Lynwood Cafe

Ph: 4848 0200; 1 Murray St, COLLECTOR 2581 www.lynwoodcafe.com.au

Contemporary, $$ -, ** for Food & Ambience
Open Lunch Thu-Sun 10am-5pm Dinner Fri-Sat 6-10pm, Closed Mons and Tues and public holidays; Licensed, BYO , Corkage $2.50 person; AE MC V EFT
Chef Janine Heat (29-11-08) Owner Alan & Robbie Howard, Kathryn & Robert Broadbent (29-11-08)

Mietta's Review
Excellent food in this restored, Georgian country cottage. Small, high quality and interesting menu will more than satisfy and cheer travellers. The jams and relishes produced here are in such demand that the owners have opened an outlet in Sydney's Leichhardt. Farmhouse Sausages are well seasoned, with good texture and set upon delicous mashed potatoes. Omelette with one of Australia's best cheeses - Heidi Gruyere - and a strong salty bacon, good sourdough. You can also enjoy afternoon tea, with the scones, jam and cream. This cafe attracts particularly warm recommendations.

Other published opinions

Sydney Morning Herald Good Food Guide 2009 Score: 13.5/20 "Lynwood's thick rustic stone walls, low doorways and long veranda reflect its 1830s country homestead beginnings. It's not glamorous, but the simple, honest surroundings are matched by the food"

Gourmet Traveller 2009 Australian Restaurant Guide "Spring brings an abundance of blossom. Come summer you can have a drink in the sun-dappled garden. In autumn, heavy golden quinces, some of which will end their days in a crumble or ajar of jelly, dangle from trees"

Sydney Morning Herald Good Food Guide 2008 Score: 13.5/20 "This 1830s cottage has been a private home and inn and is now the main drawcard in tiny Collector, just off the highway between Canberra and Goulburn"

Gourmet Traveller 2008 Australian Restaurant Guide "It's a balmy late summer afternoon and the garden is bathed in a golden glow. So, too, are the lucky people lingering over lunch"

Sydney Eats 2008 "Whether you choose scones and Lynwood's preserves or salmon fishcakes with rocket salad and lemon aioli, you won't regret it"

Sydney Morning Herald Good Food Guide 2007 Score: 14/20 "It's not hard to like honest country fare served with style and generosity in the rustic surrounds of an 1830s stone cottage. Lynwood Cafe is the biggest thing in the tiny town of Collector dust off the highway between Goulburn and Canberra)."

Gourmet Traveller 2007 Restaurant Guide "With its bone-handled knives, whitewashed walls, terracotta floors andjam room, this waypoint in the tiny town of Collector, halfan hour from Canberra, channels a very specific kind of Australiana. Its menu, equal parts nanna and nonna-inspired, is a focused collection of produce-driven classics, ranging from a gentle beefand stout pie to hefty osso buco with gremolata and mash."

SMH Good Food Guide 2006 Score 14/20 "There is romance in the pastoral idyll. It's at a circa 1830s charm-filled stone cottage (and erstwhile bakery) by a creek, in a one horse town (pop. 150) south of Goulburn. And it's sitting (on the world's most uncomfortable chairs) in sunshine in the walled garden, among peach and walnut trees"

Gourmet Traveller 2006 Australian Restaurant Guide * "Get ready to join the legion of gourmet travellers who time their passage past the village of Collector, about an hour outside Canberra, to nicely coincide with lunch or dinner. That a location as lovely as this low-set 18305 stone building in the bend of the creek does food at all is a pleasing discovery"

Sydney Eats 2006 "Lynwood delights with its rustic building and country charm. Chef Warwick Brook loves sourcing good local produce with the help of resident owner Robbie Howard, herself an excellent cook. The winelist is almost entirely of the region and includes Braidwood milk stout."

SMH GFG 2005 Score 14/20 One Hat "There's something a little wonderful about dining in a former bakery in the country. Despite the rickety tables, the pretty uncomfortable, ex-army chairs and the occasionally errant service, you're in touch with our past. You can indulge in shepherd's pie and a fantastic Braidwood milk stout without feeling anything more than a sense of whimsy."

Gourmet Traveller Australian Restaurant Guide 2005 * "If it weren't for the Lynwood Cafe or the annual pumpkin festival, the unassuming village of Collector might enjoy far less attention. There are few cosier spots for Canberrans or Sydney day-trippers seeking a quiet lunch in the country."

Sydney Cheap Eats 2005 "Lynwood continues to delight with its rustic building, country garden and chef Warwick Brook's great cooking. Owner Robbie Howard provides local produce, mostly organically grown, whenever possible. The wine list, too, features mostly regional items."

SMH GFG 2004,Score 14/20,Consistently very good,'Lynwood does rustic without becoming twee,and old-school without looking dated.The menu and decor speak of the surrounds yet there's a switched-on approach to familar cafe faves that gives Lynwood the edge.'

Gourmet Traveller Restaurant Guide 2004, 1 Black Star, Good vegetarian options,'garden produce is strewn all over this charming heritage building...fine country cooking from a small menu.You'll eat dishes that mum might have cooked...Servings are generous, and the menu follows seasonal dictates.'

Canberra times 10.1.02 Oasis of pleasure 4/6/01

SMH 4/9/2000 article about Lynwood Stores The Age Goodweekend weekender sixpack 29/7/2000 - With fireplace - 170 year old restored country cottage, sit by raging fire and feast on roast pheasant or the best scones and jam.

SMH 23-29/5/00 "Going...going..scone" By Terry Durack