10:00am, Sun 13 Dec 2009 : Village Cafe opens for Hot Rock dinners
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Village Cafe, Shute Harbour Road, Airlie Beach
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Remodelled kitchen
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Sizzling Steak
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Delicious Afters
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Happy diners
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Recently leaping into the dinner scene in Airlie Beach is the renowned Village Cafe. Located in the heart of the main street it is famous for great coffee, fine breakfasts and lunches along with a wide range of healthy shakes.
ChannelWhitsunday.com was welcomed at an opening event to experience their exclusive "Hot Rock" dining experience. Based upon cook-at-your-table, diners are treated to the presentation of a sizzling hot rock on a ceramic base. Your dinner is then a choice of steaks, seafood or vegetarian selection.
Speaking with Lawrence Topp, owner/operator of Village Cafe, he was obviously very excited about the change to the dining format. "My wife and I experienced Hot Rock dining first in New Zealand, and then again at the Gold Coast. We thought it a great idea - dinner cooked to your liking, the wonderful smell as it cooks and an entertaining experience to match. We have purchased the rights to the Hot Rock system for Airlie Beach, Mackay and Townsville to maintain an exclusive edge."
On closer examination, there is more attraction than meets the eye. There is no oil used in the cooking process, while the extreme heat of the volcanic rock seals in the flavour. For our dining adventure, it was the 200g eye fillet. Already sizzling on arrival, you can chop it into smaller pieces, which will take about seven minutes to cook. From our point of view there was a another great reason to dine this way, with the sauce and salad at the side, the quality of the steak is on full display. This compares very favourably to traditional steak dinners arriving at your table, the quality of the cut obscured by a bath of condiment.
There is plenty to choose from on the menu too. Multiple steaks, "Surf and Turf", salmon fillet, seafood plate, lemon pepper chicken breast, chorizo kebabs or tiger prawns. There are side dishes and sauces... The most tasty of the sides we experienced was the Mango and Coriander chutney served with seafood, made in house, it was taste delight.
Chef Aaron demonstrated the method in the pre-dinner warm up and made clear is favour for this dining method. Perhaps he has received back one too many steaks not cooked to the diners' liking but his favourite feature was the people cooking for themselves. Have it "Blue", have it well done, the choice is all yours.
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