holiday part 4 - lunch

http://www.eatingwa.com.au/restaurants/goanna-gallery/

The only memorable lunch i had (i should qualify that by saying the only GOOD memorable lunch I had - we had lunch at the Sea Gardens in Prevelley and it was not good) was at the Goanna Gallery and Cafe in Dunsborough. We had already survived one unsuccessful attempt to find it earlier in the week and I was ready to give it a miss frankly, but was assured again and again by my old bud that it was WELL worth the trip...... so we headed off for a second try.

It was a bit of a mission to find it - by which i mean we packed the car up with all our crap and two squids (not crap) and headed out of Prevelley. First we drove to Marg River and then to Edible Art to drop the cake base off and then back to Marg River and out again to Caves Road.. then squid 1 said she was thirsty so we drove back to Prevelley to get water, back to Caves Road FOR THE 700TH TIME and drove about a hundred miles towards Yallingup - then we turned down the wrong road and turned back and by the time we eventually found it (off Comonage Road) I was at the point of THIS HAD BETTER BE F**KEN GOOD!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Luckily it was. Better than good. In fact it was the best food I've eaten in a long time.

First up it was friendly looking - lots of outside undercover tables, a playground with loads of play stuff in a sandpit so that squid 1 and squid 2 could play while we ate. Inside it had a massively clean and yummy looking cake fridge with rocky road (dark, milk and white chocolate varieties) and about 7 other really really ace looking home made cakes - not the usual crappy ones you find haunting the cafes of Perth and elsewhere. It had good coffee. It has a little gallery and shop where you can buy yummy natural body products. I ordered a ploughmans lunch for Director Chick, a ham n cheese toastie for squid 1 and a tasting plate for me. WELL! everyone elses lunch paled into oblivion as i hunched over my lunch (assuming the position i like to call it) GOD IT WAS GOOD. There was a house baked beer loaf to tear up and slather with things like home-made tapenade and tomato relish and a big chunk of cheese - there were ginger chicken wings (2) that had been marinated in soy and ginger and garlic and oils, a roulade of chicken which was stuffed with something (this was heaven on a stick), caremalized chorizo, roasted balsamic tomatoes, a little green salad with some persian feta... more was there more? And you know how in other cities you buy something and you feel ripped off cos you paid tooooo much and got crap? This was the opposite. $22 for my tasting plate and there was no way i could finish it all. And the flavours! Crikey! The service was great too - casual and friendly, not fussy or pretentious, but efficient. So there you go. I nearly cried when i realised that i live almost 4000 miles north of this place - Director Chick pointed out a bush block for sale over the road and so i am buying it and moving to Dunsborough to be close to my new grrlfriend, Goanna.