A visit to Orange (the town not the fruit)

Ah holidays!  Driving!  Country Bakeries!  Shakespeare!  Pre-show dinner!  Museums!  Museum cafes!  Familiar faces!  Sharing food!  Shopping!  Cafes!  Sightseeing!  Tea rooms!  There! I have said it all and don't need to tell you much more about our recent trip to Orange in NSW via Canberra!

Seriously though, you want a bit more information with less exclamation marks and more photos.  Don't you?  If not you can check out some other blogs.  If you do, be prepared for a few long posts.  This one will focus on Orange.  I will also do one on places near to Orange, one on Canberra and one our roadtrip.  I will tell you about the food on offer but as we saw so much of our lovely country, be prepared to just share the sights of this part of Australia with me too.

Orange is a few hours drive west of Sydney.  We chose to visit because my sister Fran and her husband John are currently living there.  It was fantastic to see them.  Upon first impressions Orange is unassuming with neither prettiness nor sights to make much impact.  Yet it was a great place to spend a week.  It had shops, cafes, a great art gallery (we loved the Robert McFarlane exhibition), theatre (see below) and fun parks.  The Adventure Playground above was amazing with so much to do.  We also went to Cook Park (top photo) which has historical garden architecture as well as swings.

My favourite experience eating in town was at Lavendilli Blue, despite an inauspicious start.  We arrived late for lunch and found that there were no more savoury muffins (which I meant to find out more about but got dispirited).  That left me with one option of a toasted cheese sandwich and salad.  I asked for a scone for Sylvia but they were out of scones.  She had toast with cheese and tomato.  It was plain but pleasing.  The toasties were crisp and full of melty cheese, and the salad was substantial with a lovely dressing.

E was very pleased wit his big breakfast and we both enjoyed our pots of tea.  He had English Breakfast while I had a Raspberry Lime herbal mix.  I always love loose leaf herbal tea and this one was so pretty that I had to photograph it.  Even Sylvia ate quite a bit of her lunch.  The place just wasn't geared towards vegetarians but they were happy to make an effort.

We all had dessert.  I had a chocolate caramel macadamia tart which didn't have enough caramel to please me but E loved it.  E ordered a baked berry cheesecake which I loved.  Sylvia has had a fixation with iced cakes lately so this was a place for her to have a cake with white icing.  We all helped out with this cake which was chocolate under the white icing.  Sylvia has had lots of fun with this photo, talking about the different coloured "nuts" on top.

I also really like the space with the quirky floral merchandise scattered around the dining spaces.  We bought a few gifts here and I wish I had bought some of the beauty products which had great fragrances. We loved it so much we went back for morning tea another day.  It wasn't quite as wonderful.  E was delighted with his chai latte but I found it messy and frustrating sharing ricotta hotcakes with a fussy toddler

The other place we loved (which would have more appeal to vegans) was Bodhi Garden Vegetarian Restaurant.  We went there on our kid-free night.  The fates were kind and Bell Shakespeare had a production of Julius Caesar.  I have great respect for this theatre company and this production was as excellent as any other production of theirs that I have seen.  Our evening was completed by the excellent food and service at Bodhi Garden Vegetarian Restaurant.

I didn't take detailed notes of our dishes.  I wish I had done so for the teas.  The tea menu is fantastic.  I chose the sweet dreams tea because I loved the combination of camomile and rose petals but can't remember the rest.  E had green tea.  We had taro triangles and bbq vegetable steamed buns for starters.  For mains, E chose the satay kebabs.  These were a bit faux meat for me but he thought they were great.  I had fried noodles with cabbage, carrot and chefs sauce with a side dishe of sesame green beans.

E said this place was the culinary highlight of the trip.  I wasn't as bowled over, possibly because the menu was so long and I had to try and find something with no tvp or faux meat so I had problems choosing.  What I had was good but the beans had a gloopy sauce that I am not so keen on and I really wanted to choose a tofu dish for a bit of protein but couldn't decide on which one.  However I would definitely have gone back if I had the opportunity.

The previous night we had tried to get a table at the Union Bank Wine Bar.  It was one of those nights when nothing went right. Instead we ate at Fran and John's house.  Travelling with Sylvia was so much easier when staying with family.  Fran loves to cook and I enjoyed dabbling in the kitchen with some favourite recipes - rice bake, olive oil bread, vegetarian sausage rolls and flourless chocolate cake.  Fran made lasagne, minestrone with GF bread, home made chips for Sylvia, a fantastic muesli slice that I must try, and a mean chai latte for E.

On our first day in Orange we went to Roberts Bakery.  We were tired from the previous day's drive and just needed food.  I got a spinach and ricotta pastie that was very nice.  Best of all at these old fashioned Australian bakeries are the kiddie treats.  Sylvia loved her gingerbread woman, though she mostly loved poking her finger into icing blobs.  Who wouldn't!

Lastly, we were good tourists and spent lots of money.  We bought tea and lebkuchen at the Teahouse (which had a cute little tearoom we didn't get to visit), home made marie biscuits from A Slice of Orange, cheese biscuits from the Orange Visitor Information Centre, and wine from The Belgravia Cellar Door.  I also returned home with a new vegetarian cookbook as well as gifts and souvenirs. Good food, good company, beautiful countryside and lots of sunshine.  No complaints here.  I am sure the Orange economy will be grateful too!

Lavendilli Blue

41 Sale St 

Orange, NSW 2800

(02) 6361 9408
http://lavendilliblue.myshopify.com/

Bodhi Garden Vegetarian Restaurant
341 Summer Street
Orange, NSW 2800
(02) 6360 4478

Roberts Bakery
184 Peisley St
Orange, NSW 2800‎
(02) 6362 1245
http://www.robertsbakery.com.au/