The Dining Room at The Headwaters Eco Lo
Reviews · · · ·Rating: 4
We ate dinner here in August 2024.
Curry puff
Tomato and lentil soup with paratha and raita
Roast chicken with pistachio, cranberry and sage stuffing and roast vegetables
Banana souffle with chocolate and kahlua ice cream
The Dining Room is the restaurant of the very lovely Headwaters Eco Lodge. While diners tonight were exclusively guests at the accommodation, the restaurant is open to the general public. They serve a chefs choice menu, where you get what you’re given but they will work around dietary requirements. Because of this, bookings are essential.
Three of the four dishes tonight were outstanding. The curry puff was so fluffy and flavourful, nothing like the hard little deep fried rocks you sometimes get at takeaway places. The soup was supremely well blended, not some lumpy lentil concoction but a creamy, rich bowl of happiness. The paratha and raita on the side were welcome, although their connection with the soup was unclear.
The Fee-Rex had never had a souffle before (evidently Business Andy is fancier than she is), and it did not disappoint. Crazily fluffy with a distinct but balanced banana flavour, we can see what the souffle fuss is about (the souffluss?). The homemade ice cream had strong, deep chocolate and coffee flavours and was the perfect accompaniment .
The only dish to miss the mark a little was the chicken. It was still good, but it wasn’t great. Some elements were tepid when they arrived, which didn’t help, and a bit more gravy wouldn’t have gone astray. The potatoes were sublime, and we appreciated the lack of parsnips (the devils veg).
All in all this was a great meal. If you’re going to visit, bring your appetite. This meal was large, and at $85 a head, was stunning value. That’s half to two-thirds what you’d expect to pay for a meal of this size and calibre at another restaurant. We suppose them making the same thing for everybody saves money, and they grow much of the produce on site. But still, it’s impressive, where can you get four good courses for $85!? Maybe at Empire Sports Bar & Eatery but either way you’re going to be travelling a long way to find the same value for money.
Bookings essential