Fleurty's is flourishing

With memories of GP’s recent, reasonably damning commentary on his attempts to eat at Fleurty’s at Birches Bay (just past Woodbridge), I met a friend yesterday there for a long, end-of-summer lunch.

We elected to share a platter ($36 for two) of what appeared to us to be a platter consisting of a reasonable cross-section of the native food product Fleurty’s specializes in.

I have to tell you we were hard pressed to decide which, of all products in front of us on the platter, was our favourite. As we lingeringly grazed our way round and round the platter, listening to the two laid-back, calming guitar players serenading us and gently soothing away the worries of the previous week, and taking in the combined ambience of the peacefulness of the Channel, the warm afternoon and the lack of urgency about the general atmosphere there (a good thing, not a criticism!), we were soothed into a general feeling of security, bonhomie and all’s-well-with-the-world.

We gossiped, without taking a breath, for four hours, then ambled on with the rest of our lives, content that no subject remained untouched and undiscussed by us over lunch!

On the platter were, from the front clockwise, oven-crispened bread, Ashgrove pepperberry cheddar, Tasmanian brie, Middleton quince paste, Tongola goats cheese sprinkled with local olive oil and ground native pepperberry, saltbush dukka blended with oil, chilli glazed quandongs, anise myrtle figs, house cured salmon in lemon myrtle and dill, then in the middle, house tapas oil with sticky balsamic. We were also supplied with a separate plate containing water crackers, and roughly torn bread for dipping purposes. Rocket, tomato wedges, cucumber and fresh basil leaves also garnished the platter providing light relief from the perfection of the above-named products.

At first I hesitantly tested each sample, slowly letting the flavours progress, then going on to the next sample. In my mouth a new explosion of textures and flavours was maintained each time I experienced a new taste. It was a most magic experience, and one I most highly recommend.

Right up there for favourites with me was the salmon. I find salmon these days pretty ho-hum. I’ve ‘been there and done that’ with salmon over many years now, and honestly don’t think I can find anything remotely interesting or stimulating about it any more – until yesterday’s salmon at Fleurty’s. The flavours that assaulted my palate as the salmon made its way to my tummy were absolutely stunning, and I truly wanted to bring a whole salmon treated in this way home with me to snack on for the next few days.

The Tongola cheese combined with the quince paste was a splendid combo, added to pleasure of enjoyment of the dukka dish, the quandongs, the figs and the oil/balsamic mix.

We took a stroll round the property checking out their plantings, then resumed positions for Round 2 (dessert) which we couldn’t really tackle but were too curious not to order. They kindly provided us with a plate containing a cross-section of 5 desserts on offer yesterday: tiramisu, a plum cake, a cherry cheesecake, pepperberry ice cream and lemon myrtle and macadamia ice cream. All were beautiful but we ended up not being able to finish. We DID give it a valiant try though!

The service was perfect, thanks mainly to Nadine and Amy. Amy in particular was most helpful and friendly, demonstrating her thorough product knowledge unstintingly each time we requested her assistance.

I absolutely loved the whole experience and can’t reinforce enough that you should call, book and get down there soon to do exactly as Bron and I did yesterday – graze long and slow on the deck, maximizing this late summer warmth.