Gladioli

Gladioli is proudly a chef's restaurant. A quaint Victorian cottage, adjoining a highway pie-and-petrol stop, has put Inverleigh firmly on the culinary map. Statement floral artwork breathes life and colour into the bright, white dining areas, their myriad charms enhanced by the genuine warmth of polished, smiling floor staff. The menu choice is either five or eight courses of seasonally evolving, artfully plated small dishes. A tiny, colourful salad of heirloom carrots and sprout leaves snuggles into a savoury pecorino custard; a delicate tangle of ocean trout, quinoa and citrus pearls is at once clever and simple. Next might be a juxtaposition of seared scallops and deboned chicken wing with golden sweetcorn and farro; then a Sher wagyu rump gently teased by the crunch of pistachio and edamame. A light-hearted dessert of 'apple, scones, cream' is actually a jar full of compressed apple, cubes of jelly and lumps of scone, concealed in snowy apple foam.