Summer Salt, Mitchell Road, Cronulla

Summer Salt, Mitchell Road, Cronulla
Wednesday 25 January, 2006

My 'Shire' friends had been raving about this place for months. So, after tempting me over to experience Sea Level back in December I was very happy to accept an invitation to try Summer Salt.

What a beautiful location. Away from the main area of Cronulla beach, it is located in an isolated section of the beach. There's heaps of parking at night - not sure that it would be smooth sailing during the day as you would be competing with all the beach goers.

You cross a wooden deck bridge into the restaurant. At the entrance we were greeted and welcomed inside. It's a large open space with floor to ceiling windows looking out to the beach. It's a lovely setting.

We had a 7.30pm booking and the restaurant was packed. The menus were presented and I didn't make it past the degustation listing. We agreed that this was the best option with the matched wines.

The staff were pleasant and chatty, except one. She wouldn't look anyone in the eye or engage in any conversations - her voice was soft and you could hardly hear her when she explained what the dish was. I knew I recognised her and sure enough it was Ally Mansell, the recently crowned Australian princess.

The degustation menu comprised of:

- Mini Sourdough Loaf
- Stuffed Zucchini flowers with seafood mousse with red chilli & peanut nam jim
- Prawns stuffed with Asian herbs wrapped in a potato & asparagus crust with tomato chilli jam & coriander peanut pesto
- Mango sorbet
- Chargrilled Tuna with piquillo pepper, balsamic dressing, beans & oven roast tomato
- Char grilled duck with fresh poached nectarines, cassia bark & sticky orange sauce
- Chefs mango souffle

The food was OK - the first two courses - Stuffed zucchini flowers and Prawns were really doughy and heavy on the batter which was really disappointing.

The tuna, duck and souffle were absolutely delicious and it's a shame that the first few dishes let the whole experience down.

The matched wines were interesting with the best match being the Chapel Hill Shiraz - by far the best selection for the Char-grilled duck.

To sum up the experience..........great location.

Summer Salt - Elouera Surf Life Saving Club, Mitchell Road, Cronulla - (02) 9523 2366

http://www.summersalt.com.au/