Austinmer has sort of become our family beach. Up at Wollongong, about an hour away from Liverpool, it's a beautiful place full of golden sand, clear blue (well, green) water, interesting rock pools, and is not overcrowded like Bondi or Cronulla.
Over the years we've tried the places to eat nearby, and the few restaurants there are pretty good, if a bit pricey. When we visited last week, we decided to have some good old-fashioned fish and chips at the Headlands Hotel.
As we entered the hotel, we had to walk through a crowd of bikers to get to the restaurant , and when we emerged we saw... nothing. The decor was more than spartan: old, white-washed walls, and dark-stained floorboards as far as the eye can see. On one side are the menus, messily written in chalk and placed in an unfortunate spot behind a door. On the other, a hole in the wall that leads to the kitchen, where you order. The decor was so dismal that we decided to eat on the beach.
After ordering for everyone (four meals plus two kids' meals) we're told that we'll have to wait for about 10 minutes (reasonable), and we'll be charged $3.00 extra for take-away (not so reasonable) - this is the first place I've been to where I've been charged more to take away.
After waiting for about half an hour, we finally get our containers of food, along with a perfunctory apology for the wait, and we head back to the beach to eat.
Kids' Chicken Nuggets and Chips - approx. $8.00
Kids' Fish Cocktails and Chips - approx. $8.00
The kids' meals were good sized portions of chips and fish/nuggets. The fish cocktails were bite-sized, succulent on the inside and crunchy on the outside. The nuggets were firm and moist and generously crumbed. The kidlets loved them!
Calamari Rings, Chips and Salad - $18
The calamari rings were, I'm told, really well cooked (apparently not like chewing an erasor) and beautifully crumbed. I didn't have any, as I'm squicked by calamari, but I was told the contrast between the crisp, deep fried outer and soft, tasty inner was divine.
Battered Flathead Fillets - $18
The flathead was just a tad overcooked, making the flesh slightly dry, and the batter wasn't crispy at all (which is strange - if it had been cooked for too long, shouldn't the batter be extra crispy? :s) Still, the flavour of the fish was nice and fresh, and any shortcomings were covered with tartare sauce.
Crumbed Snapper - $18.00
Last but not least, the crumbed snapper was a delightful fillet of fragrant fish, heavily crumbed and deep-fried to crispy, crunchy perfection. I should note, that the chips were beautifully soft on the inside, though not quite as crisp as I like on the outside, and the salad was fresh and flavoursome, consisting of mixed lettuce leaves, thick wedges of tomato, red onion and cucumber.
The Headlands Hotel has some pretty decent food, but a rather limited range (almost every dish is deep fried seafood, and comes with chips and salad) and suffers from beach-side price inflation. However, if you happen to be in Austinmer, I would encourage you to give it a go - the fish is quite good.
Headlands Hotel
Headlands Ave
Austinmer, NSW
2515
Phone: 4267 1146
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