“Feel free to jump in the water” Jane says to us as we stare mesmerized at the view from our table at The Janning Tree. Sometimes when you travel and are in a hurry, you look around, realise that there is something special going on where you are and just sit and stay for a while. And that’s what happened to the lovely Julie and I this sunny afternoon at The Jaaning Tree.
Chef Clayton Donovan
Situated right on Nambucca River, Jane, the maitre’d and wife of chef Clayton Donovan tells us that often between service they go for a dip in the river to cool off. And the lifestyle is partly why they have moved back to Nambucca Heads where he grew up because he wants his kids to experience the life that he had growing up.
Orange native bush limes
The water is served with native bush lime which resemble a tiny orange or mandarin but is in fact like a salty lime (perfect for a cocktail!)
Freshly shucked Nambucca River oysters: Asian $16 half dozen and Natural $14 half dozen
Of course we had to try the local Nambucca Heads oysters. The natural oysters are lovely and we use the native wild lime from our drinks to give it a fresh kick. The Asian ones however with pickled and fresh ginger, coriander and wasabi are the pick with a lovely balance of flavours and a delicate hand. The salad in the entree is also a nice complement to the oysters and features violas and nasturtiums from their home garden as well as apple berry flower which is a native fruit that kangaroos like.
Clayton picked some up nearby and he tells us that as kangaroos like it so much, if you find kangaroo tracks then there is a chance that you have an apple berry tree. The apple berry flower has a texture like a green apple skin but a flavour like celery. While the actual apple berry itself has a flavour like quince and Clayton tells us that it tastes like bubblegum!
Apple berry fruit which is will turn a deep purple colour and sweeten when ripe
Citrus cured crocodile carpaccio $17.50
The crocodile is one of their signature dishes and once we try it we can see why. Here it is served carpaccio style cured in light citrus juice. It is draped between crispy wonton rounds with rocket, ginger and Spanish onion with a dollop of wasabi creme fraiche and a chilli and coriander dressing. It has a lovely fresh aspect to it and is full of flavour.
Cheese and macadamia nut beignets $17
We decided to go for three entrees and one main in an effort to still fit into our clothes and they had recommended these dishes to us. The cheese and macadamia nut beignets comes as three neat parcels of choux pastry mixed with cheese and crushed macadamias and they remind me of a bite sized cheese scone. They are served with turned baby beetroot, fondant potato and a balsamic & wattle seed reduction and a Davidson plum reduction as well as a choice of powders including a carrot, asparagus, beetroot and wattle seed powder and a toffee apple gel. I don’t know if it needs all of those powders though.
It is decorated with more apple berry flowers that he picks from the garden and areas nearby. “I spend half the day picking flowers” Clayton says . He tells us that he picks and dries lilly pilly flowers to make them into a sherbert and these are popular as cupcake decorations.
Smoked kangaroo loin $35
The kangaroo is lightly smoked in lemon myrtle and then sous vided and still retains a pink centre and it so very tender tender. It is accompanied with sweet flavours from the organic local baby beetroot to wilted spinach, caramelized carrots and pears. The sweet flavours go well with the gamey kangaroo and to finish it off there is a chocolate sauce that at first we think is balsamic from the look and then one taste and the unmistakable flavour of chocolate comes through. The serving size is very generous with three fillets.
Native pepper berry and ginger creme brûlée $13
The creme brûlée is lovely and silky with a crunchy toffee topping and a native pepper berry and ginger which is subtle. The pepper berry is an unusual ingredient and it is like a chameleon. With beef is takes on a different flavour and smelling it it almost has a mint flavour. Here it is paired with a vanilla ice cream, carrot sherbert which sings and pops and a wattle seed powder and an aniseedy Opal Nera sauce and a toffee apple gel. Again, there are quite a few sauces and flavours on the plate and I don’t know if it needs all of them.
We also can’t leave without buying some jams for gifts that they make here. I buy a Bush lemon and bush lime marmalade for $5 and an onion relish with aniseed myrtle for $6. And before we leave we have to ask what the Jaaning Tree means. Clayton and Jane laugh and they give each other a significant look. It is a blackwattle tree with a golden sap that native Australians use as a “bush lolly” or when children are teething. When Clayton was young and would get into trouble he would hide in the tree. “It was my naughty tree” he says. He would spend the time eating the sap from the tree. He wanted to call his restaurant the Jaaning Tree but they couldn’t find how to spell and it was only when they finally came across the spelling that Jane agreed to calling it The Jaaning Tree.
So tell me Dear Reader, have you tried much native produce? Do you have a favourite native ingredient?
NQN and Julie travelled and dined as guests of Tourism NSW and Mid North Coast Tourism
The Jaaning Tree
1 Wellington Drive, Nambucca, NSW
Tel: +61 (02) 6569 4444
Breakfast 8.00 -11.30 Sat & Sun
Lunch Noon Fri, Sat & Sun
Dinner 6.00 – Late Wed-Sat
http://www.jaaningtree.com.au/
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30 Comments | Add your own
What beautiful food! I love all the colors, especially from the flowers. When I was little I thought my mom was insane for putting flowers in salads all the time, now it just seems like she was ahead of her time.
Everything’s so new and unique to me hehe I’ve never had crocodile or kangaroo before hehe
And the orange native bush limes are great ~ lol can’t wait to have some ~
I just realised I don’t have many native produces or use any native ingredients! Good excuse to start exploring hehe
I love pepper berries but have difficulty buying them in Queensland. I bought some in Tasmania and was most upset when I ran out.
When I lived in Cairns, we sometimes had drinks made partly from green ants? Pardon the pun, but it gave the drinks an interesting ‘bite’. You could have alcoholic or non-alcoholic versions. Can’t remember if they used crushed green ants or the ‘juice’.
What amazing food, some truly original flavours. Particularly from a Brit point of view. I love the idea of being able to take a dip between courses! GG
Wattleseed! I love wattleseed ice cream from Vic Cherikoff’s brilliant book. Thank you for sharing this interesting travel piece.
Ohhh that view out over the water looks magnificent… you’re a lucky girl
This looks like quite a find, Lorraine. The food looks great and the space is lovely – especially with those round windows.
Native foods really should be more available commercially, maybe we should stay a groundswell with growers and get bigger producers interested.
I had a Lilly Pilly tree I would spend hours in reading books when I was little, and when it was fruiting I would nibble away without hardly having to turn my head at all. Those were the days…..
How lovely to be offered a swim before your meal! All the flowers sound like fun, and it’s interesting to see the kangaroo apples. Are they a Solanum?
Nambucca Heads always was one of my favourite stopping places on the N>S Coastal run in NSW. It has most often than not had one or two good restaurants making use of local produce. I like the materials used [the crocodile looks quite moreish], but feel lukewarm as to the food styling. Too busy for my appreciation. Also, tho’ I almost always use flowers and leaves, especially for lunch, surely not dribbled on every plate! Do hope you enjoyed your lunch – perchance I would have been happier at the next pitstop
! Native produce: try and use as much as possible, and have a ‘love’ affair with rare kangaroo . . .
Woah..crocodile carpaccio?! I’ve had crocodile but only BBQ’d. Oh and Merry Christmas L!!!
That apple berry fruit looks quite interesting. Lot of interesting relatively unknown stuff in the Aussie bushes. There is also a blue fruit, probably the only blue colored fruit (not blueberry)
The oysters are for me every time. The apple berry fruits look very interesting – have never heard of such a thing before.
G’day and thank you for highlighting this gem, TRUE!
Always look forward to the next new ingredient or technique I can experiment with too!
I haven’t tried very much but they do use it a lot more up here in Noosa. There’s lots of lemon myrtle and things like that.
We love Nambucca Heads, one of the truly beautiful parts of the country. However we were very dissapointed when we ate at the Jaaning Tree a couple of months ago – the food was bland,and the service while friendly was slow and unattentive. Definitely below the standard of a restaurant listed in the SMH GFG… and a pity, as it has such an amazing location by the river.
Intriguing–orange bush limes and apple berry fruit. I LOVE to be exposed to new food items! Australia seems to have so many interesting products and produce as well. The smoked kangaroo loin looks lovely as well.
Mexico, too, has its fair share of interesting native gastronomic delights, and I explore all that I can find.
What a great spot on the river! Thank you for sharing this meal with me
You guys have the most amazing fruit there. I was enthralled with finger limes as it is when I visited Australia for the first time. But now you tell me about apple berry fruit and bush limes, too? Swoon! So wishing I could taste those some day, too.
—-The oysters look FABulous
Excuuuse me, but did you say Kangaroooooo?
Oh, My!
Xx Kizzzzzzzzzz!
I do love native herbs and spices! I have a little packet of wattleseed around somewhere that I’ve been meaning to make raw truffles with…
Mostly right now, though, I want that smoked kangaroo and the oysters. OYSTEEEEEERS!
I use lemon myrtle quite a bit. In fact, I’m cooking lamb tonight so I’ll sprinkle some on the leg. I love Nambucca but haven’t been to this restaurant. What pretty food and I love the use of the native ingredients.
Yes, in KL yes. I love mangosteens and carambola. Unfortunately, I can’t have too much of both as they are pretty cooling for Chinese medicine standards.
Reading your blog is always an educational experience for me, seeing how things like apple berries and lily-pillies never make their way to our shores. Oh, and that ginger creme brulee looks so tasty!
how very wonderful! I have bush spice seasoning that I love
I like to try native food, it’s not difficult in Peru as you can go to different “wild” places inside the country where you can find thing that you can’t see in the city. Sometimes I like, sometimes I don’t, but it’s good to try and educate our kids with our native food.
Wow that’s an impressive looking spread! I don’t eat a huge amount of local produce – largely through lack of availability & lack of awareness on my part. I love that it’s becoming more common to see local produce used – particularly direct produce (plants)
What interesting ingredients Lorraine, I know I can always count on you to send me out into the internet in search of what things are. My dear mother was very adventurous and if she came across something in the grocery store she was not familiar with, she would buy it and figure out what to do with it (before the internet). We had some very interesting things growing up. It made me quite adventurous as an adult.
The food looks exquisite! I used to live up that way, what a shame I’m never there anymore I’d love to try it out.
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