A Day At The Beach

The view from Blue Duck's balcony

I like the seaside although I have developed a phobia about the sea in recent years. I blame it on my lack of confidence in my swimming ability coupled with one too many horror flicks involving grisly deaths in the ocean. I may not spend much time in the sea but I love sitting (under the shade of course, to protect my perfect porcelain complexion) on the beach and listening to the waves lapping by the shore. What could be more relaxing? Cottesloe beach is a lovely white sandy beach located about a half an hour's drive from the city. We couldn't have chosen a hotter day for the beach. There was not a cloud in the sky and we quickly abandoned our plans to sit on the beach. There were a number of rather charred-looking people tanning recklessly under the mid-day sun. I didn't fancy getting a sun burn so what else could we do but eat of course!

The Blue Duck came highly recommended by Leems. It was very busy and we were lucky to get a table on the balcony overlooking the beach. Looking around, we were the youngest people there. Actually it did have a very "country club" sort of feel to it. The menu offered a variety of modern Australian fare with an emphasis on seafood. We ordered a dozen oysters to start - half dozen au naturel and the other half with palm sugar, lime and lemongrass dressing. There were fresh, plump and sweet. Delicious! Hunky zoomed in on the slow roasted pork belly immediately. Leems ordered it as well despite her "allergy" to pears. It arrived with crispy pancetta, wilted spinach, a glazed pear and cauliflower puree. Hunky quoted on the flight back to KL much later that "it was the most disappointing pork belly of the trip". The problem with it was the skin was not crispy and the meat was rather dry. I wouldn't say it was bad, it just wasn't as good as the other three pork bellies Hunky had during our trip.

CW ordered The Blue Duck Caesar Salad for her main course. It was a huge portion of baby cos, bacon, anchovies and parmesan! I'm not a big fan of caesar salad. For me, the caesar salad defeats the purpose of eating a salad ie. light and healthy. Its even worse when served in a gargantuan portion. Okay, I exaggerate a little. This was a proper caesar, very lightly dressed and sprinkled liberally with crispy pancetta. Here you go, a perfectly healthy caesar. I guess I am just jaded by the salad cream doused "caesar salads" back home. The winner of the day was my Thai-inspired salt and pepper squid salad with Asian greens, lime, coriander and chilli dressing. The squid was cooked to perfection! It was exactly what I wanted, the appetiser portion was just right. I think ordering the main course portion would've been too much of a good thing. A picture speaks a thousand words, I'll let you immerse in the beauty that is my salad.

After lunch, we took a walk along the beach in search of icy cool ice cream to cool down. This was how hot it was - Hunky only put sunscreen on his face and in the 20-30 minutes we were in the sun, he had developed a tan line at the arms. Hmmm, not the best look.

For more information, menu and opening times on the Blue Duck, click here.