From the air it was obvious just how small this particular coral cay is, and according to local indigenous tradition it’s now about a quarter of its former size. There’s an extensive spread of shallow reef on the southward side of the cay, and once we’d completed the figure eight it was an eastward ho over Arlington Reef and Michaelmas Cay on the way out to the edge of the continental shelf, where we took a leisurely sweep along the outer extremities of the reef system before heading back to the mainland.
It was after twelve by the time we’d landed and disembarked, and the courtesy bus deposited us at the Aquarius shortly thereafter, in time for a brisk walk over to The Pier, where Madam had intentions of fine lunching at M Yogo. While the walk wasn’t totally necessary as far as a healthy appetite was concerned it did take it past the swimming pool on The Esplanade, where the number of people enjoying the facility provided a reasonably stark contrast with the interior of The Pier, where the lights seemed to be dimmed and the pedestrian traffic was almost nonexistent.A glance at the M Yogo website says bookings are recommended, but based on what we saw around one o’clock on a Tuesday afternoon if you lob on the doorstep you’d have no problem getting a seat.
The lack of a crowd, Hughesy hypothesizes, had nothing to do with the quality of the French influenced food which has a strong Japanese fusion influence blended in. Madam and I hit the Sautéed Market Fish (Barramundi) from the lunch menu, very reasonably priced at $16.90 and very good eating. The view out across the marina towards the rainforest clad slopes of Cape Grafton is rather pleasant as well. Based on lunch I’ll definitely be looking forward to a return visit to have a go at the dinner menu. In any case, with lunch out of the way we wandered back through the almost deserted Pier before I peeled off to head back to the Aquarius while the Japanese trio set off on the shopping trail. An hour or two of tapping out the travelogue and a power nap took things up to the point where we needed to start thinking about dinner, and it didn’t take that long to reach a consensus.
Bayleaf Balinese Restaurant came highly rated, and had featured in the Wine List of the Year booklet that arrived attached to the latest issue of Gourmet Traveller Wine, so as far as I was concerned it was a no-brainer. There were some concerns about the spice levels (Madam and The Niece being chilli-averse), but The Sister was keen on the nasi goreng, and that decided it.
We’d sighted the place from the shuttle bus on the way back from the airport, which became something of an issue when I spotted another landmark that had also caught my eye on the return journey, which resulted in a far lengthier walk than was strictly necessary. Still, it helped work up an appetite, didn’t it?
Predictably, the nasi goreng got a guernsey in the order, as did the sate lilit appetizer, the kambing mekuah (Balinese lamb stew, Hughesy’s choice) and the marinated grilled fish of the day in banana leaf, pesan be pasih, which turned out to be a very tasty mangrove jack.
A glance at the wine list revealed a number of interesting options, plenty of them by the glass, and a distinct lack of the usual wine list suspects. I was tempted to have a go at a couple of the by the glass options after a Tamar Ridge Gewürztraminer., a Kalleske Rose and an Adelaide Hills Sauvignon Blanc caught my eye, but when Madam suggested we opt for a bottle rather than the by the glass option there was really only one candidate. I would have been quite happy with a glass of the Mitchell Clare Valley Riesling, but when you’re sharing the bottle you’re going to get more than the one glass, aren’t you? At $35 for a Halliday 94 pointer you can’t go far wrong and the lime and coriander notes in the nose and across the palate went down a treat with the food. I could easily have gone another bottle...
We wandered back to base by a more direct route, with the rest of the party suggesting we try the gelato outlet we hadn’t favoured the night before. Predictably, given the fact that it was Hughesy’s first choice and I’d been outvoted, it doesn’t open on Tuesdays, so there went the opportunity for a dash of I told you so.