The Green Herring Restaurant

Post

Subscribe

is located in Ngunnawal's Gold Creek Village - a thriving tourist attraction of historical, educational, and boutique destinations. It is housed inside a 150-year old semi-converted slab hut and has been operating as a restaurant for twenty years, improving in style and cuisine the whole time. Appropriately for the location, the ever-changing menu is modern Australian - very much focused on meat, desserts, and beverages. The main courses are famously filling, causing many customers to struggle to finish dessert despite it being the crowning achievement of the meal.

The staff were incredibly attentive - they even spotted us looking lost outside the back door and came out to help us. I liked the romantic lighting - predominantly fairy lights and lanterns - but when the food arrived I wished I could see it better. The wooden chairs were mildly uncomfortable towards the end of the evening.

We opened our meal with delicious restaurant-baked bread and a duo of dips - that night it was a perfect hummus accompanied by a sundried tomato and pesto offering.

My partner ate the wattle seed dusted kangaroo fillet steak with bush tomato fondue, pumpkin rosti, seeded mustard gel and red wine jus (GF, DF). I'm generally not fond of kangaroo - too gamey - but this was by far the best I've ever tasted. It had a melt-in-the-mouth consistency and was simply delicious. I would have been perfectly satisfied to eat the entire dish - until I tasted mine.

I ordered the pork fillet with pistachio puree, caramelisted apple panna cotta, pistachio soil and apple jus (also GF and DF). Each part of the meal was tasty in its own right, although I was mystified at first by the choice of panna cotta for a main. However, when the ingredients were combined the genuine genius of the dish was clear: the flavours were balanced to perfection, interweaving and complementing one another to make something exquisite.

The side of broccoli with roast garlic and hazelnut butter is to be highly recommended, and provided a pleasant contrast to the meat.

Unable to choose between half a dozen gorgeous desserts, we chose the special platter for two. Although I found the White Chocolate Mud Cake a little dry and the Baked Lemon Cheesecake slightly plain without its usual companions, the Caramelised Apple was much like a simple apple crumble made better in every way, and the Peanut Butter Crème Brulee was simple divine - the crust was burnt to delicate perfection and cracked in a highly satisfying manner, and the two layers beneath were wonderful and unique.

At the end of the meal, I wished my stomach had the capacity to start all over again.

is small and popular, so don't forget to book in advance!

#australian_restaurants
#gungahlin
#restaurants
%wncanberra