Slow-cooked beef cheeks and polenta mash $25
Update: This restaurant has permanently closed its business operations.
On our way back from our Orange trip, we decided to stop by Millthorpe to nose around for lunch even though I was secretly eyeing KFC joints along the highway.
This decision to wonder around this quaint little town paid handsome dividends as we chanced upon an unassuming Basalt Wine Bar & Dining. It appeared closed from the outside but the moment we got into the door, it was like mayhem on a quiet long weekend!
Dining room, Basalt Bar & Dining, Millthorp
Two wonderfully executed mains cemented our suspicion that Orange and its surrounding towns are truly a food and wine paradise, if only Sydneysiders cared to look.
The slow-cooked beef cheeks with potenta mash were delicately tender and yet full of the flavours from a slow-cooked oven whilst the polenta was the perfect candidate in bringing out the flavours of the stew.
Salmon Wellington with Bernaise sauce and purple carrots $25
Mysaucepan ordered a cleverly executed salmon Wellington with bernaise sauce and purple carrots where delicately baked potato strings were paired with baby carrots and a rich hollandaise sauce. This dish was wonderfully executed as the potato strings “pastry” was crispy and the salmon was gently moist and medium rare inside.
Salmon Wellington with Bernaise sauce and purple carrots $25
Although the restaurant was busy with the long weekend lunch crowd, service was attentive and knowledeable.
Coconut and cherry ice-cream $15
Desserts were no less impressive and we left Orange with a nostalgic feeling this place is nothing short of a food destination absolutely worth the 3-hours drive from Sydney.
Millthorp, New South Wales
Canola fields along Excort Way, Orange
We stopped to admire the beautiful sea of yellow canola fields as we took a slow drive back to Sydney.
Click on any of the photos to view ChopinandMysaucepan‘s favourite restaurant dishes or simple click here.
Basalt Wine Bar and Dining
Commercial Hotel
Corner of Park and Victoria streets
Millthorpe, New South Wales 2798
(02) 63663999
A quality blog you have here and some quality living to go along with it. Thanks for visiting A Camp Host’s Meanderings. You are good are focusing on your subject in your pictures!
That place looks really nice. We have been meaning to go to Orange for a while, but have never gotten around to it.
The food looks really wonderful there especially the baked potato string detail! 😀
OMG that salmon Wellington looks sensational! How clever!
What a fabulous find! We’re not usually as fortunate. I love those baked potato strings…wonder how it was done?
I believe the potato is run through a vegetable mill similar to those that churns out delicate carrot and radish garnish for sushi in Japanese restaurants.
The salmon wellington looks fantastic. Haven’t been to Orange yet, but I’ve heard so many good things about it. Will check out Basalt when I finally get there.
Btw, great blog, and thanks for popping over to mine
Thanks Shaz, your siew pau recipe is beckoning.
Oh holy cow and fish that meal looks fantastic. Sigh… Someday I’ll make it your way.
L
Hi! Thanks so much for stopping by my blog!
I really love how you’ve mixed music and food on this blog – two of my favourite things
I’m no expert when it comes to Chopin, but I really love Op. 69, No. 2 (Valse), and I like to have it on my playlist when I’m cooking.
Also, this place looks amazing. What a lucky find!
what a quaint restaurant…the dishes look beautifully presented and so delicate too! too bad its sooo far! great find tho 😀
btw, have u seen the movie ‘a song to remember’ about chopin? used to make me cry lol.
A lovely place and a wonderful meal! The salmon Wellington is amazing.
Cheers,
Rosa
I’ve seen potato slices wrapped around fish before, but not potato strings like this. I bet they get so crispy good, too. Yum! What a meal!
I just love when you happen upon a random restaurant and find it a culinary treasure! That salmon wellington looks delicious! How cleaver to use shoestring potatoes. Sounds like a perfect lunch you had!
Love those unassuming finds that deliver. So very rare in my opinion – more often than not, they’re worse than I’d hoped possible. This looks fantastic though – love the sound of the contrasting salmon and crispy potato string pastry.