abalina cottages - Bright accommodation for singles couples and families
Stay in our boutique development of two, near new, 4.5 star 3 bedroom/2 bathroom cottages which are only a level 660m walk to Bright's CBD restaurants.
The Age Good Food Guide 2008
Simone's Restaurant Age Good Food Guide 16/20 Two Chefs Hats
2009 Melbourne Good Food Guide 18/20 phone (don't email) book well in advance
ph: 03 5755 2266 www.simonesrestaurant.com.au
"
Two decades ago Simone’s began life in Bright as a modest motel restaurant, described in this Guide as ‘Mrs Patrizia Simone’s wholesome and generous Italian cooking . . . the best food in the district’.
Simone’s is now housed in a charming Victorian residence near the centre of town but the essence of that original review endures. So enticing is the food that these days the family-run restaurant rivals Bright’s autumnal splendour as reason enough for a high-country pilgrimage. Fresh local produce is used extensively and the menu is conceived and executed with passion and originality. Baked figs with gorgonzola cream and prosciutto make for a rich start, as do scallops on red wine with grapes and cotechino risotto. Game options include boned roasted quail breast with chestnut; basil-infused rabbit cooked porchetta-style; caramelised duck breast filled – oddly but successfully – with smoked eel; and Umbrian-style guinea fowl.
A dessert favourite is the chocolate plate of cherry-ripe tartlet, baci icecream, chocolate mousse and Sicilian icecream bun. Service may be less reliable, veering from warm and efficient to slow and indifferent, depending on the night.
Poplar's Restaurant Age Good Food Guide 14/20 page 216
ph: 03 5755 1655 www.poplars.com.au
poplars restaurant reviewed in The Age Good Food Guide for a second year
FULL 2009 REVIEW:
Wild blackberries are picked in the Buckland Valley by an apprentice on his way to work, destined in Autumn to provide the striking purple colour and flavour of poplars signature Fruits of the Season soufflé, which only weeks earlier in summer was originally orange hued from locally harvested peaches. It is that kind of restaurant! French influenced with a gnarled grapevine and rustic bicycle gracing the entrance portal to a tasteful and relaxed dining room. On Friday nights a local pianist plays; it might be bit passé as a feature, but the music is a nice match to the attentive discreet service. The menu is more about comfortable consistency than cutting-edge cuisine, but platings are generous and pleasing to the eye and palate. French onion soup, chicken terrine, and pork and apple pithivier’s vie for attention on the entrée list. Fish of the day might be a succulent fillet of baked blue eye served on slow-braised peppers and snap peas with a champagne dressing. Other mains include glazed confit duck leg with pickled beans or perhaps brine-cured free-range chicken served with French-style lentils and smoked bacon. Whatever the season, the soufflé is definitely worth the 20-minute wait.
Package available through abalina cottages $120 3 course meal for a couple or $150 3 course meal and a bottle of wine per couple. Add from "services" when you book online.
Villa Gusto Age Good Food Guide 2008 14.5/20
ph: 5756 2000 www.villagusto.com.au
open 7nights a week - bookings essential (10 minutes from Bright)
Age Good Food Guide 2009 Score: 14/20 "Chickens forage contentedly at the bottom of the garden, not far from a bountiful home-style vegetable plot. It adds a touch of rusticity to what is otherwise an elegantly Italianate fauxTuscan villa"
Age Good Food Guide 2008 Score: 14.5/20 "For some, the Italianate splendour of Villa Gusto might be taking things a tinkling Tuscan fountain too far; for others, this eccentric little establishment in the lee of Mount Buffalo blends good food and heightened atmosphere in just the right way"
Five course degustration dinner 7 nights a week for $70pp excluding wine. Bookings essential. 10 minute drive from Bright in the Buckland Valley. Bright taxi Service ph (03) 8667 3371 mobile 0447 030 600 and email alpinecarrental@hotmail.com