Ça Marche

By Franz Scheurer

Part of the Cassegrain Winery, Ça Marche is surrounded by stunning grounds. There are roses in bloom everywhere you look and there’s plenty of parking and easy access. The restaurant’s tall ceilings reinforce the feeling of airy, open spaces and you can eat al fresco, weather permitting. The strong purple-burgundy and sky-blue colour scheme could feel a bit ‘in your face’, but is in fact quite soothing and works well with the natural environment outside. Polished wooden tables and gunmetal grey powder-coated, wood-benched seats fit the general ambience and aren’t too uncomfortable.

The menu is Mod Oz according to their website but a slightly odd read for a restaurant that bills its food (a note on the menu) as ‘French inspired cuisine’. Lemongrass, Szechuan coated, lime-infused, cassava chips, pumpkin mash and overly intricate menu descriptions all seem to be at odds with the French theme (but are of course quite ok with the Mod Oz theme).

We started with some bread, served with olive oil and balsamic (where does this abomination of balsamic in the olive oil come from? Certainly not from Italy!) while waiting for two local friends to join us. We tried ‘Grilled figs with quinoa, feta & Kalamata olives with white balsamic & verjuice dressing & toasted coconut’ ($17.50), ‘Deep-fried, crusted mozzarella ($17.80) served with cherry tomatoes and salsa verde’, ‘Salad of Tasmanian smoked salmon with pickled cucumbers’ ($18.90) and ‘Prawn and lime wontons with tequila mirin dipping sauce, served with a pickled bean shoot salad’ ($18.50) for entrées. And for mains Atlantic Salmon ($30), 'Oven roasted lamb rump with an eggplant, ginger and grape relish, served on fried herb polenta with a tahini yoghurt dressing’ ($30), ‘Premium aged sirloin char grilled, served with a Bordelaise sauce (their version without the bone marrow so often encountered in Bordelaise sauces in France), mushrooms and deep fried baby chats’ ($30) for Mains. Entrées and mains presented well and were a lot better than the menu descriptions had led us to hope. A couple of shared desserts, ‘House made mixed sorbets and ice creams’ ($11) and the ‘Freshly baked plum & almond tart with vanilla ice cream’ ($12.50) rounded off our meal.

Service, albeit friendly, was unpolished even for a country location. It’s really not hard to remember (or make a note of) who ordered what, and for staff to not know anything about the wines of the vineyard in which the restaurant is located (especially when that’s all they serve), is simply unacceptable. We are always amazed by restaurant staff who can’t possibly give us a copy of the menus and wine list – is it that they don’t want any publicity or are they really seriously worried about industrial espionage?

The wine list is a journey through Cassegrain’s offerings and there are some wines by the glass. Prices are reasonable and the beer’s cold.

Score: 5.5/10

For more information or bookings:

Ça Marche

Cnr Pacific Hwy & Fernbank Creek Rd

Port Macquarie NSW

Tel.: 02 6582 8320