Eat & Drink
Hospitality Queen
What’s next for Tara Senam, the dynamic founder of the Meraki Group and much-loved local restaurants including Motel Mezza, Pinocchio’s Wine & Pizza and The Pantry?

What’s next for Tara Senam, the dynamic founder of the Meraki Group and much-loved local restaurants including Motel Mezza, Pinocchio’s Wine & Pizza and The Pantry?
Seasoned Aussie chef Peter Kuruvita has returned to the Central Coast to cook up a seafood feast and share a message close to his heart. From the waterways of his homeland Sri Lanka to the shores of his home state Queensland, Peter is passionate about protecting the marine environment and seeing all seafood survive and thrive.
Sydneysiders have long been travelling north to escape the city and get away from it all. Even in the 1900s when there were hardly any roads, city-slickers flocked to Woy Woy – known as the Venice of Australia – on the train and then onto Hardys Bay via ferry to immerse themselves in pristine nature.
In a major coup for the Coast over the June long weekend, a lucky few were treated to an epic feast by one of Australia’s original celebrity chefs. Seasalt restaurant at Crowne Plaza Terrigal filled to the brim as chef Peter Kuruvita brought a taste of his home to ours. Having worked with Neil Perry and
From a spare parts shop to a smokehouse –Sounds on West has injected some serious cool into West Street. Owned by the guys behind Six String Brewing Co, Chris Benson and Ryan Harris, and Chris’ brother Bryce, the Umina restaurant opened in late 2015 after a dramatic transformation. With Six String on tap, live music, a tantalising
Inside it’s just as you’d hope a fishermen’s wharf restaurant would be. The lights are cradled in crab pots and vintage signs hark back to a time and place of crab shacks and oyster bars. Vance Joy’s Riptide is playing and behind the bar, sail boats and fishing rods circa the First Fleet add a
It is, by definition, a local Italian eatery where food is made by hand. But Osteria A’ Mano is not in Parma, or Puglia, it’s in Wyong, offering an authentic taste of Italy right here on the Coast. The charming Italian restaurant is hidden behind a red door on Wyong’s palm-fringed main strip, directly opposite the train station.
Standing behind one of several rows of stainless steel benches, armed with chopping boards, knives and a formidable Westinghouse cook top, we get a sense of how the contestants must feel on Masterchef. But Coastie cook Julie Goodwin, who knows all about pressure tests after taking out the inaugural television cooking competition in 2009, instantly puts us
In a culinary coup for the Central Coast, Avoca restaurant Bombini partnered with Bowral’s Biota to present an epic Sunday feast. Combining the flavours of the Southern Highlands with fruit and veg plucked fresh from Bombini’s organic garden, the joint lunch was a celebration of regional produce. Despite the incessant rain, it turned out to be a
We’re sitting in an historic old building by a fire swilling an Argentinian Malbec. It’s the most posh and romantic Tuesday night we’ve had in a while. It’s a perk of being a Coastie and taking advantage of locals’ night at Terrigal’s new fine dining restaurant – Terrace Grill. While the restaurant is only in
After years working with Stefano Manfredi at Bells, there was always going to be a lot of buzz about what Cameron Cansdell and Hayley Hardcastle did next (Cameron was head chef at Bells and Hayley managed the restaurant). With such an impressive restaurant pedigree, there was a lot of hype around the Killcare couple’s Avoca restaurant but
It has been raining non-stop for days but we have an anniversary to celebrate – our first year on the Coast – so we rug up and brave the wet. As we slush through puddles en route to Terrigal, the sun suddenly comes out and blue sky emerges from under the grey. By the time

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