Enjoy sunset beach views and fresh seafood
With a modern, neutral interior and a huge open vista looking over Mona Vale Beach, The Basin Dining Room delivers a smart casual feel with a menu that’s first-class.
As we sit before the expansive open doorways breathing in the sea air, sipping on Japanese slipper cocktails, it’s clear this place is something special. It’s early evening on a Saturday and there are groups seated inside the welcoming Scandi-style interior, couples at smaller round tables and groups on the balcony enjoying a drink and the view.
Then the food arrives and it is divine. Baked scallops in chilli and kombu butter which melt in the mouth, delivered with fresh sourdough bread to soak up the flavours. Wagyu skewers, grilled with soy and sesame with house pickled ginger – tender and delicious.
The tuna tartare is a treat. It comes with soy dressing, flying fish roe, sesame, crème fraiche and nori crackers. Sheets of nori, topped with rice paper and gently fried leave a lovely bubbly crisp cracker.
The menu is seafood focused, with owners, local couple Doug and Kylie Fraser, having a clear vision from the moment the Mona Vale Surf Club was rebuilt. “Being by the beach, we had to do seafood,” Kylie states simply. The venue opened in November 2022, with the couple restaurant veterans, having owned Lovet in Newport and Barbuto in Narrabeen.
Doug is a chef by trade and has worked with some well-known names like Gordon Ramsay and Marco Pierre White. “He has a European cooking background but his mother is Japanese, so he does sneak a lot of Asian ingredients into his menu,” Kylie explains.
With mains including pan-fried local barramundi with shellfish bisque and crisp polenta; saffron risotto with roast king Queensland prawns and the popular seafood pie, The Basin Dining Room has customers coming back time and again.
There are casual dining options on the menu including beef burgers and beer battered local flathead. “I wanted to make sure there was something for everyone,” Doug says.
Rounding off the meal with an individual burnt Basque cheesecake featuring blood orange and saffron marmalade is the perfect way to finish.
The Basin Dining Room currently offers a mid-week lunch menu from Monday to Thursday: two courses for $49 and three courses for $59.
The Basin Dining – Room 1 Surfview Road, Mona Vale. Phone: 8924 4289, http://basindining.com.au
