Pearls On The Beach

Over the last weekend, 7 of us, including 3 couples went down to a restaurant up the Central Coast, approximately one and a half hours drive away, named "Pearls On The Beach". It was Felix and his partner, Joe's wonderful idea and we resided at a motel on a nearby suburb "Ettalong", which is also a beach resort (of sorts).

It is so nice to be able to get away from the hustle and bustle of the city and just submerge in the relative peacefulness of suburbia. Below our quarters was a market where hawkers would set up their stalls during the weekend, and though the goods sold were mostly stuff from China and less fancy, some of our friends still found some goodies along the way.

We also witnessed a very young couple getting married at the motel, which all of us thought was a little tragic, considering that the motel was not new, and certainly not anyone's idea for the set of a wonderful wedding, but I guess we all make do with what we have, and sometimes, it's the love that counts ...

We arrived at the restaurant at around 8 pm, after making our way through some woods and very winding roads, which was quite scary and would be if the driver was drunk. We stepped into a white cottage which was very warmly lit and were greeted by some very friendly staff who quickly and politely ushered us to our immaculately dressed table. There was no music surrounding, only the "sound of life", as one of us put it, but the noise level was comfortable, and it added to the homely feel of a special festive dinner at home.

The menu was very interesting, and we had quite a tough time deciding on the food we should have. After deciding on the food, we went on to celebrate with champagne that John and I had bought for our 3rd Anniversary celebration and there was more to celebrate when it was revealed that our friend was pregnant with twins. It was a very joyous evening accentuated with good wine, food and company.

I had the King Prawns with tandoori sauce for entree, the eye fillet as the main, and the luscious dark chocolate, macadamia & raspberry torte with raspberry ice cream for dessert. Every dish was beautifully crafted and the taste was exquisite, except that some of the dishes were a little colder than we would have liked. Everyone enjoyed themselves and the overall experience was quite reasonably affordable as well. Even though it was night and we couldn't see the beach very well from where we were sitting, we all took turns to take small walks to Pearl Beach, where the restaurant was located, to absorb the starry night. It was certainly a romantic time to remember, even though there were 7 of us.

Sometimes, it is not so much the food or the ambience but the company that counts, but for this case, we had the best of all worlds. Getaways are so nice and it is always reassuring to know that we can rely on our closest friends to give us the best times, the most wonderful moments to remember of ...