Matilda Bay Restaurant and Bar

Matilda Bay Crayfish. Cracked pepper. Chilli. Cognac. Lime. This was the perfect Sunday lunch.

My family and I went to the Matilda Bay Restaurant and Bar on the weekend to take advantage of their $29.00 “Matilda Bay Cray“. This deal is on promotion from 22 January to 7 March 2010 and is currently booked out till 26 February.

Matilda Bay Cray

We are one of the first customers to arrive, and as we wait for our menus we take in the views from outside. Glistening waters, and boats. Lots of them.

The dining room

Jetty views

I am the only one of the group to order an entree, choosing the Seafood Chowder ($25.00). As a side dish, we choose the Char grilled field mushrooms ($12.00). For mains, we order three Matilda Bay Crays ($29.00 each) and a Cone Bay Barramundi ($45.00).

We start off lunch with fresh ciabatta bread, and olive oil, butter, and dhukka on the side.

Bread to start off

Next my seafood chowder arrives, with a Matilda Bay Restaurant and Bar branded napkin on the side, which I use to wipe the drool off my stubbled chin. This is a creamy seafood chowder consisting of fresh fish, clams, mussels, prawns, scallops, cubed potatoes and carrots, celery, along with garlic salt and fresh lime. The chef didn’t hold back on the fish stock or chives either. All seafood items are cooked perfectly but the only drawback is that the carrot cubes are undercooked. But with the carrots aside – wow, this was an amazing chowder.

Seafood Chowder – A selection of local fish, clams, mussels, prawns and scallop with garlic salt and fresh lime

Large prawn sunbathing on top of a clam

A mussel, prawn, clam, and fish line up in a perfect row

Spooning out a mussel

Our char grilled field mushrooms are next, and we cut them into halves so that all of us can try. There is a large amount of sea salt rub on the mushrooms but we scrape them off and wash the last traces away with the engine oil coloured juices on the plate. Each bite into the mushrooms cause them to expel more juice and we are left licking the excess off our lips and swallowing up our mouthly fluids like ducks in dentist chairs.

Char grilled field mushrooms, thyme and sea salt rub

Yep, there’s quite a bit of sea salt rub

With entrees and sides away and done with, we eagerly anticipate our mains. As we wait we see large plumes of smoke coming from the Weber barbeque outside. The crayfish arrive splayed out, with the red shells coloured a light charcoal black, and the white flesh glazed over with blood red chilli sauce, cognac and lime. Black cracked pepper seasoning then tops it off. We squeeze our lemons to add more tang, and then begin, plunging the ends of our knives into the flesh and catapulting pieces of flesh up into the air like see-saws. Our forks are then left to pick up the pieces. We continue in this fashion, and then scrape every single bit of flesh off the shell. The meat is milky, rich, and slightly bitter, while the chilli, cognac and lime help to balance out the taste.

Crayfish big on shell, thin on meat

OK, there’s some meat

I finish my cray in under 5 minutes. Crayfish don’t have a lot of meat. I am glad I had the seafood chowder as a starter, as I am quite full at this point.

As my grandma grimaces at the way us three eat our crays, she waits patiently for her Cone Bay Barramundi. When it arrives, it looks like a masterpiece – a large piece of grilled barramundi sitting on top of tatsoi (or bok choy as many would call it) and blackened fresh corn, with verjuice dressing, lemon balm, and a large tiger prawn for good measure. The fish has a nice texture and breaks apart with ease. The corn kernels are wonderfully sweet, while the tiger prawn is juicy and cooked perfectly. The tatsoi underneath the prawn are dressed with verjuice, adding a gentle bite of flavour.

Cone Bay Barramundi – Grilled with tatsoi and blackened fresh corn, verjuice dressing, lemon balm and tiger prawn

We enjoyed our Sunday lunch. The food was reasonably priced and delicious, with the fresh, piping hot seafood chowder and crayfish being standouts. There was excellent service and we were smiling all the way out the door.

Matilda Bay Restaurant and Bar

Address: 3 Hackett Drive, Crawley
Tel: +61 8 9423 5000
Web: www.matbay.com.au

Opening Hours:
7 days a week (11:00am – late)

Matilda Bay Cray
$29.00
22 January – 7 March, 2010 (Friday – Sunday, lunch only)

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4. Clarence’s Bar & Restaurant