Eating out in the Snowy Mountains, Australia @Not Quite Nigella

Category Archives: Snowy Mountains

Snowy Mountains eating and travel

The Coach House, Tumut, The Snowy Mountains

On our drive back to Sydney, exhausted but blissfully happy at having a great time at the Snow, we sought out a great place to have breakfast. The little country style shop near the house was closed this Monday morning so we drove towards Sydney through Tumut to find a bigger town. I was looking for something cute and blog worthy whilst everyone else was looking for a meal to fill their growling stomachs. Luckily we happened upon the Coach House.

Housed in a sandstone building, there is a front counter with hot pastries, pies and sausage rolls and walking through, an eating area with handy monogrammed green blankets to help ward off the cold. We grab a blanket each and settle in to examine the menu. Ordering and paying at the front I ask about certain items and choose the home made raisin bread and pancakes (told you I was hungry!). The breads, pies, sausage rolls and quiches are all made there daily.

Poached eggs and toast $9

It takes a while for our food and drinks to arrive and when they do, they arrive one by one. Anneli’s poached eggs arrives first. The wholemeal bread is delicious, with a lovely crunch to it- Anneli loves it so much that she enquires as to whether they sell it by the loaf. They do, but require a day’s notice. After a few more queries they offer her a frozen wholemeal loaf which she happily purchases ($4).

The Hot Chocolate with marshmallow, one of those items that the cold weather enhances so superbly is not very impressive, tasting like the base is made up of water and chocolate instead of milk and chocolate – weak and watery.

Cappucino $3.00

The cappucino suffers a similar fate, very weak and not particularly full flavoured.

Raisin toast $3.70

My fruit toast arrives, with that lovely crunch and full with plump raisins. I slather it with the butter and crunch away happily.

Pancakes with syrup (or honey) $6.80

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9 comments | August 17, 2008 by Not Quite Nigella

Let it Snow! Jewelled Fruit Cake, Swedish Mulled Wine & Finnish Pea Soup

My husband is what I affectionately refer to as a “fruit bat”. He is simply mad for the stuff, in dried or fresh form, his request for Christmas every year is a fruit basket and a fruit cake. And forget eating a dainty slice with tea, the whole cake can and has been consumed in less than a day. We recently went to a lunch after friend’s baby’s baptism and they brought out a lovely home made fruit cake. I placed a firm hand on his arm and said “NO honey, leave some for everyone else” and like a puppy chastised he looked sheepish and sank back down in his chair. I’m sure he had dreams of taking that cake and running away with it.

I had originally bought him the jar of mincemeat for him to eat with a spoon and a grin on his face but I forgot about it in the cupboard. And lucky I did as I needed it to whip up a quick fruit cake. Nigella’s recipe is a ludicrously easy fruit cake at that that you could possibly whip up with what you have in the cupboard plus a jar of mincemeat (I’m not assuming everyone has mincemeat in their cupboard). I looked at another of Nigella’s recipes and it required 2 weeks of soaking that I didn’t have so this was an easy decision. The cake itself is not exactly like a fruit cake in look although a bite into it and it does taste very fruit cakey. I didn’t find that there wasn’t quite enough fruit so I’d suggest adding either more mincemeat or soaking some fruit briefly to plump it up and then adding it in. Still, for the amount of effort, it’s a pretty good cake. I loved the look of Nigella’s Jewelled cupcakes so I used her cues for decorating it.

It was also a good choice to take with us on the long 6 hour drive to the snow for his birthday as it transports easily and is a “hardy” choice (i.e. no delicate layers, no cream). Other fantastic goodies that were cooked up to stave off the Winter chills were Swedish Mulled Wine by my Sister in Law and Finnish Split pea soup by my Mother in Law. I couldn’t have asked for better or more delicious ways to warm up after a day in the snow.

I intersperse the recipes with some photos of the snowfall-apparently, this years snowfall was the best in five years!

Ribena Snow Cone using fresh powdery snow!

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17 comments | August 16, 2008 by Not Quite Nigella

Jazz River restaurant, Tumut and going to the Snow!

Let me start off admitting that I had to be somewhat wrangled into going to the Snow this year. My husband and his equally sporty family couldn’t wait to go skiiing whereas all I could think about was how damn cold I would be and given how bone-chillingly cold Sydney has been lately, why on earth would I want to go somewhere even colder? I’m no romantic, starry eyed snow virgin either, having lived in Tokyo where it does snow and my firm belief is that snow is awfully pretty to look at – when you are inside. When you have to face it directly, it’s nothing but a pain in the bottom – literally – when you fall on your ass.

However my interest grew when my friend M gave me the low down on skiing. Being Austrian, she grew up skiing at school and her tips were:

Carry a chocolate bar with you at all times. If you get cold, eat it and warm up and then you can keep skiing
Never ski when you are cold
Stop by positioning your ski tips together in an inverse V

But like the saying “You had me at Hello” goes, she had me at “Carry a chocolate bar with you at all times”. I confirmed the chocolate point with her and she nodded emphatically saying that I will eat lots of chocolate as I’ll need it. OK sign me up for 4 days of this! And hardly a whimper was heard from me again.

After some cross country skiing, tobogganing (we became Champion tobogganers, is there an Olympic division?) and tube riding, we worked up a very hearty appetite. So with the help from a Vogue forum member rainbowcloud who asked her mum for the lowdown on where is good to eat, we converged, hungry and cold, on Jazz River restaurant in Tumut, reportedly the best place to eat in town. Housed inside an arcade, a sparkling glitter sign announced its presence.

We are directed to our table. It is a still little cold there and we were hoping for a warmer restaurant. The menu on the blackboard has some tempting dishes. I choose the sirloin with mash, my husband chooses the veal scallopine, Figaro chooses the pork and Anneli chooses the salmon. When I had rung ahead to make the booking, I told them that we had some vegetarians in our party and asked whether they had any dishes. They were only too happy to make up some meals so A, Tuuliki and The Assman choose the porcini risotto and a vegetarian tapas plate.

Grainfed sirloin with creamy mash, greens and caramelised onions $29

It’s a while until we get our meals and as we are next to the glass doors, it’s a little chilly. When the meals arrive we are ever so grateful and pounce on them. My sirloin, despite one or two gristly corners, is delicious with a sublime sauce and a huge serving of mash.

Veal Scallopine with baked polenta, greens and herb glaze $28

My husband’s veal Scallopine is tender, thinly pounded pieces of veal with alternating pieces of crumbed veal. Despite its simple description, it’s well executed and satisfying.

Tasmanian Salmon with warm potato salad and beurre blanc $28

I try some of Anneli’s salmon and it’s divine, moist and perfectly cooked inside with a delicate side of diced potato salad. She is in raptures over this having just recently become a Pescatarian (fish eating vegetarian) for health reasons.

Pork fillet with baked vegetables, greens and red wine jus $27

Figaro’s pork is reportedly “ok but nothing special” and something that he feels he could make at home.

Porcini risotto $22

I try some of the porcini risotto, it’s not bad although as a confirmed omnivore I would want for something with more meat, however the vegetarians seem very happy with this.

Vegetarian Tapas plate $22

I sample some of the vegetarian tapas plate, the spinach omelette is a little dry but the semi dried tomatoes are a serious slice of heaven – sweet and deliciously juicy but still full of flavour, they’re probably the nicest I’ve had. The baked polenta is delicious, crispy on the outside and soft inside.

Vegetarian tapas plate

On the way back we saw lots of kangaroos near the road, emerging through the misty thick fog. There’s even a sign warning us of Kangaroo and Emu on the way although we were out of luck Emu spotting!