After almost a year of wanting to try the tapas that Red Olive has to offer in Mittagong following rave reviews, we finally freed ourselves from our children and went to lunch there today. We certainly weren’t disappointed!
We sampled four different dishes – Thai style pork fritters, roast dates with chorizo and pancetta, salt and pepper squid and lamb kofta with mint yogurt. The roast dates with chorizo and pancetta were divine, warming you up on the inside as they were devoured. The salt and pepper squid had a great balance of salt and pepper. The lamb koftas came on kebab sticks and were combined with herbs.
But our favourite had to be the Thai style pork fritters, which left us wanting more ………….. so naturally we ordered another batch! The waitress informed us it was the first day they had offered this particular tapas dish, so hopefully they will keep this gem on the menu.
The Red Olive is in a gorgeous little sandstone cottage in front of the Reject Shop at Highlands Marketplace. The cottage has a lovely, cosy ambience, which we could imagine would be lovely on a cold winters day when their fireplaces are going.
The staff were very friendly and attentive and the service was very quick – it wasn’t overly busy when we went, but we were still impressed.
Red Olive is not BYO, but offers a great wine list featuring local Southern Highlands wines, as well as other Australian and New Zealand wines. We enjoyed a 2008 pinot gris from local winemakers Farago Hill (Canyonleigh), which just proved how fabulous the Southern Highlands is for producing premium cool climate wines.
Red Olive is a perfect place to share some dishes with another person, or with a group of friends. The dinner menu offers more than tapas, but for lunch tapas is only on offer. We will be taking some of our friends there now that we know how fabulous the food is.
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