Noods’ surprise bday trip to Hunter Valley part 1

the boy turned a quarter century on saturday and to celebrate i organised a surprise getaway to hunter valley with some high school friends. but being the super loving gf that i am (im still iffy on using the term fiance lol), i told noods that i had a market in hunter and he HAS to drive me heh =D

the sky it was preetty

heh noods giving me a pained smile. all week he was complaining ‘i dont want to drive 2 hours to go stand around selling biscuits!’

id told noods that before we went to the ‘market’ we’d stop and have lunch first. except then we got lost. so i had to ring mr baz and pretend i was talking to the restaurants reception and ask for directions…

Esca Bimbadgen (790 McDonalds Rd, Pokolbin) was fantastic with awesome food, extremely friendly service and looked so very impressive on the drive up.

i pushed noods into the restaurant towards our table and he thinks its a huge coincidence that our friends were there. with 2 empty seats. heh it took him a while to realise there was no market to go to.

i

noods and mr baz my partner in crime

boey with her trademark pose

mig ‘3rd string’ and me

matty likes his wine

and so do i

mmm matching wines for my entree, l-r: Bimbadgen Estate Semillion ’07, Bimbadgen Estate Pinot Gris ’08, Bimbadgen Estate Chardonay ’07

White Entree Tasting Plate ($32)

Gravlax of ocean trout with jerusalem artichokes, avocado, salmon roe & lemon caper dressing. bright and colourful, the thinly sliced cured ocean trout were delicious and the salmon roe fresh with briny salty goodness

Char grilled sumac calamari with couscous, preserved lemon, mint, almonds, yoghurt and harisssa. the calamari was so soft! absolutely nothing like its chewy, rubber band form that i normally associate it with.

Seared scallop with a fennel and saffron risotto. the fat, juicy scallop was cooked perfectly and he sat proudly atop a mound of tasty very moreish risotto

Sichuan spiced duck livers with a garlic chive pancake, smokey eggplant & a black vinegar dressing ($22). boey and mig shared this and i think they were glad they shared it cos it was huge and very rich!

Double baked gruyere souffle with an apple, walnut & chervil salad ($22). i wasnt feeling really hungry so i ordered an entree instead of a main and oh boy was it delicious! the souffle was soft and melty filled with cheesey goodness and went well with the refreshing apple salad

Salt & pepper barramundi with a cucumber, snake bean & lime salad ($36). noods ordered the aussie fish and while i found it a tad on the salty side he declared it tasty and cleaned off the whole plate

Quail ‘saltimbocca’ with roasted balsamic tomatoes & sage butter ($36).

Wood spit roasted duck with a braised witlof, ginger & mandarin ($36). the duck looks burnt but it was actually nicely caramelised and the skin was so delish!

Seared scallops with a fennel & saffron risotto ($36).

cheers! no dessert because we were a little pressed for time and wanted to hit some vineyards and cheese shops. we still hadnt told noods that we were staying overnight but instead told him we’d head back around dinner time to baz’s house.

because we wanted to surprise noods apparently baz did several laps around the carpark to find a space that wouldnt be in direct line of view of his distinctive numberplate and to be safe they even taped paper on the numberplate. heh the above foto was after lunch of noods pretending to be ditzy and not looking at baz as he ‘hides’.

Continued:
noods’ surprise bday trip to hunter valley part 2
noods’ surprise bday trip to hunter valley part 3
noods’ surprise bday trip to hunter valley part 4