To celebrate my Mother's birthday we travelled down to have lunch at the Ocean Beach restaurant in Shellharbour. The restaurant is directly opposite from Little Park and a wonderful view of the boat harbour and rockpools. It is a favourite spot of mine, especially due to the fact that my wedding reception (1996) was held there.

My Mother had suggested a late lunch but unfortunately despite the advertised 'all day menu' we were told that we could not be seated inside the restaurant and would have to be seated outside on the decking or inside the hotel. Thankfully it was a lovely July day so we opted to move outside and enjoy the spectacular view and soft breezes. I attempted to order a seafood platter for two and was told that unfortunately the menu was restricted to a one page 'all day dining' selection which consisted of snacks and entrees until 5.30pm. We tried to make the most of the situation and ordered two entrees which we hoped would tide us over until the restaurant opened for dinner.

[ Platter of oysters - mix of Oysters Kilpatrick, Mornay and Natural by Vanessa Pike-Russell]
The first entree was a mixed platter of oysters which included Oysters natural, mornay and kilpatrick. We had to wait until the restaurant was open for dinner so chose another appetizer of Crumbed Mushrooms with avocado salad.

Crumbed Mushrooms with avocado salad from
Ocean Beach Hotel, Shellharbour, by Vanessa Pike-Russell.

[Crumbed Mushrooms with avocado salad from Ocean Beach Hotel, Shellharbour by Vanessa Pike-Russell]

My Mother and I both love mushrooms and these delicious morsels were a feast of the senses. The beetroot was fried and the outer crispness was an amazing contrast to the sweet and tender beetroot texture within. The salad was very tasty, nicely seasoned and the avocado a nice contrast to the crumbed mushrooms and beetroot.

I thanked the waiter when he came to take our plates, expressing our appreciation for the wonderful entrees and asked to advance order the seafood platter for when their restaurant opened. The waiter seemed puzzled that we had been told that the seafood platter wasn't available, especially due to the fact that it was a very slow day. If he had been asked he would have served us a seafood platter at 2pm rather than ask us to wait three and a half hours on what was a special birthday celebration which also marked the birth of my Sister's baby the day before.

It was getting colder and by 5pm we decided to go elsewhere for dinner and walked down to Addisons Seafood Restaurant for the seafood platter.

Admiral's Seafood Platter at The Vines, Collegians RFC Wollongong, originally uploaded by Vanessa PR.

Seafood Platter for One $25 - Barramundi fillet, smoked salmon, fresh prawns, balmain bugs, oysters, crumbed calamari, pineapple, strawberry, rockmelon and tartare and seafood sauces