Thank you Peter Sheppard for bringing fine dining to Wollongong!
As Wollongong's only hatted restaurant, as awarded by Sydney Morning Herald Good Food Guide 2010, we had high expectations for this regional restaurant.
Located on Keira Street in Wollongong CBD, the layout is nice and simple - clean white table clothes and uncluttered tables. A small an intimate restaurant with an upstairs dining room for more private occasions such as birthdays or dinner with a group of friends.
Caveau has a decent sized, seasonal menu and the wait staff are friendly, knowledgeable and attentive. The only complaint we have is that after over 3 visits to the restaurant and repeated requests, they still do not stock bottled still water =(
On our first visit to Caveau we enjoyed the following dishes:
Seared scallops with sweetcorn puree, braised witlof, crisp potato - this dish was light, airy and had amazing flavours.
Grain fed beef eye fillet with potato gallette, creamed spinach, snails and herb butter - the snails may put some people off but they were actually quite tasty, the texture a little firmer than mushroom and taking on the flavours of the dish. They were a great complement to the crispy potato.
Roasted breast and confit leg of duck with sauteed potato, walnuts, blueberries and preserved truffle - Delicious. The two ways of cooking gave different textures and flavours to the duck and the accompaniments complemented the flavours beautifully.
Chocolate pithivier with vanilla bean ice cream - having experienced such lovely dishes for entree and main, we had great hopes for the desert. However, whilst the vanilla bean ice cream was divine, the chocolate pithivier was ok, but not to the standard of the rest of the meal.
Visit 2
Sand whiting with scallop mousse, seared scallops, fennel and champagne veloute - beautiful flavours, fresh seafood, but a very small portion.
Australian venison loin with carrot puree, potato dauphinoise and boudin noir - This was amazing. I was left wanting more, mainly due to the delicious flavours but also due to the small portion size. Don't get us wrong, we are used to the smaller dishes served in degustation menus, but just another small piece of venison would have made this dish perfect.
Vanilla creme brulee with mandarin and passion fruit ice-cream - as we cracked the top and tasted the mix of crunchy brulee and velvety creme we knew this was the perfect end to a beautiful meal.
It is great to see a quality restaurant, producing great meals thriving in a regional area. Obviously the restaurant has won the hearts and stomachs of loyal diners, wishing to support local talent and will hopefully continue plating up delicious dishes for a long time. After a few visits we have decided we like the restaurant so much we have enrolled in one of their Sunday cooking Courses (post to come).
