Dining out in Mount Gambier can be a chancy affair but this week we had a pleasant experience at the Vanilla Bean Café in Commercial Street West. Formerly Café Luna, it's now under new and enthusiastic ownership with Nick presiding over the kitchen and Kylie in charge of front-of-house and new decor featuring a huge mural of a funky vanilla bean vine.
We were rather disconcerted to find the café buzzing with 30-odd members of the Coonawarra Black Swans Beefsteak & Burgundy Club, all quaffing mint juleps and talking at the tops of their voices but we were greeted by a pleasant waiter and led to a table in a (relatively) quiet spot which gave us a good view of the proceedings when Elvis Presley dropped in to serenade the club members with Devil in Disguise, in keeping with their theme of A Southern Feast Fit For a King.
Their entrée was looking good so we ordered a similar dish, the beef salad, which was a generous serving of very fresh salad greens topped with tender beef strips and served with the house-made dressing, sweetened only by roast garlic. For anyone who loves garlic, this is the dish. The waiter wields a pepper-grinder nearly as tall as she is - but hey, it's Christmas! On such a hot night sparkling wine felt like the way to go so we ordered a bottle of Di Giorgio even though piccolos are available for those not wanting more. There's a good array of wines on display which Kylie is constantly adding to.
For main course we couldn't go past the prawns - crunchy and fresh and complementing the sparkling wine beautifully. Black Swans had Southern-Fried Chicken of course! with little cornbreads that looked very good.
10/10 to Nick, Kylie and their staff. Keep up the good work guys and let me know when Elvis is due again, because I'll be there.
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