By Franz Scheurer
Cool greens and plum-reds lift the interior of this
restaurant, a little oasis of peace and quiet, tucked away from the main hustle
and bustle of the Hunter’s main thoroughfares. You will need to know it exists
to find it, as it is badly signposted, but that just adds to the ‘feel-good’
component once you join the mainly young clientele at one of the inside or
outside tables with limited bush views. They serve breakfast, lunch and dinner
and cook hearty, honest food that is above average, and present it with a
smile. We love to go there for a Sunday breakfast. Try ‘Adam’s Eggs Benedict’,
perfectly poached eggs with oozy yolks covered with a fresh lemony hollandaise
sauce on good quality bread, or the ‘Braised field mushrooms with brie served
on toast’, another crowd pleaser with good texture and gentle but convincing
flavours. If you feel indulgent, the ‘Belgian Liquid Centre Chocolate Pudding’
not only looks good, it is, surrounded by a tart, bright red raspberry coulis.
Coffee and tea is big city quality and value for money is excellent.
We also ate lunch there on a picture-perfect
Saturday afternoon, soaking up the early spring sun in the flower-perfumed,
paved outdoors area.
All the dishes I saw served were very well
presented, looking appetising and of generous portions. The ‘Spinach &
ricotta gnocchi with herbed goat’s cheese sauce & crisp pancetta’ tasted
every bit as good as it looked. The gnocchi were just the right consistency,
lifted by the fragrance of the sauce. This really is a very good dish. The
‘Grainfed fillet of beef wrapped in prosciutto with pepperonata, grilled sage
and Parmesan polenta and thyme scented jus’ was perfectly cooked to my
specification (blue), marvellously marbled meat, hot throughout with an
excellent pepperonata and a terrific jus. The polenta, as in 99% of all
Australian restaurants, was a disgrace. When will chefs learn to cook out
polenta? It’s not meant to remind us of sand and taste like cardboard. It was
also ‘over caramelised’ (spell that “burnt”) on the bottom.
A small, Hunter-heavy wine list made it easy to
chose a young Hunter Semillon and we opted for a Tasmanian Pinot to go with the
cheese platter, which needs work. There are good artisan cheeses made in the
Hunter, which would be preferable over the ‘safe’ big brand commodities.
However, a ‘Liquid centred Belgian chocolate pudding’ more than made up for
this, presenting an oozing, sumptuous and glorious finish to a very enjoyable
meal.
Keep it just as it is: fabulous value for money,
small, unpretentious, friendly and a jewel well worth finding in the Hunter
Valley wilderness. I’ll be back!
Score: 6/10
For more information or bookings:
Mojo’s on Wilderness
Lot 82
Wilderness Road
Lovedale
Tel.: 02 4930 7244