Biota Dining in Bowral

Biota Dining is located in the town of Bowral, in the Southern Highlands of NSW. The only time I have been to Bowral was to have a quick walk around the town centre and that was many years ago.

This time around, we walked up and down the main street, and browsed through some of the shops. The Gumnut Patisserie was very busy and I could see the numerous awards the patisserie had won over the years, there was a lovely organic store in town and numerous cafes. Bowral has certainly thrived over the years.

Biota Dining is located only a few minutes out of the town centre. There was so much green around the restaurant, with lovely ducks and geese hanging around the pond, a herb garden and a vegetable garden right next to the restaurant.

I was excited to get the chance to dine here. I have heard so much about the restaurant and their emphasis on supporting local farmers and growers. It was great to have a table close to the kitchen so we could see what was happening in the epicentre of any restaurant. I didn't realise until then there was a lounge area off the main restaurant which serves tapas style dishes. Will try that next time as the dishes being served for the lounge diners looked really interesting.

Back to my dining experience. There was a choice of 3 course menu, 5 course menu or 7 course menu. I wanted to try everything so I voted for the 7 course and DD went along. How could he not!

First up was Salmon jerky - yummy! It was salty, absolutely addictive! It definitely got the taste buds going.

Then there was in-house churned butter with sourdough bread. Then a very fascinating and truly delicious was served. It was Bottleneck squid with ink and blackened cucumber.

The second dish was Sheep milk curds, with asparagus, hen yolk, smoked rye with fresh pasta. There were slivers of bottarga in the dish too. OMG, this dish was the dish of the day as far as I am concerned. The textures and flavours were just delightful.

Then we had Trout, with squash, samphire, truffle sand and mussels. The truffle sand was quite salty which in turn lifted up the subtle flavours of the gently poached trout.

The next dish was the Duck with cauliflower, white raisins, pear and pine needles. Visually quite pleasing and a lovely dish to boot.

By the time the Wallaby dish I arrived, I was starting to feel quite full and started to question my decision. I don't believe I have ever had wallaby before but I was willing to give it a try. The meat was quite tender, slightly gamey but overall a pleasing dish, it was served with heirloom potatoes, plums and forest raspberries.

Thank goodness that was the end of the main courses. We finished off with Whipped brie, dried milk, roasted nuts and quince. I am a cheese lover but I don't think I was too keen on the whipped brie. However, the highlight for me was the quince.

And the final dish was Fairtrade chocolate served with apple, malt and cacao crumb together with a carrot sorbet. The carrot sorbet was very summery and its lightness offset the denseness of the chocolate. The chocolate was delightfully sinful.

We finished off with coffee but we couldn't bring ourselves to try out the truffles that came with the coffee. Way too full after such generous servings of food. I will say how impressed I was with the service. Impeccable and definitely part of the reason why Biota Dining attained 2 hats.



Biota Dining
18 Kangaloon Road
Bowral
NSW 2576
Tel: +61 2 4862 2005
Website: biotadining.com