During dinner at the Hermitage earlier this week, someone in the group asked: is there another restaurant in Campbelltown as good as this place?
For some reason they all looked at me as though I was the expert restaurant reviewer.
Perhaps it was more the gusto with which I was eating my food, but I digress.
While we have some brilliant cafes in town, the sad truth is that if you take Asian out of the equation there is only the Hermitage if you want to celebrate a milestone or a special occasion in style.
Someone in our party added: I’ve been coming here since it opened and I have never had a bad meal.
Yep, that’s me, too, so we’re all grateful to Cliff Barry, who had the vision, and spent so much money to build this gem right here in Campbelltown.
And forget best in Campbelltown; the Hermitage is streets ahead of anything they have in Liverpool or Camden.
Which is a pretty good effort, considering Camden has a lot more to offer in the evening than any other regional location.
I think the overall quality of dining is slowly improving in Liverpool and Macarthur, but it has a long way to go.
It’s also worth pointing out that a lot of fragmentation is taking place, with good quality restaurants opening in new residential hubs such as Gregory Hills.
Through the week I was given a bit of a tour of our next big residential destination, Menangle Park, and was fascinated to hear that facilities will include a top notch inner city style “eat street’’.
We won’t see that for three years or so but I am hoping that as many family or chef run restaurants get a gig in Menangle Park, instead of the usual franchise outlets.
Let’s just say it’s rocks and the odd diamond when it comes to some of our current dining precincts.
I don’t know about another Hermitage but at least the future looks like bringing us a better dining scene across the south west region.
