Plum in Salamanca Quarry

Plum, the new restaurant of Mark Goodluck (ex Head Chef Lenna), and his business partner Sam, on the former Mr Wooby’s site, was the dining venue for tonight.

Rita had a dinner meeting with Charlotte Brown, from the Cable Station at Stanley, catching up with NW news and finding out what it was like to work with Rick Stein in one of his restaurants in Cornwall, which is what Charlotte has been doing for the past 5 months.

The Cable Station has big plans for the coming season, including Producers Dinners, and a stand with Lee Christmas at a local show, but more of that later.

Tonight the focus was on Plum, and Mark’s restaurant and food. Unfortunately (for Mark) we were the only customers, but I saw that as a major positive, as we were able to chat to Mark, meet his partner Sam, enquire about the various things we tasted from all staff, and generally have a whole restaurant at our beck and call! When have you ever been able to say that before?

The renovation and fitout is superb. No expense appears to have been spared. It feels fresh, clean and smart, as well as making you feel comfortable. I loved it.

The menu was relatively small but totally adequate with enough of a selection for most, I would think. We bypassed the 7 oyster selections on Page 1 of the menu, and proceeded to the entrees. Charlotte decided she’d have 2 entrees (one for entrée and one for main) as she wanted to have a dessert later. The 2 entrees she chose were excellent choices – Confit of Coal Valley Pork Belly, served with roasted apples on a minted pea puree, topped with a caramel dressing ($17), followed by the Braised Beef Cheek, served on a white polenta, drizzled with a veal jus flavoured with a hint of bitter chocolate ($16). The Beef Cheeks were absolutely delicious, and quite a decent sized serving (larger than a standard entrée size we thought), so excellent value for money. The pork was also beautiful. I thought she chose really well.

I had the Tasmanian Pan Fried Scallops entree, served on a white bean puree with sautéed mushrooms, dashi beurre blanc and truffle oil ($22). It was very rich but being a fan of rich food and concentrated flavours, I loved it.

For mains I had the Prawns, marinated in rosemary and garlic oil and finished with slow cooked tomato sauce accompanied with a potato pave, fresh green beans and olive tapenade ($31).

It was exactly as it is written, and was a good dish to follow the richness of the scallops. I liked this one, but as I also tasted Charlottes beef cheeks (and having previously tossed up as to whether or not to order that dish in preference to the prawns), I wished then that I’d selected the beef cheeks, as the cheeks was a fabulous concentration of great flavour.

Charlotte made it to desserts, and selected the day’s special of Bread and Butter pudding with 2 house ice creams on the side. She loved it too, but really shouldn’t have ordered it, as she simply couldn’t tackle most of it.

They had a few extras, which were great – their bread rolls are the best I’ve ever eaten in a restaurant; the after dinner chocolates, and almond bread that accompanied the coffee were welcome, and yummy. It’s those little expressions of generosity that are appreciated by customers, and make you want to return.

All in all, a great experience in a great new restaurant. I really want Mark to do well with this, so will watch with interest, and hope as the silly season fast approaches that many more will give this restaurant a go. They are busy, particularly on weekends, with breakfasts, and have a designated barista so obviously take great pride in their coffees.

As Molly Meldrum says, do yourself a favour – go to Plum and try it out for yourself.