First Taste of Down Under

It’s been a while since I wrote – we’ve been keeping our heads down and trying to a) dry out and b) save money after a particularly hectic Christmas and New Year. Having said that, we have just returned from an a) boozy and b) expensive little sojourn in the Margaret River, Western Australia – ho hum, detoxing is never easy!

We flew into Perth and hired a car to make our way down to Dunsborough, where we had ourselves a snazzy little beach house. It’s a three hour drive, so we (obviously) had to stop off en-route for a bite to eat. We had no clue where we were going, but luckily our noses are pretty good at sniffing out eating establishments and we ended up at Vat Two in Bunbury.



This funky little restaurant is right on the harbour, with decking over-looking the beach and an inspiring menu of fusion cuisine and an impressive wine list (well, I guess we were in the middle of the wine region!).

We kicked off with a plate of oysters to share amongst the four of us, to get us in the holiday mood – they come in a variety of ways, but we chose to mix up some with Thai-nam jim & crispy shallots with some Japanese chilli, ginger & rice wine vinegar:





My friend and I then shared the Salmon Fishcakes, served with buttered spinach and chive hollandaise



And the Thai Prawn Salad with rice noodles.



The food was excellent – as was the wine and the ambience (and the company, of course was second to none!). So we left feeling very pleased with ourselves to have stumbled upon such a little gem, and would definitely recommend it as a stopping-off point if you happen to be driving down to the Margaret River.

Vat Two, Bunbury, Western Australia - http://www.vat2.com.au/