A Fried Feast

It was our first night in Dunsborough, so we took a short walk into the town to find somewhere for dinner and came across Bax on Dunn Bay. It’s a trendy little open-sided restaurant, displaying funky art by local artists on its walls (we were particularly taken with the painting of a blue lady with red hair, wearing sequin underpants, and sucking her own toe…)

The menu was what I think is known as Modern Australian cuisine – an observation confirmed by the abbreviation of ‘octopus’ to ‘ockie’. I didn’t go for the ockie in the end, opting instead for the Marinated Crunchy Artichokes, served with Sweet & Sour Eggplant Pickle, as the waitress promised me it would be “beautiful”. I’m not sure it was beautiful, it was a little too breaded and deep-fried to be called that. I’m a big fan of marinated artichokes, but I’m not sure about the whole breading and deep-frying thing, although having said that it was pretty good.



For the main course I chose the Polenta Crusted Whiting and Panzanella Salad with raspberry vinaigrette. This, although also fried, was definitely worthy of being called ‘beautiful’ – the fish was fresh fresh fresh and beautifully cooked, the salad and tart vinaigrette detracting from the fried-ness of it.



Then for dessert, because I clearly hadn’t crammed in enough fried food for one meal, I ordered up a portion of the Churros. This brings me back to my student days in Spain, spending afternoons in the Plaza Mayor dipping churros into thick gloopy chocolate. Unfortunately the churros were the wrong shape, and the chocolate too thick (more of a paste than a gloop) for it to be truly reminiscent of days gone by, but we managed to polish off the lot anyway…

I think perhaps my choice of dishes leaves something to be desired here – I wasn’t really expecting it to be all so fried… although perhaps the words ‘crunchy’ and ‘crusted’ should have given it away. No matter, it was still a most enjoyable meal and definitely a good choice if you happen to find yourself hungry in Dunsborough.

Bax on Dunn Bay 26 Dunn Bay Rd , Dunsborough. Tel: 9759 1720