Great food, live music and a relaxing atmosphere at Pearl Beach Cafe
IT’S a Saturday night and my wife Natasha and I have organised to have dinner with a few of our neighbours who, luckily, are also friends.
For my sins I have been left to choose a restaurant and make a booking.
While I am often happy with a local pub or club or our favourite Chinese restaurant, tonight I am feeling like a touch of class.
While I love my hometown Woy Woy, it is not exactly renowned for its trendy restaurants so I go further afield in my quest to find a venue for my injection of culinary class.
We are planning a few drinks and will be catching a taxi so we don’t want to go too far away.
Then an epiphany — how about the very stylish Pearl Beach just over the hill. I had heard some good reviews about great food and live music at the Pearl Beach Cafe. Right, the plan is made.
As we walk into the cafe we are immediately seduced by the candlelight and fairy lights and the soft vocals and acoustic guitar from talented musician, Sammi.
We were seated quickly and before long Dan and I were enjoying an ice cold Six Strings Pale Ale ($7) while the girls — Natasha, Mandy and Brenda — ordered a bottle of Abel’s Tempest Chardonnay from Tasmania ($36).
Not wanting to overdo the guiltless gluttony, we decided to share an Antipasto Plate ($18) — a delicious selection of cured meats and marinated roasted vegetables accompanied bypumpkin and sunflower seed sourdough. My favourite was the spicy salami, rich pesto, crumbly feta, and stuffed olives and peppers — the perfect accompaniment to my favourite beer.
We also shared a garlic bread ($8) as we perused the menu to choose our mains.
I could not go past the rack of ribs with the cafe’s “secret” barbecue sauce, chat potatoes and onion rings ($32). Natasha and Dan also elected to join in my rib mania and we were not disappointed. These were the most tender pork ribs I had ever eaten. You just had to look at your plate and the meat fell off the bone. And we washed it down with a Valley of the Giants cabernet merlot from Western Australia ($32).
I was glad Natasha talked the waiter into an extra plate of onion rings as they were delicious, dipped in the “secret” barbecue sauce.
Brenda — who ordered the Fisherman’s Delight ($33) — fell silent for some time as she attempted to make a dent in the succulent selection of fresh and cooked seafood including smoked salmon, prawns, salt and pepper squid and fish fillets.
Meanwhile, Mandy was very satisfied with the pasta of the day — linguine in a chicken and bacon boscaiola ($24).
There was no way we could fit in dessert but we could not resist the temptation of the cafe’s beautiful chocolate brownies so we decided to take some home for later.
The cafe, owned by Kevin and Jenny McCunn, delivered a tick in every box — fresh, tasty food, generous servings, a great wine list, excellent service and a very relaxing atmosphere.
HOW IT RATED
Food: 4.5/5
Service: 5/5
Value: 4.5/5
Atmosphere: 5/5
Total: 19/20
TRY IT FOR YOURSELF
Where: Pearl Beach Cafe, 1 Pearl Pde, Pearl Beach
Hours: 8am-2.30pm (Mon-Fri), 8am-10pm (Sat), 8am-3pm (Sun)
Details: 4343 1222 or www.pearlbeachcafe.com
Source: The Daily Telegraph / Central Coast Gosford Express Advocate, Mark Nolan, 25th September 2015
Originally published as: Great food, live music and a relaxing atmosphere at Pearl Beach Cafe
