Mandurah long weekend

The long weekend is over. (T____________T). And there won’t be anymore public holidays till Christmas! (T___________________________________T). I am so depressed.

We headed up to Mandurah, a city about an hour or less away from Perth. Despite having train lines that go direct from Perth to Mandurah, I’m ashamed to say that I’ve never explored the city of Mandurah. The city that weekend was very quiet and peaceful.

My impression of Mandurah was water water water. Everything was linked to the clear blue water,  there were protected waterways, canals, ponds, beaches. The canals were very pretty, and I could imagine how tranquil and lovely (plus expensive!)  it would be to have a holiday home in Mandurah.

It must be nice to be able to sail out to the sea whenever you feel like it. I loved being surrounded by the blue blue water and listening to the quiet lapping of gentle waves.

When the walking and discovering was over, it was nice to stop for a coffee and a traditional breakfast of toast, bacon and eggs.

I enjoyed the long weekend. Why would I want to go somewhere even slower than Perth (with Perth constantly being described as Dullsville)? But it was really nice to get away, to leave all the responsibilities, tasks and questions away for a while, life did stop for a second.

But now it’s back to reality again. Just opening my email inbox brought me back to reality in a jolt. And I just feel miserable. I guess this is long weekend aftermath blues.

The Goose Cafe @ Busselton

The trip to Busselton/Margaret River was so long ago (back in September 2009!) that it now remains a distant, fuzzy memory. But ask me about the highlight of the trip and I would say‘The Goose Café’ which remains a clear beacon of our long weekend Down South.

The Goose Café is conveniently located opposite the famous Busselton Jetty. But the gorgeous views and great location was lost on us because we couldn’t see much of it that night.

The café itself wasn’t even near Bistro Felix in terms of fine dining surroundings, but the service was pretty good, the atmosphere was warm and friendly and most importantly, the food was delicious.

Before the trip, A said to me firmly ‘ If venison is on the menu, order it’. So I knew I had to order the Margaret River venison which came on a bed of risotto. I don’t remember much about the venison but I know it was tender and well cooked, not seasoned enough but the sauce made up for it. The risotto itself was nice but it wasn’t wow.

But my ‘award winning’ (not sure what award)  seafood chowder which came with a chockful of seafood including snapper, tiger prawns, scallops, mussels and a cured salmon crostini ($37.50) was wow. It was beautiful and exactly what I expected a really good seafood chowder to taste like. The chowder was creamy but yet not overly thick and of the right consistency, The seafood was fresh, the broth so tasty and flavorful that we lapped up every drop and mopped it up with the crostini. So good we were smiling from ear to ear. Richard loved the scallops so much that now whenever we eat scallops he’ll say ‘can’t compare to the scallops at The Goose’.

Our dessert was the chocolate fondant with vanilla icecream. It was sinfully rich, chocolatey and sweet, sweet, sweet. Perfect end to the night.

Why was the night so memorable? Could have been because it was the first night of our long weekend and we were floating on air. Maybe it was the bottle of sweet white wine that we shared. Could be the magical atmosphere that permeated the entire night which started from dressing up in our finest and getting lost but happily finding our way through the trusty GPS. But personally I think it was the food and being with a fellow foodie, someone who is as enthusiastic as you are about fresh seafood, experimenting seasonal product, discussing cooking techniques and dissecting magical sauces. Eating good food was fantastic, but sharing good food with a fellow foodie was even better.

Daitaoha ratings:

Food: 8/10

Service: 7/10

The Goose Cafe
Geographe Bay Rd
Busselton WA 6280
(08) 9754 7700