Hunter Valley Grapevine: Emma's Cottage - Lovedale Long Lunch review

Thursday, June 9, 2011

Emma's Cottage - Lovedale Long Lunch review - part 3

The second stop on our “Lovedale Long Lunch” bus tour was Emma’s Cottage.

We discovered Emma’s a few months back when we received a menu for their pizza restaurant- Tilly's Gourmet Pizza Cafe - in the mail and have been out there with family and friends on a couple of occasions now and always leave with a smile.

We arrived around Midday and as soon as you stepped off the bus you could tell the place was rocking. The staff had dressed up with a Grease (the movie) theme. The girls were Pink Lady’s and the boys T’Birds. The band was in full swing pumping out old favorites from the 60’s and 70’s and the crowd were getting right into it with a packed dance floor.

Some Pink Ladies

The band was great and the crowd were quickly on their feet

Band - Scratch Me Happy

For those looking for something even faster paced, there were Harley rides around Lovedale provided by Wild Ride Australia.

Wild Ride Australia provided harley rides

We grabbed a cheese and olive platter and a bottle of Rose that we already knew was beautiful from previous trips, found our group and settled in to listen to the band.

Emma's Rose - delicious and very easy to drink!

The food at Emma’s was supplied by Amanda’s Restaurant and our crew sampled the pan seared garlic buttered king prawns on a warmed roasted pumpkin, spring onion and herb cous cous which they said was very good and few also tried the aromatic Sri Lankan chicken curry with steamed jasmine rice, coriander, mango chutney and yoghurt raita, which they enjoyed very much, and they didn’t share any.

Dessert was a warmed chocolate fudge brownie with Belgian chocolate sauce, strawberries and cream. Not sure if anyone had this but thinking back I wish I had.

Emma’s Cottage is a must do if your visiting the Hunter. You’ll be greeted in the tasting room by the glamorous Katie who will take you right through the whole range of wines available and anyone who enjoys desert wine the aptly named “Perfect” is well worth trying.

A wander through the art gallery, most of which is supplied by one of the owners in Megan Barrass is highly recommended. Every time we’ve gone through it I have to remind Mel we are there for lunch not to buy paintings.

Then move onto the pizza café which does traditional Italian style pizzas which are as good as you will get anywhere and I’d know as I’ve eaten way more than my share of pizzas.