Lunch with the celebs

Bannisters at Mollymook on the coast has some high-profile guests hosting long-table lunches over the coming months, starting with world-champion surfer Layne Beachley and her partner Kirk Pengilly, pictured, from INXS and a star of Celebrity MasterChef. The lunch is on Monday, September 16. On Monday, October 14, Blanche D’Alpuget, pictured, speaks at a lunch, accompanied, Bannisters says, by her husband, former prime minister Bob Hawke. D’Alpuget is promoting her first novel in 20 years, published by Random House, and will sign books at the lunch. Random House says that The Young Lion, is ‘‘a tale about forbidden love affairs, all-consuming ambition, family vengeance and political intrigue set in 12th-century France’’. And on Monday, November 11, the host is Di Morrissey, who has a new novel out in November, called The Winter Sea, set in a coastal village and featuring, Bannisters says, Ulladulla fishing families. The restaurant is owned by Rick Stein. The lunches are $85 for three courses and a glass of wine, 02 4455 3044.