Penne with chicken & pesto cream, grilled w/ mozzerella & bocconcini - 18.00
It is TGIF PLF – I called it the Pub Lunch Friday!
The battered food, the amber liquid, and the extra hour long lunch relaxing in the beer courtyard soaking up the sun, what not to love about PLF?! Not to mention, the local hotel is only few paces down the hill from our place, it can be dangerously convenient sometimes. Whenever Big D comes over to meet us for lunch at the Terrigal Hotel, we will consider it as a “business meeting”. It works every time to feel less guilty indulging ourselves to some not so diet friendly food.
“Business meeting” aside, the food at the Terrigal Hotel Bistro is actually exceptionally good! Just look at the extremely stringy mozzarella twirling around the fork like a spider has spun the web on its prey and wrapped around it like a cocoon, I think I’ve just witnessed an extraordinary wildlife feasting moment in slow motion like on National Geographic.
Clockwise L to R:Terrigal Hotel Bistro menu; Lemon, lime & bitters; hand cut wedges with sour cream and sweet chilli sauce - 6.00
The Terrigal Hotel Bistro is one big massive water hole where Gazza, Hazza, Bazza, Muzza, (the list goes on) to come to quench their thirsts. The hotel splits into two levels, with the spacious main bar on the ground floor, and bistro “slashed” Lagoon bar on top floor overlooking the tranquil Terrigal lagoon, and the picturesque Terrigal beach.
The bistro menu comes in an impressive nicely binded booklet that covers a great selection of food from burgers to pasta, seafood, and even a few asian cuisines from the wok. For steak lovers, there is also an open grill where you can cook your own steak, just the way you like it. For drinks, I usually do feel like a beer to go with my lunch, but unfortunately I still have a pile of work waiting for me when I get back, so we stick to the lemon, lime & bitters instead.
hand cut wedges with sour cream and sweet chilli sauce - 6.00
We each order a main dish, then also a bowl of hand cut wedges to share. The wedges are just too good with super crunchy skin and piping hot inside. A good dollop of light sour cream is slowly melting away and coated the whole Mount Wedges in white velvety lava. It is probably one of the best wedges I’ve had at so many pubs. Even just the presentation already wins my heart over!
beer battered fish & chips w/ garden salad, lemon & tartare sauce - 19.00
The Pom orders the good ole beer battered fish & chips with garden salad, lemon & tartare sauce. Oh did I mention the serving size here is huge?! There are 4 decent size fish fillets and a very generous portion of garden salad. The beer batter is light and crunchy while the fish fillet inside is moist and tender, flakes of flesh just comes off with a whisk of the fork.The garden salad has a great combinations of nice fresh vege and curds of brined fetta cheese gives the salad a nice salty flavour.
salt & chilli squid w/cucumber, shallot & asian herb salad, lime mayonnaise dressing - 16.00
I have ordered the salt & chilli squid with cucumber, shallot & asian herb salad with lime mayonnaise dressing. Hard to believe it is an entree size when it comes with an abundance of calamari curls. I have ordered this dish a few times and is still one of my favorites. The squids are finely scored in criss-cross pattern then deep fried with a nice coat of salty batter which is very mild in hotness. It is so crunchy yet so tender inside, The refreshing cucumber and coriander salad is refreshing combined with the tarty mayonnaise dressing brings a whole new layer of an oriental flavour to it.
Clockwise L to R: strands of mozzarella and bocconcini; well polished with none left; crunchy salt and chilli squid with mayo
Seriously, who would order a pasta dish at a pub lunch anyway?! But Big D just proves me wrong by ordering the most delicious penne with chicken & pesto cream with grilled mozarella and bocconcini. Just look at those gooey, sticky strands of mozarella again! The penne is al dante with succulent juicy grilled chicken pieces then heavily coated with creamy pesto. A good sprinkle of roasted pine nuts gives a nice crunchy texture, and last but not least, sealed the dish with a nice thick layer of melted creamy mozarella and bocconcini. This dish has definitely make my decision clear for what I am going to order at the next PLF!
Clockwise L to R: Salt & pepper shakers; beer battered fish & chips; the patrons having a relaxing time at the bistro
Terrigal Hotel Bistro is definitely one of the best hotel in the area with good quality gourmet pub food. The price reflects on the quality and quantity of the food which you actually don’t feel ripped off. Plus you get a stunning view of the Terrigal beach and lagoon while chillaxing with a glass of pale ale, it seriously can’t get any better than this.
Terrigal Hotel 176 Terrigal Drive Terrigal NSW 2260 Opening hours: Mon - Fri: 12 - 3pm, 6 - 9pm Sat - Sun: 11am - 10pm p: (02) 4384 1033 w: www.terrigalhotel.com.au
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It’s funny, we never seem to order pasta unless of course it’s an Italian restaurant but that pasta looks divine with the strands which make for a gorgeous photo!
Pub lunches are always a hit and a miss, in the Sydney CBD it is anyway but it looks like Terrigal is a hit. It actually looks like they take care with their food! Very impressive.
i heart your photo of the s&p shakers .
the food here looks brilliant! if only we had a pub like this in the city – super lax’d, good food, good dollah-wise & sunny all year round. instead, we have $5 steak places. *erk*
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There’s nothing like a pub lunch to cap off the end of the week, huh?
I don’t know about the cheesiness of the pasta but the others look real good.
Awesome cheeseee shots… they had won me over at a glance mmm
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@Lorraine @NotQuiteNigella: yeah, I havent see many places do pasta as good as this in a hotel. I was surprised. Tasted good too
@Howard: I think is the same everywhere, but I am lucky to have a decent hotel around the area. But if you want good pubs, I think balmain is the place to go. Lots of good ones there.
@shez: have you tried any in Balmain? I love the hotels over there. And perhaps a zumbo after the pub food? even better!
@Simon: man, the cheesey goodness is to die for!
@FFichiban: anything bad for you always taste good!
oh those wedges look delicious!
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