Bluewater28 South Steyne
Manly, Sydney
Manly has become such a blossoming restaurant district lately with new players entering the market all the time. Bluewater on the other hand has been here a while and based on it's continuing popularity it's here to stay.
It's in a perfect location as well, with its frontage directly opposite and gazing out over Manly Beach with its magnificent views. We were there for an evening meal so we were lucky enough to have the benefit of those views!Mlady was indisposed this evening so I was joined by The Duchess and we had a great table close to the front - so we settled in, took in the views and started the difficult task of what to choose from the menu.
We wanted to try a variety of starters so the next challenge was which platter to choose. We ended up selecting the seafood platter which had four sections - one with soft shell crab, the next with smoked salmon, the third with fish cakes and finally skewered marinated prawns.This was such a good way to start the meal and they were all great but the Duchess and I particularly loved the soft shell crab closely followed by the prawns!
Even though the first plate was a winner we were so tempted to try the mezze plate that we did!
As soon as we saw what it had, it had us! It was described as house made dip, marinated olives and artichokes, spiced eggplant, grilled haloumi and zucchini fritter served with toasted Turkish pide.
The Duchess and I both love pretty much everything that was listed on this plate!
The dips were lovely but we almost fought over the haloumi which was delish!
We also both loved the zucchini fritters as well - however there was so much on the plate we were struggling to finish it all.
Ever had an espatada? Its a specialty of Bluewater consisting of a large suspended skewer of meat with a sauce bowl over the top of it that gradually dribbles sauce down over the meat. Down below the meat is salad - which also gets some of the sauce on it. It's so good. We had Portuguese beef rump with their signature red wine chilli sauce and the other was seafood with fish and Australian king prawns with chilli and garlic butter. OMG - these things are amazing - so tender and so tasty - and the beef was our personal favourite.
Then it was dessert time - even though we were stuffed.
We decided to share two desserts and first choice (for me) was the sticky date pudding with butterscotch sauce and vanilla ice cream.
It was big, steaming and rich but again so tasty. I have to confess that this is a favourite of mine and this version was great!
To be honest this would have been my other choice anyway.
It was a really nice dessert with great flavours and a nice toffee crust on top but I still loved the sticky date pudding just a little bit more!
Bluewater is in a prime position looking out to Manly Beach. However great views alone don't keep people coming back. Here the food is extremely popular but it is the very friendly service you get that make Bluewater what it is.
Sir and Mlady (or this time the Duchess) dined as guests of Bluewater. Special thanks to Sacha Biddle from Platinum Restaurant Group and Bluewater for arranging our visit.
