A natural high at your local

North Shore Times - 1 SEP 11 @ 12:10PM BY KAT ADAMSKI

RECENTLY refurbished, the Bridgeview is proof that your local hotel dishes up great food.

Offering fine dining with a relaxed service, you will certainly feel at home.

As restaurant manager Sean Murray said: “It’s pub food on steroids.”

We started with two mouth-watering entrees - I tried the Alaskan king crab cake and my partner devoured the slow roasted pork belly.

Served with pancetta caramel, seared scallops and apple puree, the pork was succulent with a nice glaze and the crackling was very crispy. I could hear my partner happily crunching it.

The crab cake had a lovely golden crumbed coating and was accompanied with garlic prawns, saffron aioli and baby watercress.

My favourite? The tangy saffron aioli combined with the crab. For mains, we ordered the pan roasted blue eye cod fillet and the wagyu rump.

The cod, wrapped in prosciutto, was super fresh and had divine crispy skin - always my mark of a chef who knows how to cook.

It was served with corn puree and a baby leaf salad.

The rump was a 300g Australian wagyu, grain-fed for 200 days in Queensland. And yes it was me, not my partner, who ordered it.

I made a good attempt at finishing it, and came close, appreciating the charred bits which only enhanced the flavour. Served with pea puree, potato gratin, mixed leaf salad and mushroom sauce, I worried that I wouldn’t have room for dessert.

But once we saw the menu we were tempted once again.

We had to try the raspberry souffle, which was served in a delightful little copper pot, and the three textured chocolate gateau with a strawberry salsa.

The souffle was light and fluffy, served with warm chambord chocolate sauce and vanilla bean ice-cream.

The chef’s hint to my partner was to make an X on top of the souffle and pour the chocolate sauce in - and he promptly declared it one of the best desserts he’d ever tasted.