Blue Mountains - Darley's Restaurant

The Blue Mountains in New South Wales are majestic, with their sandstone plateaus covered by gum trees (eucalyptus to those of us in the States), deep gorges, and rain forests. The mountains got their name from the gum tree oil that seeps into the air, covering the ridges with a blue haze.

Darley's Restaurant overlooks the Jameson Valley from the Blue Mountains. A historic home houses the restaurant, and it still has the original fire places and stained glassed windows. Executive Chef, Hugh Whitehouse, features fresh, local food in his seasonal menus. The wine list is expansive, offering local and international wines. The Sydney Morning Herald awarded Darley's its 2009 Good Food Award for 'Regional Restaurant of the Year.'

Clearly this is a restaurant I needed to try.

After ordering a Pinot Noir from Orange, a town about 100 miles west, I took a closer look at the menu. Oddly, it referred to appetizers as "entrees" and entrees as "mains." I didn't care what the menu called each course, everything looked delicious. After long consideration, I settled on thee following three courses:

Entrée -Tortellini of local Jannei goat’s cheese, prawns, tea soaked raisins, pine nuts, brown butter, perorino. This was my favorite dish of the night, it was perfectly indulgent and rich.

Main -Cowra spring lamb - apple wood smoked, carrot puree, cassoulet of borlotti beans, Herbs de Provence, spring garlic, sourdough crumbs. The lamb was tender, but too smoked; it overwhelmed the other flavors. I was disappointed because I had such high hopes for this dish.

Desserts -Indulgence of white chocolate, rose and strawberries. I'll admit, I am a chocolate snob and rarely chose white chocolate, so I was crestfallen that this was the only chocolate option on the menu. Though it would not have had a chance against a chocolate coconut Georgetown cupcake, this dish pleasantly surprised me. The strawberries were fresh and sweet, and the white chocolate ganache was a very nice complement to them.

In all, Darley's didn't quite live up to the hype. The food was good, but not phenomenal. At times the menu was overly ambitious without delivering. I would be interested to revisit the restaurant at another time of year to see if a different seasonal menu lived up to the restaurant's potential.