Orange

It was time to move on to Orange. However, before we farewelled Mudgee, we had another foodie stop to make! The locals recommended coffee at the "dero" (Aussie slang for derelict) house. It doesn't have a name and the owners come and start when it suits them. Unfortunately for Serena, our resident coffee lover, the "country" time meant that we couldn't try the "best" coffee in town. We had to be content with trying the baked goods from "Mudgee Sourdough", conveniently sold at the same location. 

We ate our breakfast by the riverfront before commencing our two hour plus drive to Orange. We had to keep to time because we had another restaurant reservation to get to! 

We woke up early to "rope-drop" the coffee shop! Unfortunately the owner had not turned up yet :( By the time we left, the lines were long...

Limited edition brioche hot cross buns

Can't even remember what these were called but they were delicious!

We found ourselves some seats and wolfed down breakfast

Eh...not so pretty! But it was peaceful!

Charred was another highly rated and popular restaurant in the region. Their dinner bookings had become so booked out that they started to offer the same degustation menu at lunch. We managed to snag one of these. We really didn't know what to expect...we just wanted to say we have tried the "in" restaurants! It turned out to be probably the stand out restaurant of our trip! (This was a big call as we had many outstanding meals). We were so full after our meal we couldn't eat dessert...

It would be advisable to book a table at least 3-4 weeks in advance if you wish to dine on the weekend.

Cheers! Again!

Sweet corn "rib", with corn butter, nacho crumb, tomato and chipotle emulsion. TO DIE FOR!!!!

Campfire Crab - spanner crab, fire drawn butter, sourdough, toum (garlic sauce)

Gnocchi with pumpkin flowers, seeds and puree, gorgonzola dulce, parmesan and burnt butter. Seriously one of the BEST "pasta" dishes I've tried

BBQ speck and peas - essentially ham and pea soup. Oh so tasty. The pickled onions garnish just makes it

Palate cleanser of frozen orange with orange sherbert

By this stage, it felt like we were moving from one food spot to another. Unfortunately that pattern continued! We wandered through the town of Orange, looking for Racine Bakery, followed by purchases of cured meats from the local deli. We briefly checked into our hotel for the night, dumped our bags, and headed straight for Swinging Bridge Wines where we had a booked time slot for a tasting. It seemed like the old way of "rock up and taste wine" is no longer. We saw many people turned away with no reservations. Wine tasting had also become DYI with "placemats" placed in front of you bearing descriptions of the wines to be poured and the wines placed on the designated spot with the appropriate description. We managed to leave with a box full of alchol between the group. At this point, we were grateful that we travelled in an SUV with plenty of space!

Swinging Bridge Wines

Dinner was at the local Japanese, Raku Izakaya. Sadly, this was our only disappointing meal. It came with good reviews both online and from friends who've been. The food was ok but the service sadly was woeful. So much so that it made it difficult to enjoy the meal. To avoid myself getting upset again...in short, half our table was served 45 minutes before the other half. Our attempts to bring this to the attention of the staff was met with some of the most rude service, and absurd replies any of us had encountered. Oh well! Can't win them all!

One of the dishes that came early!