The Fireplace, The Hyatt, Sanctuary Cove

After days of splashing around the pool with our two daughters and eating our meals in a rush due to early their bedtime, Sean and I were looking forward to a relaxing evening out. 

We dropped the girls at 'Camp Hyatt' and proceed to the Regency Club. The canapes and drinks on offer were standard fare (couple of dips, carrot sticks, stodgy sushi, salami and cold quiche squares) but we still ate enough so that main course only was required.

The Hyatt website states:

With cherry wood wine cabinets, classic rustic décor and signature wood-fired oven provide the perfect stage for our chefs to create delicious contemporary grill and provincial style cuisine. 

That could have been written last week or last decade..., the decor description still applies. It's simple and kind of out of context with the beach resort feel but there is that 'colonial' aspect which I suppose is where the design originates. The table settings consisted of a single clear glass tealight holder and that was about it. Nothing amazing there. The feature of the room is the wood-fired oven and I couldn't see much that wasn't plated up right on the bench in front of us all except for the desserts.

The menu was simple in layout and dish descriptions.

I ordered the Queensland snapper with cherry tomatoes and asparagus. That was exactly what arrived. All mains come served with roasted chat potatoes (in a plain white bowl, no garnish) and The Fireplace house salad (served in same plain white bowl and consisting of what I suspect was tinned corn, cucumber, capsicum and assorted greens). Whilst all the flavours and presentation were simple and perhaps a little uninspired, the crispy skin of the snapper and smokiness from the wood oven were sensational. When food is of high quality there really isn't much you need to do to it to make the meal memorable.

Sean was all set to order steak but was disappointed the largest serving on offer was only 250g of fillet. So instead he went for the Frenched lamb rack with crsip white polenta and spring vegetables. The lamb looked sensational - served medium rare and a very generous portion. Here I found the presentation and "provincial" aspect mentioned in the description to be a little more apparent.

The only other accompanyments were wood oven warmed white ciabatta and bearnaise sauce.

Whilst on first glance the prices seemed high, the side dishes were included in the price and we were dining at a major international hotel which generally means add 10%.

The service was ok but they only just squeezed our meal out before we had to collect our girls from Camp Hyatt. Mind you, they wouldn't have cared if we had stayed out another hour or two......

We dined on 8 November 2011

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