Darwin Sailing Club, Darwin - Food with a View

The waters of Darwin may be crawling with hard-to-spot saltwater crocs, but the coastline is so nice that it's worth enjoying from a safe distance. So one evening we gathered up some courage and wandered over to the Darwin Sailing Club, which sits right on the beach at the picture perfect Fannie Bay. It is a magnificent spot thanks to the long clean beach, the ample parking, the cold beer on tap and the unbeatable view you get when the sun goes down. Do you even care what the food was like? I was happily content before I even saw a menu.

The huge outdoor space was full of picnic tables, separated from the beach by a small garden lined with palm trees. There were plenty of groups of families and friends filling the seats, creating a pleasant buzz that I was happy to blend into.

The open air bistro was lit up by heat lamps hanging above all kinds of dishes waiting to be picked up by their respective owners. The savoury smells coming from the busy kitchen combined with the fresh sea air gave me a serious seafood craving, which convinced me to order the beer battered barramundi and a serving of salt & pepper calamari. Barramundi are quite common in the Northern Territory, since they breed very effectively amongst the wetlands every year. Good enough reason for me to try the local favourite fish.

Finally, I spotted a croc.

'Excuse me, I think my meal is ready'

We were given one of those little blinking Pavlovian disks which start to wildly flash and beep when your meal is ready to be picked up. When it went off it looked like a battle disc out of the movie Tron, and caused a racket which cut right through any conversation taking place at the time. There was no chance anyone there was going to accidentally miss their call to the bistro, unless they were epileptic.

When we went up to collect our meals, we were invited to help ourselves to the rather sad looking salad bar. A couple of things stood out; the pasta salad tasted of too much raw onion, but the boiled beetroot was firm and sweet.

Overall I wouldn't have cared if the salad bar wasn't there, because the main meal portions themselves were quite huge. My fish and chips came with four large slabs of crispy battered barra lounging on a piping hot bed of french fries. The various sauces on offer formed a part of the salad bar, which was nice, because some places whack a little ramekin of tartar sauce on the side of the plate and then make the meal smaller. The Sailing Club seemed to value the generous size of their meals, and it really showed.

The fish was fresh, crispy and did I already say that there was a whole lot of it? The batter was a little thin for me, but not thin enough to let the oil interrupt the tender white meat, so the flavour of the fish was still well and truly intact. The chips were your standard frozen-bag variety, certainly not fresh or hand cut. But they were freshly cooked, and not soggy, thanks to the fish being well drained before assembling the dish, which meant the chips were still edible by the time I excavated enough fish to uncover them.

The salt & pepper calamari was done very well; the meat was actually chewable and not just chewy, while the batter was crispy and the rice was fluffy. It's a timeless and simple dish, so it would stand out if it was done badly. Numerous 'mmm's and 'aaah's indicated that this one had successfully hit the spot. 

RECOMMENDED

The Sailing Club is not a place you go specifically for food. You go there on a sunny Saturday for lunch, or one evening for dinner, but you go there for the view and the vibe more than anything else. The food isn't bad at all mind you, but it becomes a single layer in the overall enjoyment of the evening; like a factor of the resulting fun. It wouldn't be a bad place just to go for a cold beer, but it's made better by having a capable and reliable bistro to order from while you watch the sun go down.

The bill (for 2):
1 x Barramundi & Chips - AU$25
1 x Salt & Pepper Calamari - AU$25
TOTAL: AU$50 (Approx. US$52)

Restaurant address: Atkins Dr, Fannie Bay NT 0820
Website: http://www.dwnsail.com.au/

for exact locations of all reviewed restaurants, take a look at our map.