Two, Four, Six, Eight...

People who love to eat are always the best people.– Julia Child

 This is the Old Cleveland Courthouse. Some enterprising soul has turned it into an extraordinary restaurant though it began life as a colonial cottage in 1853 & was Cleveland's first place of worship. This makes it one of the oldest buildings in the area as Cleveland wasn't settled until 1851 & the building is heritage listed.

The Courthouse is one of those places you drive past all the time yet never go to ~ or at least we never had.  From the road it looks sort of tiny so having arrived a little early for lunch & wandered down to the park at the end of the road we were surprised to see a small but beautiful garden & a patio of little tables with thick white clothes looking immaculate in the warm spring sunshine.  Much larger than we had expected though tablecloths like that always remind me of our last night in London...

 The MOTH & Rabqa, CG & I were celebrating: that CG was home, 2 birthdays, a day out for our church leadership.

 We were escorted through a maze of dim rooms with their high Queensland ceilings & onto the patio for lunch. The view is lovely.  I imagine it makes for spectacular weddings.

Sometimes life surprises you. The Courthouse had not been my first choice for a celebratory meal.  Last year we had been to the Lighthouse ~ a little further out along the point.  It had been blustery & I had not been overly happy with my meal because most places round here only give one vegetarian option. Dessert was wonderful & their liqueurs were to die for, a dessert in a glass & far too sweet to be seriously considered alcoholic. So I had begun looking early this year & had chosen the Siromet Winery.

When I first looked at the Siromet menu their vegetarian choices were mouth watering but when I checked before booking I found they had changed their menu &....well, Ick! What can I say?

The courthouse only offers 1 entree & 1 main if you happen to be vegetarian but the entree happened to be deep fried camembert.  I am very partial to deep fried camembert & most places will happily turn an entree into a main if you ask.  The MOTH was rather keen to return to the Lighthouse but he also is rather partial to the camembert.

As it turned out his Tasmanian Oysters [mornayed] were freshly opened, which is what you want with something like oysters. He says they were scrumptious... Rabqa & CG chose different options from the *Meal of the Day*:Cone Bay saltwater barramundi, macadamia nut crust, lemon & chive sauce for Rabqa & Slow cooked Angus beef cheeks braised in rich red wine & beef stock, roast root vegetables and creamy mash for CG.

However, as anyone who knows me knows, the most important part of any meal is the dessert! Rabqa & I chose a Brandy snap basket filled with raspberry sorbet, topped with seasonal berries.

It was very yummy.

We will be back in a few weeks when CG's friend from Chile arrives.  A much safer bet than my cooking!