Mr Goaty Gelato opens garden cafe at The Fragrant Gardens in Erina
The highly anticipated cafe at The Fragrant Gardens is open for business, with the best gelato and gin going around.
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THE highly anticipated cafe at The Fragrant Gardens is open for business, with the best gelato and gin going around.
Bar Botanica, a garden cafe and bar, has opened its doors at the much-loved Erina premises which is also home to Distillery Botanica.
It’s the creation of Mr Goaty Gelato’s Julia and Dan Hughes, who have based their gelato business at the gardens for the past two years.
The menu is described as “simple garden to plate dishes, freshly-roasted coffee and Mr Goaty’s famous gelato and sorbet”.
The Hughes’ relocated to the Green Point from Sydney’s Eastern Suburbs, where Dan worked as a chef before creating his award-winning Mr Goaty Gelato which he makes using the fresh ingredients from the gardens.
His inspiration for gelato came from his childhood in rural England and Greece.
“We like to keep it really simple and natural, and source fresh produce locally,” Mr Hughes told the Express.
The cafe is housed in the mud-brick hut where people will instantly recognise the old slanted windows.
It will be open from midmorning to late afternoon, with the couple describing it as an “elevenses” concept, an old English term referring to a light snack taken at eleven in the morning.
Menu highlights include a chicken liver parfait with Distillery Botanica blackcurrant liquor, a traditional ploughman’s lunch, garden-marinated olives, chicken with tarragon and mustard leaf sandwich, seasonal salads, 14 house-made flavours of gelato and sorbet, along with daily baked pastries.
Once the cafe is licensed, Distillery Botanica gin, Hunter Valley wines and local Six String beer will also be on offer. By winter, a series of pop-up dinners will be announced, with meals prepared by Mr Hughes and local wines served by the High Tide Bar.
Bar Botanica is open Wednesday to Sunday from 10am until 4pm, at 25 Portsmouth Road, Erina.
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