Swept Away In Style – Sunday Times, August 2009
A tranquil tropical hideaway this Kimberley tourist town has everything for the laid-back gourmand, writes Christina Pfeiffer
Donald Hodgson stops to let three cars pass on Broome’s main street. “The tourist season traffic gets rather hectic up here” Hodgson says. To Broome’s locals, a few cars on the main street is a traffic jam.
I’ve only been in Broome a few hours and already I could easily fall in step with its languid pace. “We call it Broome time,” Hodgson says. It’s a way of living that melts away stress.
We drive along the red pindan soil of Old Broome Rd to Broome’s newest boutique resort, Amsara, located on a 7ha property in Coconut Well overlooking the northern end of Cable Beach.
Donald and his wife Jan opened Amsara last month after major renovations.
A few years ago, the Hodgsons’ Sydney business, The Essential Ingredient, supplied fine ingredients such as truffle-infused peaches and white Pyrenees beans to Australia’s best restaurants.
But in Broome the couple have turned their hand from supplying ingredients to creating their own brand of modern Australian cuisine, although not without challenges.
“The biggest problem in Broome is getting fresh produce,” Jan says.
“It’s not like Sydney. You have to work with whatever is in season.”
Meals are a serious affair. My evening meal begins in the garden with delicious bit-sized servings of pumpkin and sage frittatas, spanish chorizo-style salami, rice paper rolls stuffed with pork larb and cucumber with a tamarind dipping sauce, Picholine olives from France, pureed egg and salmon egg tartlets and Tetsuya’s smoked sea trout. These are the starters.
Then I move to the open-air veranda dining area where a creamy cauliflower soup served with garlic toast is followed by a caramelized onion tart tatin with Persian fetta, anchovies and olives.
My main is a steamed barramundi with spiced chickpeas and salad.
The coffee tasting plate is a trio of coffee and fig ice cream, coffee cake with Kahlua frosting and panna cotta with coffee syrup.
The property consists of an open-living main home and a separate building with two guest apartments. Floor-to-ceiling bi-fold doors open out into lush gardens with plenty of bird life, shady nooks and a pool overlooking a lagoon.
The next day I’m dropped off at Cable Beach with a four-wheel bike, a picnic basket and bottle of Moet.
I pop the cork atop a sand dune and sip Moet while watching the sun sink over the Indian Ocean. This is a lifestyle I could get used to.
The writer was a guest of Tourism Western Australia.