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| En Route from Car Park to Restaurant |
Biota Dining offers both degustation tasting menu ($145+ pp; requires reservations beforehand) or bar dining during lunch hours. As this was a last-minute food stop, our group didn't have a booking so we rocked up to see if they were able to fit us in for a late lunch. Ivanhoe did try calling beforehand but got stuck with their voicemail...
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| Main Entrance |
Upon arrival, we were advised that we could either opt to eat their lamb shoulder Sunday lunch special ($58pp), which was available due to a prior cancellation of a booking and therefore heavily promoted by their staff, or to eat from their bar dining menu. Whilst deciding, we were told to wait at some couches by the bar until staff came by to lead us to a table.
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| (Dead?) Indoor Tree | Fireplace |
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| Waiting Couch | Bar |
In the end, we opted for sharing 'snax' (i.e. small plates) outside on the deck, overlooking an enormous pond and garden:
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| Outdoor Courtyard | Smokehouse next to the Garden and Pond/Lake |
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| Deck | Outdoor Sofa Bed |
As we were waiting for our food, I couldn't help but notice that Biota had an affinity with rocks because they were everywhere... on each table, shelves and even at their bar (can you spot the massive rock perched on the bar?).
Soon enough, food arrived at our table:
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| Biota Arancini ($10) |
The arancini were balls of ample cheese and rice, coated in a crumb and deep fried to give it its golden brown exterior. The inside of the arancini was all gooey and when you bit into it, strings of cheese would form. Just wish there was some form of dipping sauce to accompany it.
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| Smoked Cheese Burger ($11) |
I couldn't really taste any form of smokiness from the cheese in the burger, perhaps too subtle for me or anyone in the group. I would have liked the smoky flavour to be more prominent, otherwise this is just a regular (gourmet) cheeseburger. However, the meat patty was cooked perfectly to medium rare so the meat was still moist.
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| Bite-sized Portion of the Burger and Arancini |
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| Salt & Vinegar Home Fries ($12) |
The home fries were thick-cut potatoes, deep fried to give it a crunchy, golden exterior and soft, fluffy insides, with a sprinkling of rock salt on top. Unfortunately I don't remember tasting any vinegar.
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| Spiced Chicken Tenders with House Pickles ($12) |
The chicken was juicy and coated in a thin, spiced batter before being dusted in chilli powder. The chicken tender tasted good but it was way too spicy for me - I was grabbing for my cup of water and down the whole thing within the first few bites and suffered after consuming the rest of the chicken on no water as our water jug was empty and there were no staff around for a while. Even eating the pickled cucumber wasn't enough to curb the heat from the chicken.
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| Fried Pork Terrine Sandwiches ($12) |
The fried pork terrine - deep fried (katsu) slab of pulled pork - actually reminded me of the pork cheek schnitzel that I ate at Left of Field but it mysteriously tasted like canned tuna. The sandwiches were completed with crust-less bread on either side of the pork with not even a single lettuce leaf in sight.
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| Mac & Cheese with Fried Egg ($12) |
This simple dish blew us all away - cheese-y mac goodness, topped with fried rye crumb and a fried egg with a runny, golden yolk. The fried rye crumb gave the macaroni an unexpected crunchy texture and the egg help cut through the creamy cheese sauce. We all just wished there was more of the good stuff.
Dish highlights for the group were the mac & cheese and arancini, which we would have eagerly ordered again, however we were saving stomach space for dessert at Bernie's Diner in Moss Vale.
Here are some pics from the garden:
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| Outdoor Chairs Overlooking the Pond | Row Boat next to the Pond |
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| Beehive Box | Vege Patch (I spied Lettuce, Peas and Broad Beans) |
They have what looks like a small smokehouse - complete with wooden fireplace -, vegetable patches, as well as a beehive box with a large swarm of bees flying around. It will be interesting to see what they do with the vegetable patches and honey produced by the bees on site.
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