King fish with sauteed zucchini flowers, baby capers, wilted spinach and blood orange sauce $26.00
We are excited about a new restaurant opening up in Mosman because the food scene in this up-market suburb is a draw of yesteryear restaurants with hardly any new-comers.
We are also suprised this new kid on the block is fully booked for a week and a table for four can only be accommodated at 6.00pm on a Saturday night with the condition that we needed to be “out of the restaurant by 7.45pm”.
Dining room, Hawthorn Mosman
It is Mysaucepan‘s idea to give this restaurant a go even though dinner at 6.00pm was not quite my idea of dinner time. If anything it’s encroaching into happy hour!
There is hardly anyone upon our arrival except for a young family well into their dinner. By the time we were seated and pleasantries exchanged our party figured there was only time for two courses and opted for mains and desserts, forgoing some pretty good sounding entrees on the menu.
Among them, an Asian inspired salad of sauteed prawns, green papaya, purple basil, Vietnamese mint with nahm jim ($17.00) catches Mysaucepan’s attention whilst a tempura ricotta filled zucchini flowers with a basil pesto ($17.00) is enticing, but it was not to be for tonight.
2003 Willespie Merlot Cabernet Sauvignon $40.00
A bottle of 2003 Willespie Merlot Cabernet Sauvignon from Margaret River keeps us company as we waited for our mains. The wine list is quite impressive with a dozen or so by the glass and a selection that spans the best of Australia’s wine regions with a sprinkling of foreign drops.
King fish with sauteed zucchini flowers, baby capers, wilted spinach and blood orange sauce $26.00
The Fish of the day was king fish which came with sauteed zucchini flowers, baby capers, wilted spinach and blood orange sauce. This is the overwhelming choice as three of us order this dish. Two to three generous fillets of king fish are nicely seared, its freshness oozing from the firmness of the flesh. The blood orange sauce might have worked better with a gamey meat as the tartness and sour taste was overwhelming the succulent and subtle flavours of the fish.
Chargrilled ribeye steak with eschallot butter and shoestring fries $29.00
I could not look past the chargrilled ribeye steak with eschallot butter and shoestring fries which came nicely rested and cooked to medium rare. It was exactly as I had hoped for – a beautiful piece of meat on the bone without the fuss of any tapanade, sauce or the like to complicate wonderful charred flavours. Pinches of sea salt and freshly cracked black pepper with a small dallop of the butter was all I needed for each tantalising morsel of meat.
As the clock ticked closer to our “deadline” we order the baked lime cheesecake topped with a fresh squeeze of orange ($10) for dessert only to be told ten minutes later that a freshly baked batch would take at least 25 minutes and our orders cannot be fulfilled. It’s a pity because we could have had two more courses to sample a promising new restaurant only to be told that we are “out of time”. If this place is really so popular, perhaps a couple more dinner sessions in addition to its current four sessions from Thursday to Sunday would make the dining experience a lot more pleasant.
So dear readers, are there any new restaurants in your neighbourhood that you would recommend?
Hawthorn Mosman
707 Military road,
Mosman 2088
New South Wales
(02) 9968 4244
Sorry for the missed dessert! I’m happy you got a perfect steak, though, and the fish also looks absolutely delicious!
I’ve never had to leave at a certain time when dining out, I imagine that to be quite stressy. You know, when you know that you have exactly 22 minutes and 34 seconds left to finish your dinner and the wine … 😉 Well, I know that situtation when I meet a friend for drinks at a bar and aim to get a particular tram that goes home because they only go every 30 minutes at night. The drink never matches with the time I have to go to get the tram – it’s either still too much in my glass so I have to drink faster than I’d like, or it’s already empty but it doesn’t pay to order another one for the remaining time.
Oh no, it’s never fun to know you have a deadline and have to be out by a certain time…and then to miss dessert entirely! At least it was a lovely meal — the steak looks like it’s cooked to perfection!
How horrible to miss desert! Its the thing I look forward to the most, my main event, but I am glad to hear that the main meal was so delicious. It certainly looks great!
*kisses* HH
I’m with you HH, missing dessert is a big price to pay
It did look pretty fabulous though didn’t it, but just a bit too early to dine – we can’t take good drinking time away from happy hour now can we 
No dessert?! What an anti-climax!
I totally agree butter on steak is the best thing for it. I had it for the first time in the US and it changed my life! I always add it now.
Oh, no! Dessert is my favourite part. I’ve been meaning to try this place, every week when I come by, but never get around to it. It’s one of the few places that seem to serve fries on that strip during the day, lol and that’s what’s making me excited.
My husband would be all over that rib eye and I would be in heaven with that lime cheesecake. Mmm, must go back to Australia — SOON! 😉
The steak and the fish look divine! Nice place to dine too.
I and my husband love to try new reataurants, my husband gives importance to food and I am very very particular about the service, honestly it would freak me out if I was on a dead line when I am having a lovely meal.
Glad you guys enjoyed the main course. The place looks good too.
YUM! Anything with zucchini flowers is a winner for me! I am glad to have found your facebook page!
Totally agree with your assessment of the blood orange sauce – whilst I LOVE blood orange, it needs a stronger, less delicate meat that won’t be overwhelmed.
New restaurants in my area? I live in Liverpool, lol!
Ooh we went here a while back too (oops I should put up that post). It’s so exciting when new restaurants open in the North Shore!
Nice restaurant and the food sure look great…but no dessert? That is not good
Hope you are having a wonderful week
argh- I hate stipulations like this- they make me feel claustrophobic. Even though I would usually probably have left by this stage, I don’t like that the possibility of staying on for another bottle of wine and cheese is dashed. That being said, it does look like good food.
Hi C & MSP! I didn’t know you have facebook. Now I can follow you via facebook! Another post with delicious meals. My eyes are so happy but my tummy is empty…(just kidding I just finish dinner. lol.). Oh that’s too bad that you had no dessert. What a lovely restaurant. I wish I live in the same area so you can check out all the good places for me. 😀
This is my neck of woods! Haven’t been there yet, but personally I’m not a fan of timed tables, so I might try it for lunch instead.
Thank you all for dropping by.
I’m not big on dessert but my steak was really good.
I guess my friends were disappointed but we went to Mosman hotel instead and they had their dessert fix!