THE ONLY THING I LIKE BETTER THAN TALKING ABOUT FOOD IS EATING FOOD - JOHN WALTERS.

In tandem with my previous post about my Wine Tour, there is something that cannot be ignored. 

Food.

What's a team bonding in Hunter Valley without good food? It was my responsibility to find a restaurant that will satisfy the team, especially as they are pretty hard to please. To be honest there were a list of places that I wanted to try in Hunter Valley, but after discussing with one of my colleagues we opted for the one restaurant that I have been before - Amanda's On The Edge. This, I knew had good food because I had dined here for New Year Eve a few years back with a couple of girlfriends so it was what I would say the "safe option."

There was a few hiccups regarding my reservation but the people at Amanda's On The Edge were very accommodating and courteous to have things resolved for me and got us a table that we needed. Very quickly, everyone was loving the homey feel of the place and inwardly I let out a sigh of relief knowing that "so far so good." First thing we ordered was a bottle of red wine and the atmosphere was turned into one of laughter and jokes. I really do work with some of the best peoples who beside being picky eaters, enjoy nothing more than laughter. Every time I go out with them I laugh to the point my cheeks hurts and I'm clenching my stomach, this night was no exception.

Scallops, seared scallops with a cauliflower puree & gruyere crisps. Gruyere as I just found out now is actually a hard yellow cheese from Switzerland, learn something new everyday huh. 

Ravioli, crab & snapper filled ravioli with champagne butter sauce. This was the entree that I shared with a colleague and I have to say that, the champagne butter sauce was purely amazing.

Mushroom, baked field mushroom stuffed with garlic, feta, basil & pine nuts on a slow roasted tomato sugo. I can't say from my own taste that this was good because I'm allergic to nuts. Nothing severe, more like I am sensitive to nuts so I like to avoid them if I can. However, I do love mushrooms so it was this horrible temptation on wanting to eat but cannot. My other colleagues enjoyed it and said they really like it, so I will just have to take their words for it.

Beef Eyed Fillet, Angus Grainge 250 gram with a gruyere cheese, thyme, potato galette, paris butter & roasted eshallot. This was my main cooked to medium rare and it was perfection. I enjoyed it so much that I started to ignore everyone and just focused on devouring my meal. That Paris butter sitting on top of my steak melted perfectly to create that smooth texture and sweet aroma and the beef was so easy to cut.. I can go one but this is one that I highly recommend if you plan to dine here.

Queensland King Prawn Pasta, linguine tossed prawns, garlic, baby roma, coriander, chilli, spinach & lemon. I actually stole a few bites of this my colleague and I have to say it tasted good but did not go well with the red wine we ordered, definitely would of been better with a white wine that suited the seafood. 

Lamb Rack, on a spinach & feta cheese filo pastry with a roasted tomato & capsicum sauce. Two of my colleagues ordered this and they could not stop praising how well it was cooked. When asked what was their favourite dish they insist on the lamb rack.

Duck, three times cooked duck maryland on saute leek & shallot with plum compote & golden kipfler potatoes. Another high praise choice. I'm telling you that I only got good feedback on the food here.

Hot Banana pudding with butterscotch sauce & hazelnut gelato. Nope I did not try, but I heard the pudding was like banana cake.

Chocolate Fondant pudding with (slight alteration due to nut allergies) blueberry gelato. This was my order, the chocolate pudding tasted a lot like a flourless cake which was a good idea since they have that rich chocolate sauce on top. So the light tasted chocolate pudding didn't taste too sweet. The blueberry gelato, actually had real actual blueberries in it, not bits but the actual whole berry so it was a nice surprise.

I really want to take a photo of this place but at night it was a real struggle to capture how beautiful this place is. Please go onto their website and have a look at the beautiful cottage that it is. Twice I've been here and twice I've been satisfied, but then again that is my own personal opinion and taste.