13 Jan Bushfoods Cafe, Brambuk: The National Park & Cultural Centre, Halls Gap

This cafe is situated in the Brambuk National Park & Cultural Centre, Halls Gap. After quickly browsing through their menu we went with the tasting platter. The platter came with a warmed damper roll, garden salad with feta, four different meats (clockwise starting from top left: duck, crocodile, emu sausage, kangaroo), a native tomato relish and a chutney. We also sampled different types of Australian herbal teas (lemon myrtle, wattleseed and another one).

Of the meats presented, the only one we hadn’t tried before was the emu. It was a gamey meat, but it was also the tastiest there, probably because it was in sausage form. Th crocodile meat was cooked slightly rare, so it was chewier than was we were used to, but it wasn’t unpleasant. The duck seemed to have a slight smokey flavour, almost like ham. The first and last time I’ve had damper was back in year 4, but I remembered I liked it. This one had ground wattleseed incorporated into the dough, adding to its brown appearance, and its texture was similar to a scone – crispy on the outside and fluffy in the centre. I liked the damper roll so much that on the way out I bought another one by itself for $2.

Bushfoods Cafe
Brambuk – The National Park & Cultural Centre
277 Grampians Tourist Road
Halls Gap, VIC, 3381
(03) 5361 4000
http://www.brambuk.com.au/bushfoodscafe.htm