Restaurants of the Hunter

A pretty grandiose title when all we went to were two but they maintained the high standard of restaurants we have become used to on this trip. On the Friday night we went to the Cracked Pepper and on Saturday night we ventured to the Leaves and Fishes. I think the former was fairly near Pokolbin which you could argue is in the heart of the lower Hunter and the latter was between Cessnock and Brandock more on the northern edge of the Lower Hunter.

Neither restaurant was a grand or elegant set up though the Leaves and Fishes was in a very pleasant setting. At both the food was very good, well prepared and well presented. Service was good at both and personality wise was excellent at the second. The Leaves and Fishes was run by Sharon and two of her three children, Jacob and Madeleine. They were very good at handling the punters, lightly irreverent but all the time able to discuss knowledgeably the food and how it is sourced and prepared. Oh yes and they were not afraid to make recommendations.

The menu at the Cracked Pepper was pretty general and I had a stand out starter based on quail. The main, as it is called down here, was pork belly which was also very good and only suffered by being too large. On the other hand the Leaves and Fishes is overtly a fish restaurant given away by its name and the great big man made fish pond in front of the restaurant. The stand out there was the seafood bucket along with the oysters.

There is a great tradition of BYO (Bring Your Own) in Australian restaurants. Indeed in many restaurants unless this custom existed you would not get wine with your meal as many restaurants do not have Liqueur Licence . We availed ourselves of this custom in both restaurants and made good in actually drinking, as opposed to tasting, Di and Peters’ Waverley Estate wines. On the Friday we drank the 93 Hermitage followed by the 91 Cabernet Sauvignon,, both went very well with what I was eating with perhaps the Hermitage being just a touch overpowering for the quail. On Saturday we started with a 2000 Semillon followed by the 200 Chardonnay. Both were really good and gone in the bat of an eye. We followed these with I think a 98 Cabernet Sauvignon and a 2000 Cabernet Sauvignon. Again, they were really good wines. Indeed you could argue too good after already consuming two very good whites between the four of us.

It would be fair to say the Saturday evening was the more memorable because of the Saturday night crowd and the very charismatic service of the Leaves and Fishes. I am splitting hairs a bit because I am certainly up for either at any time.

www.leavesandfishes.com
www.cracked-pepper.com.au