Cockatoo Corner
“Why can’t we ever do nothing?” Mr NQN always asks me.
“Because there are always a thousand things to do” I always answer him.
“But boredom is good for creativity” he argues.
“Yes but a result of creativity is more work!” I counter.
I’m not sure who it was staring at in the cafe but I’m guessing it was someone with food!
I couldn’t argue much further because it was Mr NQN’s birthday weekend and when he asked to do nothing, I was secretly quite glad. I had managed a nap for two and a half hours (at that length, is that really just a sleep?) and after rousing for some afternoon tea, even he thought that we ought to get out and do something. Jumping in the car, we make our way to Leura Mall where we poke our head in and out of shops and on the recommendation of @lokified and Girl Next Door, pop into Leura Cellars to buy some craft beers for friends.
I ask Mr NQN where he would like to eat this Sunday night. We’ve had fine dining at Eucalypt and I think he wanted something more casual and one where we could go to bed early as we had a 6:30am start the next day so I suggested Leura Garage, just opposite the Leura railway tracks and just off the main mall. I call up and am told that they don’t take bookings. Apparently, 6pm is their peak time too so we’ll just have to wing it that evening.
Arriving at 5:45pm, all traces of the sun have almost disappeared and the backdrop is a deep, dark blue. Leura Garage is in a white concrete building that was originally a garage mechanics called Railway Garage. In homage to the building’s previous ownership (and I do love a theme 
) there are displays of tyres, exhaust pipes and there are even wrenches worked into the flooring.
French German chef Mischa Laurent uses local ingredients in the environmentally designed restaurant. A display of house made jams, olives and honey sit alongside imported European items. We are offered a choice of seating alongside the booth and blankets that smell like Eucalyptus, the latter that I gratefully accept.
Free rainwater is the drinking water offered and I take a look around. It seems like everyone had a stand with a pizza on it this chilly evening and I toss up between the chorizo, ham and pepperoni pizza or the six cheese pizza. Apparently half half isn’t possible, this is confirmed by a friendly diner next to us who has ordered the chorizo pizza and deems it good, so we go for that. For good measure, I order a salad and a fish tagine.
Fish Tagine $22
The food doesn’t take long to arrive and we first try the fish tagine which comes in a small bakers oven with the couscous at the bottom and the tomato based cubes of cod on top. There are flaked almonds on top of this to add crunch and chickpeas and coriander seeds and honey to add flavour.
Chorizo, Pepperoni and Double Smoked Trunkey Creek Ham Pizza $27
The pizza arrives and it is placed on the metal stand above. The toppings and crust are thin and it is generous in tomato which we both actually like. The three meats are there although the chorizo doesn’t seem to have much spice to it, nor the pepperoni much peppery heat, both of which would have been a nice addition to the pizza.
Potato, Nundle Trout Salad $18
This along with the pizza were my two picks. The salad is dressed in a creamy mayonnaise and features pieces of baby spinach, pickled onions, unpitted large and small Mission olives, green beans, Nundle smoked trout, sliced kipfler potatoes and halves soft boiled quail’s eggs. It’s the kind of salad that I want to make at home and the creaminess and the lightly smoked trout are delicious together. I was so taken with it, that I made my own version at home.
Little Leura Parfait $13
Is there room for dessert? Always! We didn’t see the displays of tarts at the counter and I would have perhaps gone for one, had I known. Instead, we ordered a parfait on the waiter’s recommendation. I was tossing up between that and the mont blanc which sounded divine (and we later see one coming out to another table and it looked great). The parfait is a slice of semifreddo vanilla ice cream with layers of blueberries and pureed blueberry. On top of this was a lavender and blueberry syrup and micro herbs. The lavender syrup was balanced just right so that it wasn’t soapy-perhaps it also was the addition of the blueberry in the syrup that did it.
So tell me Dear Reader, is there always room for dessert for you? And what are you up to this coming long weekend?
Leura Cellars
169/171 Leura Mall Leura New South Wales 2780, Australia
Tel: +61 (02) 4784 1122
Leura Garage
84 Railway Parade Leura NSW 2780, Australia
Tel: +61(02) 4784 3391
Sat, Sun: 8am ’til late
Mon, Thu, Fri: 11:30am ’til late
Public Holidays: 11:30am ’til late
If you enjoyed this post, why not share it with your friends?
What is NQN up to now?
NQN on Facebook
RSS
34 Comments | Add your own
I can’t believe you didn’t get the Mont Blanc! My most favourite of desserts!! (Or, at least, the one I love and long for and can never seem to find anywhere myself…)
There is always room for dessert. I would have to be completely off my game not to even try dessert.
I would not have thought such lovely food could come from that funny little white building – a lovely surprise
Happy Birthday to Mr NQN
Very sweet post. I hope you guys truly enjoyed all that gorgeous food.Leure Parfait looks interesting.
I love doing ‘nothing’ at times. It does not make me more creative or anything either ;p
Aaah, nothing- a wonderful activity. Happy birthday to Mr NQN. There’s always room for dessert!!!’
You already know my answer to the dessert question!
I love the micro-herbs on the semi freddo… did they really match?
So far I’ve only got plans for a long morning walk and breakfast with a visiting friend on Saturday.
Of course there is always room for dessert! I only ever refuse because my dining companions are full and I have to pretend I am too
I have visited the Leura Garage and found the fitout very well done, but the breakfast menu a real disappointment. The food seems great on paper, but I had a dish with marinated red capsicum that was swimming in vinegar. Instead of what promised to be a yummy egg dish, it was not great.
I went back a second day and the ham and cheese sandwich was lovely, as were the coffees.
The tagine looks like it has nice chunks of fish in it, I had it when it’s just little sheds on top. I love the idea of the lavender sauce too- what a great match with the blueberries, yummo!
There is always room for dessert Lorraine! What a crazy question! And this long weekend we’ll be relaxing with slow roasted lamb and laughing with friends while cooking up our Three Day BBQ Pork Ribs- yummo!
Hahaha funny you ask that Lorraine
You know there is ALWAYS room for dessert for me 
As a matter of fact, the best part of a meal for me is DESSERTS hehe
Leura Garage looks like a nice casual place to have dinner and I think prices are quite reasonable too
We don’t get a long weekend here but hehe my manager is going away anyway woo hoo so it’s kinda like a holiday for me at work
Enjoy your long weekend and hope you get some much needed sleep and rest ~
I have been following your blog for three years and just love it. I am over the moon with your little story on Cape Town ! I am South African so really appreciate it.
I would love to invite you up to our Guesthouse in the Hunter Valley for a night to sample one of our breakfasts as well as meeting you as you sound like a wonderfully interesting person who is on the same page as me. Please let me know if you would like to come up as we would love to have you.
Kind regards, Carol.
I am actually heading off to Leura this long weekend. What a coincidence that I got this article today. hehehe…
What a nice looking place for a casual meal. And yes – I generally make my meal selections based on what I can fit in before dessert!
Always room for dessert… Doesn’t everyone have a separate dessert stomach?
I am going to garden this weekend, hope the weather is kind. Oh and visit the Newcastle Food and Wine show of course!
Perfectly pleasant Sunday night meal methinks! Like the look of the fish tagine and that trout salad would be lovely for lunch
! Dessert: well you know the answer to that 
! Oh, and thanks for reminding me that the Long Weekend was coming up: had quite forgotten what with lightning strikes putting the phone out for days and horrible gremlins getting into the computer & doing away with whole days’ mails 
! So: good, there should be time to catch up on work and nothing would please me more.
I am dazzled. Wild cockatoos, eucalyptus-scented blankets, free (?) rain water…what a place! You version of the salad looked even better–I’ve copied it for future use.
Always room for dessert. Always.
I’m such a pepperoni pizza fan
you know what, I so rarely eat dessert out – so no, rarely is there room. I should fix this.
Heidi xo
Somehow no matter how stuffed I get I always have room for dessert. It’s my miracle stomach haha.
How cool is the free rainwater! And that pizza looks pretty good to me!
So excited for the long weekend. I have a wedding, a good friend in town for the weekend and a 30th birthday – packed!
That drool-worthy fish tagine and laura parfait has my name all over it!
Can you really drink rainwater?
I’m not very good at doing “nothing” either, but my husband is a master at it. Leura Garage is on my hit list – might wait til it gets a bit warmer though.
I love Leura. It’s a great place to go to relax. The restaurant looks like a wonderful place to go for a casual meal – love the look of the pizzas xx
What an interesting watering hole! You had me at that picture of shelves filled with beer. And the food looks lovely; pity about the pizza, though, as fiery flavors are what take pies from standard to special.
Oh, and there is always room for dessert!
Always room for dessert. I guage the space in my tummy well ahead of time to ensure that dessert has a spot.
Not much this weekend. big birthday bash for a friend but that’s it.
I hope Mr NQN had a wonderful, not-too busy birthday. Leura is such a gorgeous place and you sourced some lovely, homely yet creative dining. The pizza looks wonderful, shame about the lack of spice. I have been known to carry a small cylinder of dried chillies in my handbag when we dine at ‘new’ places, just in case the heat factor does not live up to expectations. One can unobtrusively slip a chilli onto ones’ plate (and ones’ partners plate) with minimum fuss or exposure. I skip dessert but my husband and children adore the sweet offering. I prefer an affogato to complete the meal. This weekend will be quiet. Gardening, cooking, reading, rejuvenating, catching up with close girlfriends only. Enjoy your weekend x
LOVE these posts from Leura! Makes me want to be there on gorgeous days like today. Ahh.
I agree with Di that there’s a special part of your stomach which can only be filled with desserts. I love dessert, but now I’ve got clinical.y confirmed lactose intolerance I’m terribly fussy and don’t always just want fruit. I’m threatening to carry lactease tablets with me when I go out to dinner so I can choose widely!
Being devoid of dessert is actually a crazy thing to do, your choice looks great and what a beautiful eatery!
Love mr NQN’s devotion to nothingness!
Cheers
Choc Chip Uru
Yes…there’s always room for dessert! Still undecided about my plans for the long weekend…not thinking about work will be top of the list! Now that I’ve been to Katoomba and seen the 3 sisters, I would really like to see the rest of the Blue Mountains and Leura looks lovely!
Leura is such a pretty spot and I love all the quirky, creative places to explore.
Dessert, yes I always leave room for dessert, just love to try fantastic offerings from talented chefs that I couldn’t possibly reproduce at home. I go straight to the dessert section and then look at the rest of the menu,lol.
How does one do nothing? Wouldn’t know, I always seem to run out of hours in the day, I start off with a list of jobs, chores, things I want to finish and rarely get to the bottom of the page. The internet, FB and mobile phones don’t help the situation either, they have become a part of our culture but before you know it a couple of hours of your day are gone!
This long weekend am taking it easy and not going anywhere special but come October the Crave/Sydney International Food Festival will be in full swing and there will be lots and lots of exciting events to take part in. Can’t wait
PS. I made your Berry and Coconut Picnic Cake today using strawberries and everyone gave it a ‘thumbs up’! Thanks Lorraine for another tasty and easy recipe.
Always room for dessert. Having a relaxing do nothing (except eating) long weekend
Hi Matilda! So glad that you liked that cake. And yes how do we get to do nothing? It’s a skill I have missed out on that’s for sure!
You must go to Carols in the Hunter Valley. It is my husband and my favorite little place to stop off on our way from Tamworth and Sydney. Her breakfast is amazing and the whole place is very welcoming. Love your blog. We are in Leura for a couple of days and going to try the Garage.
The salad especially looks delicious.
Long weekend.. hopefully plenty of relaxing
We went there a few weeks back and the steak came with beetroot butter that was to die for and such good value!
Post a Comment