Three cheers for Jacksons!

Jackson’s was wonderful.

For starters, it was a relief to step into the nicely cool dining room. Yesterday was a scorcher of a day, with the temperature reaching 42.4° C (108.32° F) at 4:48pm. When we got into the car to go home the car thermometer indicated that it was 44.5°C (112.1°F) – the steering wheel burnt the hands and I imagined I could hear my perspiration sizzle when I sat down.

But back to Jackson’s. The service was good throughout. Our waiter was attentive and friendly. I don’t know about you but I always find restaurants where the waiters seem to think they are better than the whole world, a tad uncomfortable. None of that arrogance at Jackson’s. They were efficient, too. They never needed to ask who’d ordered what – I always like it when they make a note of this and don’t need to ask what you’ve ordered when they bring you your courses. A small touch, I suppose. Our waiter also noticed me begin to make notes and when I told her I was particularly interested in the vegetarian options, informed me that the menu is always up-to-date on their website (indeed it is!). Also, Kathryn, if you’d like to try the degustation/tasting menu, if you give them enough notice they will happily prepare something special for you.

The food? I really really enjoyed my meal. In fact, I’d go so far as to say that it was the best I’ve had in a while. Just a really lovely combination of flavours, textures, smells… the whole works. Even the bread was delicious, and we really liked the butter. While we were waiting for our starters, the waiter brought us a complimentary shot glass of gazpacho infused with truffle and a thin cheesy cracker. The gazpacho was very good. I almost thought the truffle would be overwhelming when I lifted the glass to taste the gazpacho, but the truffle flavour added a wonderful savouriness to the very fresh-tasting gazpacho.

Our starters arrived not long after this. M had gold band snapper (from Broome, the waiter said), served with vegetables and ginger and steamed in beer, while I had the “Joselito Iberico” gran reserva ham (reputedly the Best Ham in the World ; bought from the Perth butcher Mondo’s, perhaps?) served with a perfectly poached quail egg and potato. It was very tasty, the ham melt-in-the-mouth and very flavoursome.

As a palate cleanser we next had some mulled wine sorbet. This was refreshing but very strong, so strong that after a few mouthfuls we’d had enough. I noticed that the people at a table near us barely touched theirs. This didn’t spoil the meal – we just couldn’t eat it all.

M had chestnut stuffed rabbit in prosciutto, fettuccine & mushroom sauce as his main dish, while I had steamed Manjimup marron, béarnaise sauce, asparagus, truffle & parsley potato. The marron was divine. Perfectly cooked and wonderful to eat, taste and texture wise. It came served in the approximate shape of the crayfish, with the tail and leg shells daintily arranged on the plate – but all the meat removed from the shells, of course. M’s rabbit was very tasty, too, and I especially liked the mushrooms – chanterelles, I believe.

Whenever we go out for dinner I am usually too full to have dessert, but last night our meals were light enough that we found we actually had room for a third course! I had summer pudding with lavender icecream, while M had mango meringue with sugar syrup and coconut sorbet. My summer pudding came on a long rectangular plate with a bold brushstroke of berry reduction (or something like that, I’m guessing) underlying the berries and the lavender icecream. There was also some gauze-like cotton candy garnishing my summer pudding. The lavender icecream? Amazing! It went very well with the berries. M didn’t like it very much, saying that the lavender scent reminded him too much of the hand lotion I use. He really enjoyed his mango meringue, which came with slices of fresh mango. This was unusual for M who is not usually a mango fan.

M drank some Coonawarra Mildara Cabernet Sauvignon 2003, while I had a couple of gin and tonics.

I left feeling sated – not over-full – and very happy.