Crackenback Farm Restaurant — Restaurant in New South Wales

We visited here on a planned day off from a bad ski day. There were four in our party, and we had made a booking the previous day.

This casual country-style restaurant is located across the road from the well-known Wild Brumby Distillery.

On entry, we were greeted by the farm cat sunning itself in the window. The restaurant has a warm timber-lined raked ceiling, an open fireplace (not in use), and a mix of local and international art. The outlook is north over an external courtyard, which would be a popular spot on a warm, sunny day.

We ordered beers to start while we perused the menu.

We opted for the three-course menu at $85/head. While we each had our own dishes, we also shared and tasted everything—a great choice.

1st Course • Sugar-cured salmon with pickled cucumber and dill mustard sauce – The salmon was very fresh, subtle, and soft. I liked the pickled cucumbers, and the dill sauce tied it together well. • Deep-fried ricotta-stuffed zucchini flowers with aioli – My better half ordered this, but I ended up eating most of it. The batter didn’t look as light as it actually was—perfectly crisp, with a gentle ricotta filling and tender zucchini. • Pork, hazelnut, and prune terrine with spiced grape chutney and pickles – I tried a small mouthful; fresh and well-balanced.

Main Course • Three of us chose the Braised beef cheek with sweet potato purée and mushroom ragout – My wife makes this dish very well; this was equally as good. Rich, hearty, and full of flavour. Every plate was cleaned. • I had the Whole baked local rainbow trout with caper and herb butter – Perfectly cooked and well-sized, with a butter sauce that matched beautifully.

To share, we enjoyed a bottle of Whitehaven Pinot Noir 2022, Marlborough, New Zealand. While it wasn’t a perfect match for any single dish, it was a well-rounded, easy-drinking wine that complemented the variety of flavours across the table.

Dessert • Chocolate mousse – Not on the menu as there was only one left, so I claimed it. Soft, velvety, and paired perfectly with cream. The meringue wasn’t to my taste. • Banana and date pudding with toffee sauce and ice cream – My wife makes a similar version, and this was just as good. Subtle banana flavour and perfectly matched with vanilla bean ice cream. • Buttermilk pannacotta with pineapple and pomegranate syrup – Silky texture and subtle flavour. I found the syrup balanced the dish well, though a friend thought it was too sweet. • Pecan and blueberry tart with blueberry compote – Ordered as a chocolate tart, but this was served instead. No complaints—it was excellent.

We paired dessert with glasses of Lillypilly Noble Harvest Botrytis Semillon, a luscious, sweet wine with rich fruit flavours that complemented each dessert beautifully.

All in all, a cosy, fun experience with friendly staff and great food. Our friends have a booking tonight, and we’ve assured them they’re in for a great night. We’ll be back.

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If you like, I can now also put together that shorter, Google-review version so you have both ready to go. That one will be punchy but still capture...

The food was incredible but the the service was very poor. From the beginning we were greeted with who I assume was the owner an older male. He rushed us all to be seated and as we were celebrating a friend's birthday who we were surprising were a few minutes late. We were given menus and the few of us who arrived a couple minutes earlier order drinks though us other just barely looked at the menu and asked if they could come back for our drink orders. A few minutes passed and the same man came back asked for our meal options which then when asked can we order our drinks just barked after our orders are taken. He was very rude and felt quite unwelcoming from the start. After getting all our main menus which we were all so rushed to make and had not much time to even look through the menu so felt extremely rushed. He just left and the few of us who didn't even make our drinks orders just asked one of the younger wait staff to check if we could. Then the other male came back and took our orders. We had a few vegetarians and 1 vegan and I specifically called asking if this can be catered the day before and got a very rude response from an older lady I assumed it is the other owner with a response this is not a vegan restaurant and I was just asking if they can cater or not so that our friend who is vegan won't come if they can't make up a meal for them. The food was incredible the kitchen staff did an amazing job on the food but it was such a rushed experience and felt that we were not as welcome. As most of us are seasonal workers for the ski resorts it was a special once off night as a special dinner and I know many were feeling that it was rushed and didn't seem to be a great experience service wise specifically from the older male who I assume is the owner. To top it off at the end we asked if we could split the bill which he advised we could we just had to let him know the amount each of us were paying. Which after everyone paid their seemed to be $190 left on the bill which our last friend paid. As we left the restaurant it didn't add up as we all paid the correct amount and the last friend was meant to pay only $100. After all adding up our payments we made we saw we were over charged $90 which understandably mistakes can happen with a large group. When we went back in to rectify the overcharge the older male just denied we were overcharged and my friend basically had to explain we were overcharged until he finally acknowledged this and refunded our friend who was over paid. No sorry for the mistake just very frustrating experience overall. As its the only fine dining place in the area this review won't make much of a difference the food was great but I have been before a few times previous seasons but after last night it really was not a pleasant experience and probably won't advise others to...

I found Crackenback Farm Restaurant to have both many good and not so good points. The restaurant itself is a warm, rustic space very reminiscent of a farmhouse. The food was a good example of farm to table fare. Every dish was perfectly cooked, delicious and well presented. Service was what I found to be a big disappointment. Rudderless ship is the phrase that comes to mind. The problem on the night we dined may have been that there was a large group celebrating a birthday that were occupying over half the space that staff seemed to be giving 90% of their attention to. It took around 5 minutes to be seated on arrival and then only when we managed to get the attention of waitstaff. Once seated we were overwhelmed with a nasty smell much like that of a dirty old tea towel, which we quickly found to be our napkins. Not wanting to make a scene we ended up balancing them on the end of our knees to keep them as far from our noses as possible for the evening. Due to their very dark colour I can’t say for certain that the napkins were unclean but the odour was not subtle. As the menu make no mention of sides to accompany the main course we were expecting these to be brought out with the dishes. Our mains came out with no sides following, and we were unable to get anyone’s attention to query this as they were so focussed on the birthday group. We eventually gave up and figured that maybe this is how they do things here (a whole baked trout with nothing else but an insane amount of parsley on the plate) and began eating. Well into our course and without breaking stride a bowl of greens and mash was placed on the table. Luckily at the end of the night we checked the bill as we had been charged for an extra dessert. Overall the venue and food were great, but the lack of management, training and direction in service took away from what otherwise could have been an...