Restaurants

I know this café is aimed at kids but really there isn’t much variety for adults. 

Granny needs to eat too, the Questacon should realise that these kids are usually accompanied by an adult, who is completely over white bread sandwiches.  This Snazzy Granny took her small charge, aged 7, with quite a discerning palate on him next door to the National Portrait Gallery which suited us both.

Granny had her tannin fix and grandson had a coke, which is not strictly allowed but what happens in the National Portrait Gallery stays there.  Job done!

Of late, the Hyatt Hotel in Canberra has had to contend with some new kids on the block. The new boutique hotels that are springing up catering to the trendy businessmen.  The Hyatt may be looking a little shabby in places,( despite the new carpet which really isn’t in keeping with the quiet elegance of the place), it is still a comfortable stay. The staff are “old school” courteous, friendly but not overly and well trained in customer service. The bell hops uniform is a delight and makes you feel you are staying at the Balmoral Hotel in Edinburgh Scotland. There aren’t many hotels where you can sit out in the gardens in the sun and be served afternoon tea or stylish cocktails. The rooms are large and the beds very comfortable.

The swimming pool is the largest of all the Canberra. It is kept at a very pleasant temperature unlike some other hotels where a degree or two makes the difference between an enjoyable relaxing swim and a reminder of a plunge in the school swimming pool.

The only downside to a dip in the attractive pool is that there is no private passage back to your room without going through the area where conferences are held.

Just don’t time your swim for when a conference is breaking out for lunch or coffee.

I got caught once and had to run the gauntlet of curious and smartly dressed delegates in my hotel dressing gown! They were a good crowd on that conference they  gave me a round of applause

Really interesting and fabulous food. Very good service, it’s a pity it connected to such a shabby hotel. I would dine here again but would not stay at the hotel ever again.  See below.

Lilianfels Resort & Spa – Blue Mountains

To advertise this hotel to any visitor as 5-star luxury is at the very least misleading, and in truth it is simply deceitful. I don’t know many 5-star exclusive hotels that have a car park for coaches and a machine for hiring bikes outside the hotel.

If you want a simple review …don’t stay here.

If you want to know more…read on.

The two most memorable low lights of our stay included a motel style overcrowded breakfast on the Sunday morning … (more of that later) and a most unpleasant interaction with the surly and smug manager.

Our hotel bill was inaccurate. He argued persistently in front of a horrified group of guests who were also waiting to check out. The waiting hotel guests, were obviously very embarrassed at what was going on but were stuck in a queue. I don’t know what they taught this manager at hotel management school, but he obviously wasn’t paying attention. He terminated the conversation by saying that he had our credit card details, presumably implying that the hotel had the last word.

We stayed at Lilianfels about 10 years ago and loved it, so we were so disappointed about what has been done to this grand old lady. I am embarrassed to say that I have previously recommended it so many times to overseas visitor…my heartfelt apologies to them.

It would appear that this Hotel is now catering to a different clientele, who probably get a good deal on the internet.  We checked and there were.  Cheap deals available (not the $600+ we were charged) and those lucky customers who took up the offer would have no problems with the buffet breakfast. What can I say…bottled juice, tinned mushrooms, served by mainly harassed staff with ‘in training’ on their lapels?

My husband had to practically rugby tackle these trainees to get a cup of tea or coffee. Perhaps if I say there was an automatic pancake maker on a small table pretty well sums this charade of a breakfast.  I have stayed at a fair few luxury resorts and never seen one of those before.

So, NO I would not recommend Lilliafels unless of course, you want to stay in a shabby room, a garden room is just one that doesn’t overlook the overflowing car park.  The car park incidentally fills up on a weekend and those guests not quick of the mark must park in the street.  No bottled water provided  so if you don’t mind drinking water from the bathroom tap then perhaps you may like it.

The tourist board, or whoever gives out stars should hang their heads in shame and then swiftly take Lilianfel’s stars away before any more unsuspecting overseas visitors get sucked in.

This place is so traditional that they have tongs in the sugar bowls.

The ambience and setting are surreal and evokes the ghosts of its origins of being an army officers mess.  One could imagine sitting in pearls and a smart hat and gloves having high tea on the Royal Albert Old Country Rose plates as the guest of an army colonel.

The high tea, which they serve pretty much all day was sublime.  My smallest grandson was completely bewitched so much so that when we checked his pram at home, we found the tongs in amongst his toys. 

We returned them to Gunners by post and received a charming letter in reply.  Can’t get more stylish than that!

Dearie me. If you think you are going to get a High Tea from Burnt Orange remotely like any hotel experience you have had before… forget it.

A much anticipated treat for two birthday boys  left us feeling disappointed not to say a little under the weather. We started with what turned out to be a very stingy offering consisting of two diminutive sandwiches of unknown filling (but thick bread).  

Followed by one enormous stodgy scone and a tiny cake each. Small boys are easy to please where cakes are concerned but these two sadly were not. Never again. I shall take my business to nearby Gunners which everyone says is fabulous.
Burnt Orange is in a nice setting, but access is not suitable for anyone who has any sort of disability or trouble walking. This granny stumbled a bit and had to be assisted by two small boys.  

A big fat zero.

A fabulous treat for my grandson’s birthday.

The festive tea was different to the usual hotel afternoon tea. Little snowmen cakes, Christmas tree shortbread biscuits (my grandson ate all of them), mince pies and other festive bits.

Grandpa declared he had the best gin and tonic (Australian brand) ever! a great afternoon.

It would be just him and me this year.

It was not our turn to host festivities. No little faces around our dining table pulling crackers with dubious jokes.  No grown up kids participating in the annual wine testing competition. 

The competition where everyone brings a bottle, takes the label off and guesses what the wine is and who brought it.  Endless inside jokes and old scores settled for who brought the worst wine.

There would be no games of charades, no signature plates brought by different members, rum balls, turkey stuffing and the piece de resistance, Aunt Matilda’s Christmas pudding.   No Gluhwein from the Austrian side of the family because they would be all speaking German and skiing in the Tyrol.  

So, I just didn’t have the heart to cook the big Christmas lunch. We had tried a restaurant once before when it was just him and me, but it felt a bit odd and we couldn’t wait to get home to have a little lie down…and then him-indoors  saw an advertisement for a take-away lunch cooked by a chef at the Shangri-La.

We picked the lunch up at 11am after a stirring Christmas service at St James in the City, which is something, we had never had time for before.  The contents of our lunch exceeded our expectations. Turkey, prawns, oysters, vegetables, 2 or 3 salads all served with their own individual sauces. For desert the chef had prepared  individual Christmas puddings and mince pies.

It was excellent value and all we had to do was serve it up. No shopping or standing over a hot stove. I thought how fabulous it would be if one owned a holiday cottage as the staff load up your car in the hotel parking bay…and off you go speeding up the highway in your Porsche to the Hunter Valley.  The servings are so generous we had heaps left over so we called up our neighbours on Boxing Day to share it with us.  I hope they do it again next year as my days of standing over a hot stove are over.  Apparently the neighbours  are ordering their own Christmas Dinners this year.

Doyle’s is a Sydney institution.

It isn’t just for overseas visitors.  We locals like it too. It serves the freshest sea food in a magical setting. Even the kid’s menu is great.

Doyle’s do a great “kids’ meal” which is fish and chips, a drink and ice cream.

The only snag it is so busy you must form a queue even if you have booked.

What a fabulous hour with Alex at the Fish Markets.

Being originally from the UK I am a little bit uninformed about Aussie seafood. Also, I am often confused to know which seafood, as mentioned by Jamie (or some other TV chef) I can use here in Australia.

Now I know.

I can now order crab, lobster with the best of them and I can spot a coral trout at 10 paces. Can’t wait to do the” Behind the scenes tour” but first I must poach a 2.2 kg salmon in my new fish kettle!

I do love a seafood platter!

I have become a bit of an expert on this dish as I always order it if I can talk a member of my family to share one with me. Platters are often the most expensive thing on the menu and sometimes they present an opportunity for the management to cobble together a few prawns, oysters etc and slap a big price on it.

Not so at Balmoral Boathouse.

The chef has been very original with  this dish and made it a treat above all. Each piece of seafood had a unique spin on it and I just loved it. We locals don’t like to rave too much about the Boat house, we don’t want word to get out to the tourists as it’s always a struggle to get a table, even out of season and mid-week.

But I just had to say…. Absolutely Fabulous