The Goose, Busselton – breakfast
In my family, we often talk about the next meal while eating the current one. During dinner at the Goose, we hatched plans for breakfast the next morning. We had a lunch booking for 12.30pm at Must in Margaret River (that post is next) but Juji, Jay and I wanted to go out for breakfast – we were confident we could fit in breakfast and still enjoy lunch. Jac preferred to sleep in and felt that she’d rather save her appetite for lunch, so the rest of us agreed we’d come back to The Goose for breakfast nice and early the next morning.
Pancakes with mixed berries and double cream (AU$17.50)
So less than 12 hours later, here we were, back at The Goose! There were only a few other customers in the restaurant – it was early, around 7.30am on Easter Sunday morning.
“Don’t worry,” I said confidently to the others. “It’s unlikely staff from the dinner shift will be on first thing this morning, so no one should recognise us from last night.” But one of the waitstaff from dinner was working the breakfast shift! If she recognised us, she gave no sign, thank goodness – there was no embarrassing “Weren’t you here last night?” conversation. :)
We’d talked about choosing the “lighter” items on the menu like fruit and nut toast with preserves, or fruit salad and vanilla bean yoghurt, but that strategy was thrown out in oh, five minutes! :D
Jay ordered the pancakes with mixed berries and double cream (AU$17.50). The stack of pancakes was topped with berry compote and a big blob of double cream. We called them “man cakes”, but although they looked hefty at first glance, they were light and fluffy.
Pancakes with mixed berries and double cream (AU$17.50)
Juji ordered bacon and eggs with grilled tomatoes and toast (AU$19.50). The eggs were perfectly poached with gooey soft bright yellow yolks. The bacon was cooked to crispy. The tomatoes were the surprise standout item on the plate – sweet ripe tomatoes grilled to beautifully soft.
Bacon and poached eggs, with grilled tomatoes and toast (AU$19.50)
I simply could not resist ordering the French toast, grilled bacon, banana and maple syrup (AU$19.50). I thought this dish was presented wonderfully, with cascading layers of grilled banana, French toast and bacon sitting in a pool of maple syrup. I was thrilled when this plate was placed before me but I’d have loved more maple syrup drizzled all over and dripping from the layers of banana, French toast and bacon.
French toast, grilled bacon, banana and maple syrup (AU$19.50)
It was delicious. The bananas weren’t as sweet as I’d hoped, but they were soft and nicely caramelised. I rolled everything in maple syrup before eating and enjoyed every bite (yes, definitely could’ve used more syrup). It was rather reckless of me to indulge in this dish knowing I had a potentially big lunch to look forward to, but what can I say, I love my food and eat especially well when I’m on holiday!
Something I really miss here in Australia – I was born and lived in Malaysia until I was ten years old – are the sweet little bananas called pisang emas. In Malay, “pisang” means “banana” and “emas” means “gold”. I’m a big supporter of our local banana farmers and indeed love Western Australian grown bananas, but no matter how sweet and ripe, no matter how beautifully grilled and caramelised, the best bananas I’ve eaten in Australia cannot compare with those plump little sweet pisang emas.
French toast, grilled bacon, banana and maple syrup (AU$19.50)
As good as it is, The Goose’s French toast with grilled bacon, banana and maple syrup still doesn’t beat the magnificent mountain of Canadian brioche French toast, bacon, caramelised banana and maple syrup I ate at the Gunshop Cafe in Brisbane back in 2009. I still rave on and dream about that dish. It’s still on the Gunshop’s breakfast menu, by the way.
The Goose, Busselton
We enjoyed breakfast at The Goose. After paying the bill, I took more photos of the restaurant exterior. We spotted The Goose’s herb garden outside and recognised ingredients we’d enjoyed in our dishes the night before. I liked the thought of the chefs coming outside to this garden to grab fresh herbs to cook with.
The Goose’s herb garden
The Goose
Geographe Bay Road next to the Busselton Jetty
Telephone: (08) 99754 7700
Opening hours:
Monday and Tuesday: breakfast 7am to 11.30am | lunch 12pm to 3pm
Wednesday to Sunday: breakfast 7am to 11.30am | lunch 12pm to 3pm | dinner 5.30pm to 9pm
Web: www.thegoose.com.au
As it turned out when we arrived back at the holiday apartments, Jac admitted she’d woken up feeling hungry – she’d gone for a drive and grabbed a bacon and egg sandwich for breakfast. :)
While Juji relaxed and read her book, Jac went for a walk and Jay and I played table tennis at the apartment complex’s recreation room. We played lots of table tennis during our three-night stay – playing table tennis was, unexpectedly, one of my favourite things about this holiday.
Don’t worry, our lunch was far from spoiled, and it was very good indeed…
Busselton trip, April 2011
See the full list of posts from our Busselton trip in correct reading order.