to say that I take back my comment about not expecting any fine dining while we were away for not only did we sample lots of fresh fish we also had it very well cooked! We did cook for ourselves most of the trip to keep costs down and even then I couldn't really complain about the meals we threw together I don't really want to write about that when I could write about the nice food we had when we did eat out. I also want to rave about how much I love alfresco dining! We ate every meal, every day, outside, bar one when there wasn't a table outside. I love it!
The town of Coral Bay on Ningaloo Reef is tiny, we covered the main street in minutes and that includes checking the menus of the few places there were to eat in. We decided on Fin's Cafe because the menu was awesome and it was packed! Sure enough, at just after 6pm, we got the only table available! We enjoyed it so much that we made a reservation for the next day straight away to ensure a spot, I couldn't believe it as I watched the waitress disappear off and come back with an extra table from a coffee shop next door to add to their dining area! So encouraging to see a humble place in a tiny town be so absolutely buzzing all the time! And the cook was full of passion for his food too. Although some of it could have been different/better in my opinion (which isn't much) it is hard to fault someone who is making such a huge effort in a place that is hours and hours away from the nearest proper food store and is still making creative and fresh food every day. I loved that the menu was in chalk and they could alter it as the night went on and dishes ran out or they come up with new ones. It was on the wall and you had to go over to look at it before ordering.
The first night we started with a crab, prawn and avocado terrine. I was not a huge fan, not liking all the jelly stuff, but hubby wanted to try it. The garlic mayo helped a bit but I wouldn't order it again, he probably would.
I ordered the main for hubby and should have ordered it for myself but never mind! He got the last order of seared scallops with king prawn risotto, oh my! And we shared so it wasn't all that bad. The chalk board was immediately adjusted accordingly so no one was disappointed when they went to order it and were told they had run out, it just wasn't there any more!
This dish was perfect in every way. The scallops were perfectly cooked, the risotto was so freshly flavoured and winey and it all smelt divine before you even took a mouthful. I made a promise to myself to try and make risotto more el dente from now on because I tend to make it very mushy and creamy and almost stodgy, which we like, don't get me wrong, but I would like to try and make it like this too. The rice was sill in individual grains, I could taste the wine and all the fresh herbs so distinctly and then there were large prawns dotted through out it. The fresh tomatoes on the top gave it a lovely contrast.
I ordered seafood creamy/winey/garlicy linguine which was good but a little too creamy and lacking in the others, I think some more acid (wine) would have really cut the richness and made it more flavourful. I also added a lot of salt to it, which goes beyond me liking salt to the dish needing it I believe. That aside, the pasta was cooked well, it was absolutely packed with fresh fish and prawns etc, you could not fault them for being stingy on the seafood portions at all and it was topped with fresh baby spinach and diced tomatoes which again gave it a lovely finish and really changed the dish when I stirred them into it.
Like I already said, we booked a table for the following night then and there and because we had studied the menu I already knew what 'we' would order. We watched the sun set across the road from Fin's looking out over the ocean and then headed over for another great meal.
This time we started with chilli scented calamari.
I loved the bit of bite that the chilli gave the calamari and it wasn't over cooked as it can be sometimes. The salad it came on was fresh and interesting as far as salads go.
I had 'Fancy Fish and Chips' which was King Snapper, chips and salad and well worth the 'fancy' price tag! I would say that King Snapper is now one of my favourite fish ever. Such great flavour and texture, I am now on the look out for more King Snapper!
Hubby had the prawn stuffed soft shell crab, which I was hankering after and he ended up ordering and I was glad it worked out that way this time! It looked spectacular when it arrived...
The crab was very tasty though the prawns inside were a little too green oniony/gingery for my liking. It came on an Asian themed noodle salad, cold, which was where the dish didn't sit well with me, not that it was made poorly because it wasn't, it was incredibly well prepared and flavoured, I just wasn't feeling cold noodle salad and rarely ever am. It had peanuts, peppers, mandarin and fresh coriander and the sauce was peanutty/sweet/gingery, there were pieces of ginger decorating the plate even, almost candied but without the sugar coating if that makes sense? As hubby said later on, it was good but he would need to be in the mood to order it again, rather than it being a dish you can tell yourself you will enjoy eating if it were put in front of you, and that isn't meant to take anything away from the dish, like I said, it was great, just make sure you want a cold noodle salad with the spectacular crab because I would tend to see soft shell crab and ignore the rest of what the menu was saying!
At the end of the day we were hugely impressed with this little alfresco cafe in a tiny town. Full of passion and care and great food where you least expect it. There is nothing better than spending the day on the beach or on the ocean and coming back to shore to eat fresh seafood, yum!
I did hear a few concerns about the extent of fishing going on up there and am hoping that it doesn't get out of hand and affect the local eco-systems, after all, while I love eating seafood, my life doesn't depend on it like some creatures. One of which is the whale shark, which we had the privilege of swimming with while we were up there, an experience that was out of this world and left us on such a high and so humble at the same time. Ningaloo is such a hidden gem.
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