A table with a view - our anniversary at the Panama Dining Room

Ok ... so we recently celebrated our Anniversary. After getting thoroughly sloshed on bubbles at the Grace Darling for Justine's birthday, our intention was to get in early at Gigibaba where you cannot book (hmmh!!!) only to find its hallowed doors well and truly shut!!

So we opted for the Panama Dining Room instead where the evening was made not just by the food alone, but our extremely capable waitress and the romantic ambience provided by our table with a view.

We started our amorous repast with a couple of apperitifs ... M had the Cynar which is a bitter italian liquer served with soda and orange - kind of an alcoholic chinotto ... and I had a trusty Pims (which along with cider seems to be the quaff du jour). And apperitifs they were, as we were suddenly famished and practically inhaled the bread that was served next.

For entrees, we ordered the Gruyere fritter off the specials and stuffed zuchini flowers (something I absolutely adore and will always order when in season and on the menu). The Gruyere fritter was basically a fried cheeseball ... yummy but prosaic. The combination of the 3 cheese stuffing in the zuchinni flowers ... in a word .. heaven!! And the combined flavours in the deconstructed salad underneath was interesting ... I actually enjoyed chomping on the bits of sultana .. which should tell you alot.

For mains, M had the Duck with Pork Belly off the specials and I opted for a simple pan fried Barramundi with asparagus and dill. My barramundi tasted just like a seaside holiday ... complete with salt water foam. It was delicious!! No better way of describing the oceanic delight that was served to me on the plate. M found his duck a little tough but it had good flavour and the bite sized bits of Belly Pork as well as the slithers of pork fat were an interesting addition but perfectly cooked in both texture and flavour.

By this stage we were too full to even consider sharing dessert and we decided that coffee was a wise choice after all that alcohol consumed throughout the day, including a glass of Maddens Rise Chardonnay for me and a Crittenden Sangiovese for M.

Navigating the back roads we made it home in one piece to an extremely tidy and spotless house and a wonderfully soft bed!