Spoons, Port Fairy

This cute little town certainly boasts a few good eateries in The Age 2010 Good Food Guide.  There's the Merrijig Inn, The Hub, Portofino's, and The Stag. 

We started at The Hub, who politely told us that they were full but to perhaps try our luck at the Merrijig Inn or Portofino's.  Following their instructions, we all walked towards the wharf and eventually found the Merrijig.  Again, they told us that they were full.  So we decided that it was onto The Stag.  Again, this proved a fruitless task - it was closed tonight (being their one night off in the week). 

From the evening's event of trying to get into a restaurant, it almost felt like being in a Nativity play; "sorry, no room at the restaurant tonight".

The four of us decided to wearily walk back into the main street and passed a little cafe style restaurant with white linen covered tables and a few diners inside.  All famished and hungry, I stepped inside to ask if they had a table available for four.  The waitress asked me to hold on whilst she had quick look around and pointed to a lovely table in the front room.  Hoorah!  We were going to get a meal tonight...

The table had already been set up with linen napkins, silver cutlery and wine glasses.  It was as though we were meant to have this table. 

The waitress wasted no time in presenting us all with a menu each.  The choices looked good and being extremely hungry tonight, my eyes went straight for the 'Eye fillet on pea and wine risotto with wilted spinach and a red wine jus'. 

Whilst our mains were being prepared, we decided to start off by sharing some warmed olives.  They were certainly yummy and we polished them all off pretty quickly. 

Unfortunately, our mains seemed to be taking rather long to come out.  So long in fact, my companions had polished off a bottle of wine and were onto their second.  However, seeing as we had been turned away from so many other restaurants beforehand, a long wait for our food didn't seem too much of a hardship considering.

Nevertheless, after a good forty-five minutes (just as our patience was being tested), our meals arrived.  OK, so they looked good, but boy, they could have hurried them up...

My eye fillet looked so good.  Like a pig on steroids, I grabbed my cutlery and literally started wolfing it down.  The steak was beautifully cooked to medium, the risotto was velvety smooth and creamy, and the combination of spinach and red wine jus made it oh so delectable.  I've never had steak and risotto together before, but I think I will have to try it when I get back to my kitchen at home.

One of my companions had the belly pork with potato and balsamic reduction.  Again, it was very well presented and very well received. 

The waitresses are polite, friendly and attentive.  Spoons is a great little cosy cafe which turns out excellently presented evening meals that are truly good enough to rival the more established restaurants. 

Despite the long wait for our food, I wouldn't hesitate to recommend this place - with warning of course.  We even went back for breakfast and fortunately we didn't have to wait long for our scrambled eggs and coffee. 

Thus, I can safely say that this was a great stumble-upon find.  A simply gorgeous little gem in Port Fairy.

Spoons Cafe
42 Sackville Street, Port Fairy, VIC
Tel: +61 (0)3 5568 3452

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