May 11th, 2020Lockdown dining

DURING the current lockdown situation, when dining out is not possible, take-away becomes the only option. But, what options there are.

This includes the Daylesford Hotel which now offers a take-away dinner menu Wednesday to Saturday, 5m to 8pm and a Saturday lunch noon to 3pm. Just phone ahead with your order and pick-up at their bottle shop drive-through when ready. Your selection is brought to the car window straight from the kitchen.

A nice touch is the fully recyclable packaging (hot and cold in separate bags even) which kept everything fresh for us during the 10-minute trip home back to the hills.

My selection was a cheeseburger ($12), an all-time favourite with house-made pickles, onion, sauce and real American cheese. Purists may disdain it but no burger is complete without a slip of Robert L Kraft’s pasteurised cheese product melted over a freshly ground beef patty.

Amanda choose the falafel burger ($12). It was crisp and tangy with garlic yoghurt, cos lettuce, a generous helping of feta and mild, green pickled chillies (guindillas). Both dishes come served on fresh milk buns made on the premises. The ultimate TV dinner would not be complete without a side serving of crisp french fries (small $4, regular $6), creamy coleslaw ($6), and just maybe, onion rings ($6).

For dessert there was a choice between sticky date pudding with butterscotch ($7) and New York-style baked cheesecake ($7).

I like cheesecake, especially when it’s fresh with a slice of poached pear. As does our dog Logik, pictured. On a chilly evening watching free-to-air telly Amanda has a preference for warm sticky date pudding with cream. So no arguments were generated picking and choosing this time. A great take-away feast and we managed to finish it all before the movie started (something in French on SBS).

Words: Tony Sawrey 

Image 1:  contributed