The Goose, Busselton – dinner
After an afternoon of fun at the Busselton Jetty Train and Underwater Observatory, we returned in the evening for dinner at The Goose. We’d made the reservation weeks before our holiday. By the time we arrived at the restaurant, the wind had picked up, the sea was choppy, the clouds were growing darker by the minute and rain was threatening. We were glad to have a table inside.
The Goose restaurant, Busselton
Jac, Juji and Jay shared the tasting plate which included two slices of crusty fresh baguette, a rich and creamy duck liver pate, a terrine of pork and pistachio, prosciutto, fried venison chorizo (served hot), a wedge of cheddar and some tangy homemade vegetable pickles, everyone’s surprise favourite item on the dish.
Tasting plate: pork and pistachio terrine, venison chorizo, duck liver pate, cheddar, baguette, home made pickles
As I am not a pate/terrine fan, I chose a separate starter – one of the day’s specials, Shark Bay whiting fillets fried in tempura batter, served with homemade aioli and waffle cut potato crisps (AU$18). The menu described the dish as including “lime aioli” which I had been quite looking forward to, but it seems that there was a comma missing, as the dish came with aioli and fresh lime for squeezing (which I combined to make my own lime aioli). The potato crisps were soggy rather than crisp, but the fish and aioli were both delicious. Jac rather liked the aioli and dipped slices of chorizo in it too.
Tempura Shark Bay whiting fillets, potato crisps, lime aioli (AU$18)
We also shared a serving of garlic and herb ciabatta (AU$9.50). The others especially enjoyed slathering lashings of pate on the garlicky ciabatta.
Grilled garlic and herb ciabatta (AU$9.50)
For her main course, Jac ordered the fish of the day, gold band snapper with boiled new potatoes, fresh rocket, tomato and herb salsa and lemon vinaigrette (AU$39.50). The fish was cooked beautifully and was tender and meaty, topped with the fresh, juicy tomato salsa.
Grilled gold band snapper, new potatoes, fresh rocket, tomato and herb salsa, lemon vinaigrette (AU$39.50)
Jay chose Goose’s seafood chowder, with Norwest snapper, prawns, scallops, black mussels and smoked salmon (AU$39.50). The soup was smooth and creamy and loaded with seafood, all cooked well, served with crusty bread.
Goose’s seafood chowder (AU$39.50)
Juji chose the three-hour roasted pork belly, served on garlic confit mash, spinach and chardonnay jus, topped diced cinnamon apple (AU$41.50). This was the dish that gave everyone on our table utter utter dish envy!
Three-hour fennel roasted pork belly (AU$41.50)
It was a hearty, richly flavoured dish, perfect for the cool autumn evening. We all had a taste of the pork and apples and my dish envy intensified. The apples were just the right texture, soft but not mushy. The pork belly was tender with melty bands of soft tasty fat and a crunchy coat of crackling on top. Juji was very generous and gave us all a bit of crackling to try. I would’ve totally understood if she’d wanted to keep the crackling all to herself.
Three-hour fennel roasted pork belly (AU$41.50)
I was in the mood for prawns and pasta and ordered the linguine with carnavon king prawns, cacciatore, olives, chilli, grape tomatoes, basil, lime oil and shaved parmesan that melted into the hot pasta (AU$39.50).
Linguine is my favourite pasta. What’s yours?
Linguine, cacciatore, carnavon king prawns, olives, chilli, grape tomatoes, basil, lime oil and parmesan (AU$39.50)
The pasta was abundant with plump prawns, large slices of cacciatore sausage, chunky sliced of fresh chilli and sweet roasted grape tomatoes. It was delicious but very hot! The chilli and spicy sausage combined to set my mouth on fire.
Linguine, cacciatore, carnavon king prawns, olives, chilli, grape tomatoes, basil, lime oil and parmesan (AU$39.50) – stirred through
We enjoyed our main courses and were keen to try The Goose’s desserts.
Juji ordered the mini pavlova with passionfruit curd and double cream (AU$13.50). It was a deconstructed pavlova, with all the components served separately on the plate: meringue, tangy passionfruit curd and a generous dollop of double cream. It didn’t look particularly impressive but Juji enjoyed it.
Mini pavlova, passionfruit curd, double cream (AU$13.50)
For his dessert, Jay chose Goose style affogato (AU$15.50) – a shot of espresso served with Simmo’s vanilla bean ice cream, a swag of crisp biscotti and choice of Bailey’s, Frangelico, Tia Maria or Cointreau (Jay chose Cointreau). Read my recent post about Simmo’s Ice Creamery.
Goose style affogato (AU$15.50)
Jac and I shared dessert – we chose the lime creme brulee with coconut tuille biscuit and pineapple and mint granita (AU$13.50). The brulee was sweet and smooth, but we would have liked a thicker, crispier, caramelised top we could really crack through with our spoons. That’s one of the pleasures of a good brulee. The delicate buttery tuille biscuits looked appealingly like Pringles. It was a little difficult to scoop the ice crystals out of the shooter glass with the spoon, but the granita was the star of the dish – each spoonful of granita was an explosion of fresh tangy pineapple flavour.
Lime creme brulee, coconut tuille biscuit, pineapple and mint granita (AU$13.50)
We enjoyed our dinner at The Goose. The food was great, service was good, and although we didn’t have a table by the window, we still had a view of Busselton jetty and the cresty waves crashing as the sun went down. I’d eat at The Goose again for sure. Well… I did eat again at The Goose! The very next morning, in fact! That’s my next post!
The Goose restaurant at night
After dinner, I think Jay was tempted to put on his headlamp and grab his fishing gear from the back of the car and get back on the jetty to do a bit of squid jigging (that’s not dancing squid, it’s catching squid using equipment called a “jig”! :D). But it was time to rest and digest in readiness for another big day of eating ahead.
Busselton Jetty at night
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
The restaurant is quite dark at dinner time and we must’ve been seated at the darkest table in the restaurant, in the centre of the dining room away from most of the overhead lights! I’ve used Adobe Lightroom to edit the photographs.
More goose
When I was a child, a goose took a great dislike to me, chased and pecked at me. Ever since then, I’ve been wary of geese. On this holiday, I couldn’t help thinking of that fierce, angry goose every time anyone mentioned “The Goose.”
I’ve never eaten goose, but I’d like to, especially after repeatedly watching Jennifer Paterson of Two Fat Ladies stuffing a whole goose (YouTube video) to roast for Christmas dinner.
I love it when Jennifer explains why you need to cook the goose on a rack on the tray:
“…because ENORMOUS quantities of fat will come out of this and you don’t want the goose resting in it. In fact, what you do all the time, every 20 minutes, is remove the fat and put it into a basin to treasure for other things…”
Alas, no goose on The Goose’s menu. Duck is very popular in Australia, but goose, not so much.
Do you have a goose story or dish to share?
Busselton trip, April 2011
See the full list of posts from our Busselton trip in correct reading order.
LEGO update
I recently wrote about my love for LEGO. You can now follow my LEGO adventures via: