Welcome to Cafe Somerville

Last Tuesday night my girlfriend, Daneka, her parents and I had the pleasure of sampling the amazing food at Café Somerville.

To be completely honest, we were very skeptical of going to a Chinese Restaurant due to bad experiences in the past, but I was pleasantly surprised with Café Somerville.

Locals of Winthrop and areas around; put this cafe on the ‘to do list’, it was seriously a great experience.

As I walked through the doors the first thing I noticed was the three tanks full of fresh barramundi, huge crayfish and some of the biggest crabs I’ve ever seen.

We left the meal selection in the hands of owner Gerard Chia, we had quite the banquet. The Chinese New Year is upon us so Gerard treated us to a traditional dish which is the Salmon Sashimi and Salad ($38). Being from the bush I didn’t realise what the word ‘Sashimi’ meant, I soon found out. Raw fish (Salmon and jelly fish!), I let Daneka try it first. Good response, so I had to give it a go. The unique thing about this salad is that before eating it there is a tradition where you get your chop sticks and toss the salad really high with the people at the table (more mess the better). The higher you toss the salad the more prosperity, longevity and wealth you will receive. I need all the luck I can get, so I didn’t hold back. The salad had some very interesting ingredients other than the fish; it was light and fresh, great for a hot summer’s day.

We had 6 dishes come out for main. The standouts were definitely the Chicken in a Yam Ring ($16.80) (which looked like a birds nest) and the freshly caught Steamed Barramundi with Soy Sauce, Ginger and Spring Onions ($30). Very impressive. Oh and being the country kid I am, I really loved chewing on the Pork Ribs ($14.80), tasty!

Daneka, being a lover of seafood, thought the Butter King Prawns ($21.80) and Spicy Milk Squid ($13.80) were the best. She didn’t save me very many, I had to fight her for them. With all that food, my belly was stretched, although I couldn’t resist a Lynch family favourite – Fried Ice Cream ($4.80). Only bad thing about it was the damage it will do to my skin folds, other than that I’d say ‘please can I have seconds?!’

Café Somerville is Chinese food with a twist, a twist I really enjoyed and most certainly will be back for the Chinese New Year celebrations…I can always do with a bit more luck!