Gazebo Wine Garden‘s girls’ picnics are such a wonderful offering. They’re exactly my type of thing -a picnic where all you have to do is round up the girls! The food and wine is catered for, there’s no worrying about picking the perfect spot or getting dirt on your pretty sundress. It’s a bit like camping really. I enjoy the great outdoors but would never go camping au naturale… In fact, the only time I have ever gone camping was at Booderee National Park in Jervis Bay where we were steps away from electricity, toilets and BBQs. Brilliant I say!
The Girls’ Picnic must be booked in advance and are available from noon til 2:30pm on Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays. For $35 per person, you’re greeted with a glass of bubbly and three tiers of delicious goodies.
At lunch with the girls -Maggie, Karen, Emma and moi
Glasses of bubbly
We decide to also share two jugs of Pimms & lemonade which are $25 a pop. The jugs are full of Pimms No1, Gordons gin, Rosso sweet Italian vermouth & strawberries, mint, cucumber topped with lemonade & dry ginger ale. It is refreshing, fruity and sweet.
The quirky furnishings and whimsical decor come complete with cute waiters dressed as lifeguards. Ours happily posed for us 🙂
Our lifeguard
Pimms and lemonade
Quirky decor
The picnic theme is brought to life with a wicker picnic basket, warm French baguettes and a convenient wooden chopping board and knife. Accompanying the bread are delicious marinated olives, an avocado and pistachio dip and a corn relish.
French baguette and picnic basket
Marinated olives, dips and relish
It was lovely to bask in the sun whilst feasting our eyes on a garden filled with beautiful vines, old Victorian chairs and cushions and enlivened with fresh flowers.
In the garden
Three tiers of delicious goodness
The first tier was salads. They were served room temperature which suited us well as we felt we were beginning to roast in the heat ourselves. There was pumpkin & feta, roasted almond salad, chat potato salad with mustard mayo dressing and green onion, mushrooms with pesto and a simple ratatouille with chunky pieces of cauliflower.
Salads
The second tier were meats and seafood. There was smoked honey ham with fresh iceberg lettuce leaves, cherry tomatoes and chunks of cheddar cheese; piping hot deep-fried soft shell crab; cooked prawns, smoked Atlantic salmon, lightly peppered pastami, steamed mussels and pickles and cornichons on a bed of rocket -plentiful to go around.
Meats and seafoods
On the side we also add a rocket, pear, pinenut and parmesan salad which is a combination that can never go wrong.
Rocket salad
Finally, we ate our way up to the top dessert tier which we had been eyeing from the start. Moist chocolate brownies went hand in hand with fresh pieces of rockmelon, strawberries, watermelon and marshmallows.
Dessert
Leave the picnic rug at home and hop on down to Elizabeth Bay…
Gazebo Wine Garden
2 Elizabeth Bay Rd, Elizabeth Bay
Phone: (02) 9357 5333
Web: www.thegazebos.com.au
