It’s a glorious sunny autumn day in Newcastle, with air so fresh it’s like you’ve just had a spearmint. We’re sitting al fresco at Elementa, a new restaurant by local couple Rina and Joel, which overlooks the pristine Throsby Creek. Elementa is in leafy Maryville, which is more suburban than happening, but the view and peace is bliss. And even though the menu isn’t quite what we were expecting, with a Bloody Mary in one hand, we find ourselves thinking there’s nowhere else we’d rather be.
This isn’t the first time we’ve dined here – we were lucky to taste some of head chef Jess Brooks’ dishes a couple days after the doors swung open in February – and we've daydreamed about them since. The first, roasted hasselback beetroots with accordion-like slices sitting on creamy whipped chèvre, dressed in a maple burnt butter and hazelnuts. And the second, lamb ribs coated in Middle Eastern spices, with charred yet fall-off-the-bone meat, served with a tahini yogurt and a zingy preserved vegetables and fresh herb salad. Both balanced, with on-point seasoning, and delicious.
It’s around noon the next time we visit, a few months later after our first date, and we're ready to revisit those punchy flavours, when a waiter lets us know there’s a separate dinner and lunch menu, and no, we can’t have the dinner menu at lunch time. That’s fair, we should have looked it up before we came, c'est la vie, et cetera.
Some plates on the day menu are calling our name: applewood smoked ocean trout with charred rye, lemon labne, pickled fennel, apple and watercress; and the chorizo eggs Benny with poached eggs, sourdough, spinach, chipotle hollandaise and house-made hash, in particular. Elementa’s take on a savoury brioche French toast with a potato hash, avo, fresh spinach and pickled shiitake aioli also sounds interesting.
But, like we said, it’s noon and we want lamb ribs. Sorry, lunch. So, we opt for the pork belly noodle salad and the cheese burger. The salad comes out with a generous amount of golden and crisp pork belly (though it's perhaps a little dry), bouncy glass noodles and verdant green herbs – dill, mint, coriander and spring onion. Pickled kohlrabi adds zing, sunflower and sesame seeds add crunch, and a balanced sweet and vinegary dressing does an excellent job of bringing it all together.
But it’s hard to eat our salad when we’ve got one eye on ‘The Cheesy’ – Elementa’s take on the classic burger. The thick beef patty is cooked well and is still juicy and fatty, just how you want it, and the double cheese oozes down the sides. It’s finished with a mustard-spiked special sauce, sweet pickles and a good handful of well-salted chips on the side. It’s an excellent burger and it’s gone too soon, and so too are our dreams of lamb ribs.
Inside is handsome, with charcoal walls, golden wooden tables and dark chairs. A turquoise tiled bar adds a pop of colour, and black and white photos of the ocean hang on the walls. We can see long lunches and cosy nights here. Though, the pothos are in need of some TLC.
When the sun’s shining though, like today, it’s all about the view, so nab a seat outside and breathe in the fresh air. Us? We’ll be back soon to get the banging evening menu (the $77 chef's choice menu, we're looking at you).
