With its absolute beachfront location, Shelly Beach’s new Boathouse restaurant is a winner
Address: 1 Marine Pde, Manly
Phone: 9974 5440
Web: theboathousesb.com.au
Hours: Daily 7am-4pm & 6pm-10pm; closed Sunday and Monday nights.
OCCASIONALLY you come across a restaurant that is less about the food and more about the experience of being there.
Roast duck, greens, duck sauce, and roesti at The Boathouse, Shelly Beach. Pictures: Martin Lange
You might even wish you could live there, such is the cleverness of the people who created the space. The Boahouse Shelly Beach is one of those places.
I could certainly get used to waking up with the sound of the surf in my ears, the sand at the doorway and the high ceilings of this whitewashed beach shack over my head. If somebody could come in daily with the floral arrangements and the beautiful baskets of fruit and magazines that litter this lovely space, that would indeed be a bonus.
Head chef Tom Eadie at The Boathouse Shelly Beach.
The smart people behind the Boathouse are the same who’ve done wonderful things for other waterfront properties around Sydney, including at Balmoral and Palm Beach.
Pip Robb and Andrew Goldsmith are designers at heart, with a knack for turning under-utilised properties into something magical — places to take tourists to show off this city.
The Boathouse Shelly Beach — which has replaced the tired Le Kiosk that had operated in the spot for 30 years, and which was built in the 1930s as a teahouse — follows the formula of its sister venues. In a beautiful space is served safe seafood-focused dishes at reasonable prices, done well. If you go not hoping to dine at Rockpool, then all your expectations will be met.
The msart interior of The Boathouse at Shelly Beach.
Unlike the other venues, this one opens at night, and chef Tom Eadie has created a share-friendly menu. Start with snack-like entrees of, say, trout pate ($18), a moist mound of trout rillettes with plenty of flavour, served with pink-hued beetroot pikelets. Solid.
A dish simply called “fried seafood” ($23), is a moreish plate of lightly battered, flash-fried calamari, school prawns and whitebait, enlivened with fresh chilli, parsley and thick, quality aioli.
For non-seafood lovers, there is plenty to sample, from “roast chook” ravioli ($22), to lamb pasties with eggplant ($12) and a good roast duck ($39), comprising a moist half bird served with wilted greens, earthy jus and a unfortunately slightly gluggy rosti. It’s enough for two.
More in the seafood line are Boathouse classics including a bucket of big, salty tiger prawns ($39) you peel yourself, and light-as-air beer-battered flathead ($29), widely acknowledged as one of the best fish-and-chip offerings in Sydney.
“Green spaghetti” ($32), meanwhile, is a big plate of green noddles topped with a garlicky assortment of seafood including nicely handled yabbies, pippies and prawns. Dig in and get your hands — and face — dirty.
Chocolate fondant, quince and milk ice cream at The Boathouse.
It’s all sunny, happy stuff designed to satisfy and please. A drinks list that is very reasonably priced — wines from $9 a glass, and $39 a bottle, with $16 cocktails — is a perfect fit.
So the Boathouse is already full to brimming. It’s a place that people want to be. If we could live this beautifully all the time, I’m sure we
all would.
@lizziemeryment
Trout pate, beetroot pikelets, cucumber salad at The Boathouse.
Source: The Daily Telegraph, July 21st 2015
Originally published as: With its absolute beachfront location, Shelly Beach’s new Boathouse restaurant is a winner
