Osborn House — Hotel in Bundanoon

The beautifully landscaped gardens of Osborn House and the glass house pool ooze the English country charm the Southern Highlands is well known for. What’s happening in the backyard of this 5-star, 22-room boutique hotel however, is something entirely different. Amid the modern luxury cabins, each with a bath on the deck facing the spectacular view, you’ll find an outdoor South American kitchen. Every Sunday they’re putting on a fire feast ($150/head) where Argentinian-born Executive Chef Segundo Farrell takes guests through three cooking methods—iron dome, plancha and infiernillo—to create a three course feast.

With a generous pour of savoury salmon pink 2020 Rameau D’Or Rosé ($21/glass) on arrival, you’re invited to lounge around fire pits as staff deliver a range of snacks from wooden boards. Charred bread bearing avocado, lime and charred orange segments is a good beginning, though quickly eclipsed by textbook pulled beef empanadas with olives, egg and a drizzle of illajua sauce (a Bolivian chili sauce). Chorizo sangas stop you gnawing off an arm as the inviting aromas of barbeque swirl around you and seep into your pores.

Once you’re seated upstairs on the covered verandah, a battalion of friendly staff direct you through a buffet where 7-hour iron dome chickens, infiernillo grilled and iron dome smoked wagyu tomahawk rib-ryes and golden spud cakes flattened on the plancha all impress. Protected by a salt crust from the licking flames of the wood-topped infiernillo, whole ocean trout is silky and moist. Large bowls of salads—rescoldo pumpkin, beetroot and orange, and greens with sun-dried tomato slices—round out the generously proportioned mains. A long wooden tray of sauces from chimmichurri to grape sauce and tartare help to keep your plate engaging. Pineapple charred in the iron dome with oozing red strawberries and rhubarb is probably where I should have stopped, as the dulce de leche pancakes cooked a la plancha and served with The Pines ice cream proved too sweet for me. Get in fast, these events are set to end...

Overall, it was a nice stay. The staff are lovely and the massages were excellent. However, for $900-$950 per night, to have a view of the solar panels on the roof, and to have to call reception each night to ask to turn off the courtyard lights because we couldn’t sleep, to be able to hear people walking past our room and talking at reception and also to have no extraction fan in the bathroom and have to smell the toilet after being used through the room, it’s not worth it unfortunately and we would not return. I understand there are more expensive rooms which are nicer, but for that price, we expect better. Also while the breakfast is tasty, it should be a buffet for this level of hotel and pricing. ||Also, we would recommend that the car keys from valet should be kept at the back in a safe, not just a drawer at reception. ||The pricing of the cocktails is also really absurd. Even the most expensive bars in Sydney don’t charge upwards of $30 for a cocktail. ||While we appreciate that staff quickly attended to the light issue when we would call, it’s really not acceptable to not have curtains that cover the whole window, and also to charge $900-$950 a night for a room with view of solar panels and air conditioning units. ||When we raised these issues with the hotel, they offered us on our next visit to give us a complimentary upgrade to the Forest Lodge (meaning we would still have to pay the rate of a standard room which in this case cost us $900+ per night). After a disappointing stay, we do not want to give this accomodation even more money fo ra subsequent stay when we can just stay elsewhere for MUCH cheaper. When we asked for a partial refund they said no - hence why we have now decided to leave this review so other travellers can beware of the room they choose. Photos attached of the view and the beaming light at 10:30pm at night...

Overall, it was a nice stay. The staff are lovely and the massages were excellent. However, for $900-$950 per night, to have a view of the solar panels on the roof, and to have to call reception each night to ask to turn off the courtyard lights because we couldn’t sleep, to be able to hear people walking past our room and talking at reception and also to have no extraction fan in the bathroom and have to smell the toilet after being used through the room, it’s not worth it unfortunately and we would not return. I understand there are more expensive rooms which are nicer, but for that price, we expect better. Also while the breakfast is tasty, it should be a buffet for this level of hotel and pricing.

Also, we would recommend that the car keys from valet should be kept at the back in a safe, not just a drawer at reception.

The pricing of the cocktails is also really absurd. Even the most expensive bars in Sydney don’t charge upwards of $30 for a cocktail.

While we appreciate that staff quickly attended to the light issue when we would call, it’s really not acceptable to not have curtains that cover the whole window, and also to charge $900-$950 a night for a room with view of solar panels and air conditioning units.

When we raised these issues with the hotel, they offered us on our next visit to give us a complimentary upgrade to the Forest Lodge (meaning we would still have to pay the rate of a standard room which in this case cost us $900+ per night). After a disappointing stay, we do not want to give this accomodation even more money fo ra subsequent stay when we can just stay elsewhere for MUCH cheaper. When we asked for a partial refund they said no - hence why we have now decided to leave this review so other travellers can beware of the room they choose. Photos attached of the view and the beaming light at 10:30pm at night...