Barrenjoey House

12/20

The sea is always bluer on the other side, especially when you're trying to decide where to have lunch on a sunny day. I'm sitting in the warm sunshine on the decked, waterside terrace at The Boathouse Palm Beach with a very good single origin coffee, surrounded by people reading newspapers, sipping rosé, talking to their dogs, eating fish and chips out of smart wooden boxes and taking photos of seaplanes landing on melamine-smooth water. It's gorgeous but all I can think about is whether I should be at Palm Beach's other favourite, Barrenjoey House, instead.

The Boathouse, after all, is just a great, buzzy, drop-in, drop-out breakfast, brunch and lunch spot, while Barrenjoey House is a full-on restaurant that, in its time, has been home to some of Sydney's best-known chefs, from Neil Perry a trillion years ago, to Darren Simpson who left last year to set up La Scala in Paddington. Am I going to regret this? New kid-back-in-town Joel Robinson started at Barrenjoey in July, after five years in London cooking at Daphne's and the Albemarle under popular British chef, Mark Hix. OK, I'm outta here.

Like the Boathouse, Barrenjoey House has water views, a beach house feel, chilled rosé and fish and chips. The views, however, are less in-your-face, the buzz is less frenetic, the clientele older and the fish and chips less dramatic.

The bloke at the door wants me to sit in the formal dining room. Aw, do I have to? It looks like a reception room waiting for a wedding. Oh lucky day, there is a table in the lighter, airier, atrium-style room, with its driftwood pelican doorstoppers, vases of blowsy, long-stemmed garden roses and candy-striped table napkins.

The fold-away front windows open all the way to make the most of the views of Norfolk pines and blue water across Pittwater (car) Park.

On a golden Sunday afternoon, Barrenjoey House feels more civilised than The Boathouse, where you queue to put in your order and take a number, and where several of the cheery staff seem to be on their first day in the job. Here, there are savvy girls and boys on the floor, forever topping up water glasses, bringing finger bowls and serving icy Crown Lager ($7.70) in well-chilled glasses, always a heart-winning move.

Robinson's menu follows the same-old Sydney beachside format, from freshly shucked Sydney rock oysters to lightly battered Hawkesbury squid, seared Hervey Bay scallops, smoked salmon and scrambled eggs, Cape Grim rib-eye and, of course, fish and chips.

There's a pretty tasting plate to share ($17/$26) of prosciutto teamed with fresh peach, baby beetroots with white anchovies, mixed olives with feta and decent sourdough bread. Not much to complain about there, except the peaches feel softly bruised and it's too early in the season for them to be fabulous.

The menu lists the fish of the day as grilled blue eye with caponata and basil oil. Heaven knows I should be ordering stuff that showcases the chef's skills more than fish and chips but nothing makes you feel al fresco and el beacho quite as fast as a cold beer and a bit of salt and batter.

The fish and chips ($26) feature flathead (which is good) in a still-crunchy batter (good), that's shattery and oily to the touch (not good). Damn it, those fish and chips at The Boathouse looked fantastic, all crisp and dry and piled up as if by Donna Hay. Still, the chips here are perfectly acceptable – not too big, not too small, not too crisp, not too soft.

From a wine list strong in Western Australian and South Australian labels, the 2009 Fonty's Pool Rosé ($38) from Pemberton in the west is a fresh, delicate beauty with more than a hint of strawberries. It makes it hard to go past a bucket of prawns, which come in an actual bucket ($25); all 16 medium-sized, brightly coloured tigers, pre-cooked, chilled and ready to peel and dip into marie-rose cocktail sauce. A side salad ($8) is a retro take from the pre-rocket era – just tomato, cucumber, radish, cos lettuce and croutons.

Most of the folk here go for ice-cream to finish; probably wise, as the fresh fruit tart of the day ($15) features blueberries, which isn't exactly pushing out the boat on seasonality. Good, crisp pastry holds what seems to be frangipane, although the berries have left it feeling a bit damp and heavy and it's not a good match with the creamy, sweet, honey crunch ice-cream.

Barrenjoey House is a pleasant, well-run place, with perky staff, mostly competent cooking and no-surprises food. But it's making that water just off The Boathouse look really, really blue.

tdurack@smh.com.au