What is new
Snapper with mint peas is the dish most guests mention first. The fillet is seared until the skin crackles and set on peas crushed with a little cream, with the mint added at the last moment so that it stays green. A second new plate is a beef cheek pie, braised for five hours and sealed under short pastry. It arrives at the table in its own small tin.
What has stayed
The whiting is still on the list, because no guest would forgive its removal. The oysters remain, the pumpkin soup remains, and the wattleseed damper is exactly as it was. Lucy says a list that changes everything at once is a list that has forgotten who it is cooking for, and she prefers to alter two or three dishes at a time.
The lemon myrtle tart
The tart took nine attempts. The first cracked, the second leaked, the third was too sour and the fourth too sweet. By the seventh the staff had stopped volunteering as tasters, and by the ninth the pastry held and the filling set. It is now served in a thin slice with a spoonful of thick cream, and it has already outsold the pavlova on two evenings.
A note for those with allergies
The new dishes carry the same warnings as the old. Tell Felicity Morrison when you book and Lucy will adjust the plate: the pie can be made without mushrooms, the tart without nuts and the snapper without butter. Please remind the waiter when you order, since the kitchen keeps a written record of every evening's requests.