Isle of Voyage Sunset Dinner (Invited)
Florence Hummerston Kiosk was built in 1928 and currently houses a restaurant called the Isle of Voyage. The Isle of Voyage is a sister kitchen of the Voyage Restaurant in Sorrento. This is particularly evident in how the menus of both restaurants are very similar. I was invited by Detail to enjoy the sunset dinner at Isle of Voyage. Detail have consistently and meticulously arranged beautiful invites and decorations for past events.
When I arrived at the restaurant, I was ushered to the outdoor dining area where we got a beautiful view of the river and the 29m tall Spanda. Two long tables were set up with white linen and flowers, simple but pleasing decorations.
We were welcomed with two different choices of Isle of Voyage concoctions. I chose the Green Lady which was a combination of muddled cucumber, mint and lime wetted with Hendricks Gin and Cointreau. It was quite a refreshing but strong drink at the same time.
Our entrees were homemade hummus dip, pea kale croquettes and chicken liver parfait. I had to say they made a good hummus dip and the portion was quite substantial too. The chicken liver parfait came with grilled sourdough, pink peppercorn and delicious relish. The croquettes was served with creamy Romesco sauce, kale and edamame beans. The croquettes tasted wonderful especially because everyone at the table expected it to taste too healthy based on the description (hahaha).
For my main meal, I chose the crab linguine pasta. The online menu still mentioned Tagliatelle but they changed the type of pasta to linguine recently. This pasta came with Blue Swimmer crab, crispy pangrattato, chili and lemon. The lemon juice and cherry tomatoes brought in refreshing flavour to the the linguine and the crispy pangrattato was a great addition to give different texture to the pasta.
I shared a table with other foodies so it was a given that we shared our food as well. I tried the grilled lamb cutlets that Andria ordered which was amazing The lamb cutlets was rubbed with Middle Eastern spices and came with lemon and yoghurt. The meat was well cooked and just tasted so tender!
Ryan went for the fish cakes. There were three fish cakes on the plate which was a combination of potato, ocean trout and snapper. This was served together with homemade sugo and tartare sauce. The fish cakes were definitely enjoyable but we felt this dish was quite pricey for what we were getting.
Izzy's pappardelle was another winning dish of the night. It had Blackwood Valley braised beef ragu which was rich and savoury. This dish also came with gremolata and a big dollop of thick creme fraiche.
Riley chose the sirloin steak in medium rare. We all thought the presentation for the Blackwood Valley Organic Sirloin was quite lacking considering other dishes look really pretty on the plate. The sirloin steak came with herb butter but all of us definitely chose the lamb cutlets over this dish.
Our dessert platter was big! We indulged in some small pieces of the light choc & hazelnut meringue, fluffy strawberry cheesecake, rich chocolate peanut & caramel tart and carrot cake that I thought was a bit dry. My favourite of the night was the lemon cake which was decorated beautifully and gave the perfect citrus hit in my mouth. It was a perfect after dinner dessert especially for a warm summer night.
If you're reading this that means you're researching about the Isle of Voyage or curious about this place. The restaurant had a lot of mixed reviews in relation to the service and the quality of their food. We all enjoyed our Modern Australian meals and definitely enjoyed the view from the outdoor dining area very much. It's worthwhile to try this place especially if you never been here before and I hope that you will get a good experience too.