Blue Swimmer at Seahaven — Restaurant in New South Wales

We first dined here 15 years ago when it was The Seahorse, and trying to make South Coast dining a little more interesting and classier.
 I'm delighted to say after a very long break, we found that brief has been built on and improved. The food is superb, with plenty of interesting choices.

We shared the ceviche as an entree, which was interesting but needed just a little more zest.
 But no issues at all with our mains - the fish tacos were awesome, as was the fisherman's stew. Wonderful, fresh seafood, perfectly cooked, and with great flavours.

Serves were huge so we were going to skip dessert, which was disappointing as I wanted to try the halloumi donuts.
 As a dessert in a serve of 4, they're a dish to be shared around a table, but the server suggested I could try a kid's serve of one, and it was sensational.

Coffee was good, there's a great choice of local and other beers, but the strawberry fizz mocktail was perfect for lunch.

Best of all was the service - everyone we dealt with was friendly, knew the entire menu backwards and did everything they could to help. Food was brought out fast, cleared quickly, and as others finished their meals, tables were quickly cleared and sanitised.

The need for gluten free for one person was instantly met with suggested choices and offers to adapt dishes.

Due to social distancing you need to book - there's not a lot of tables here to start with and the required spacing means not that many can be served at any one time inside the restaurant.

But they're adapting by doing takeaways, and also offering coffee, pastries, burgers and fries from a hatch at the front door if you just want something to take down to the beach or park.

A great location and a must visit restaurant if you're on the...

With views across the Crooked River out to the Tasman Sea, Blue Swimmer elicits a coo of delight as we pull up for dinner. The heavily sloping road running down to the water, gives the deep blue restaurant a ramshackle vibe, aided by a tin roof, verandah and asymmetrical glass box extension jutting off one side. Sitting inside it, we watch the sky turn forty shades of pink as we work our way through a series of share plates, complemented by our own wine (BYO $10/bottle).

Under a curly mop of fennel & micro herbs, kingfish ceviche ($23) pleases the palate with firm-fleshed fish and a tickle of mandarin. Plucked from an all-day menu, the herb felafel bowl ($24) might have been designed with lunch in mind, but works out well enough as a shared green course with dinner. The crisp green felafel are better then most, and the perfect, flavoursome avocado showed off the kitchen’s eye for good produce.

Topped with a burnt lime, grilled sourdough and a dusting of cheese, a well-cleaned bowl of plump mussels ($26) is enjoyable to eat against a soupy green laksa-inspired curry. We end on clam and pork fettuccine ($28), a less eye-catching dish that didn’t skimp on flavour with cherry tomatoes, white wine, parsley lemon and breadcrumbs uniting the briny little clams and crisp pig. My only complaint was that it ate a bit dry, which would probably be fixed with a nice...

After reading several positive reviews and seeing Sydney Weekender review we were keen to visit this cafe as we have recently moved to the area. We arrived at 5:45 pm and had to leave by 8:00 pm, but 45 mins to serve cold entrees - zucchini salad & oysters - natural was very slow. Oysters were the size of a thumbnail - thank goodness for finger lime giving them some flavour. At $4.50 an oyster - less than ordinary. Noticed our mains sitting on kitchen serving shelf for at least 10 minutes before noticed by staff and bought to table. Almost an hour and a half to get our mains - and restaurant way less than half full - too slow. Especially frustrating seeing as how other tables received same meal at same time after arriving 30 minutes after us. One mussel in Fisherman Stew unopened and with 3 small school prawns and only 3 mussels and a few rings of calamari in a tomato broth to satisfy my hunger - left underwhelmed and hungry! After being told twice that there was a corkage of $12 for a bottle of BYO wine (which was OK) they forgot to add it to bill. Some consolation I guess but we are always happy to pay for good food and service. Very disappointed - our search for a local restaurant / cafe in the area that we feel confident in visiting regularly continues. Sorry guy’s but lot’s of improvement required...