Bell’s at Killcare: Take One!
“Honey you packed my cosmetics box didn’t you?” I ask Mr NQN.
“No” he says looking me alarmed.
“Haha very amusing” I say. Mr NQN is always joking around. Like. A. Fool. 
“No I’m serious, I haven’t” he says looking at me worried. This could be a case of boy who cried wolf but there’s something about the look he is giving me that makes me realise that my makeup and my skincare is actually sitting back at home.
Eeek!! I do a quick mental calculation and realise that it would take too long and be almost impossible to restock them so we make the wild trek back home across the city. I run inside and grab my vanity case and we head back out toward Bells at Killcare.
Bell’s at Killcare: Take Two!
The traffic crawls along until we get to the highway and we arrive in scenic Killcare in the Central Coast. As we left Sydney around 3pm along with it seems half of Sydney,it has taken us a little over two hours. I was given the iphone4 by Optus to test out the cooking applications (quick verdict: not as exciting as I thought it would be, I couldn’t find a recipe for a pork loin roast on any of the sites) so we thought that we’d use it as a GPS instead which works a treat.
We reach Bells at Killcare and the grounds are spacious and stunning. We drive to our suite and park the car in front. Our suite is more like a 1 bedroom cottage with a kitchenette and our own private patio. Inside it’s decorated in a white and blue beach house style. The pillow on the bed says “Unwind” and I drop my bags gratefully and obey. Legendary chef Stefano aka Steve Manfredi runs the restaurant here and he also arranges for the gourmet breakfast hampers.
I glance at the table and see four pieces of fruit and two packets of granola.
Mr NQN says” Umm is that the gourmet breakfast?”.
“Surely not” I answer. I then go the fridge where there is a hamper of goodies. There are all sorts of treats including organic orange juice, house baked bread (baked daily), free range eggs from the chickens on the property, bacon made by Pino Tomini-Foresti using hormone and antibiotic free Bangalow Sweet Pork, house made sausages (pork, sage, garlic and white wine) and house made jams, preserves and compotes. There is also Stefano Manfredi’s coffee.
In the bathroom there is a two person spa bath with two head rests and Aveda skincare products. There is also a fireplace to heat up the room which I assign Mr NQN to tend to. But I don’t have time to dawdle. I have to get ready for dinner!
We walk into the manor house and a smiling face greets us. “Lorraine?” Steve Manfredi says and greets us warmly. He explains that they have a table ready for us but if we would like to have a drink in the bar we can do so before dinner.
Peach bellini with olives and savoury shortbread
What better to have to kick off a weekend than a gorgeous peach bellini! We sip our delicious bellinis with mixed olives and buttery savoury shortbread biscuits. After relaxing we make our way into the main dining room and take a look at the menu. The maitre’d helps us with our selection as there are so many things that stand out.
Misto antipasto $26
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