If you are looking for an idyllic outdoor location for lunch, then go no further than Dangar Island on the Hawkesbury Rive
r north of Sydney. I have always known about Dangar Island and have cruised past it many a time on my way to Peats Bite, or to Patonga, but for some reason, I have never stopped there even though it is closer than both. I'm glad I finally did! Dangar Island is just off Brooklyn and is a residential island where there is also a no-car policy. Apart from the residents it i
s also popular for holiday rentals, but the prices for this have always seemed too steep, especially when technically it is "just up the road" from my place! Anyway, it was a sunny day, and spring has sprung so instead of doing our usual day out just to Brooklyn, we decided to do something different and take a 15 minute ferry trip to the island. I had read that the cafe owners had retired after many years running the only shop on the island. As it was integral to the day to day life, and was a social hub, the residents voted to take over the shop and run a roster to keep it open. What a great community s
pirit! The whole day was great - laid back and relaxing. The ferry leaves once an hour during the week and is $11 return for adults and $5 for kids. I was with the lad today but the silver haired ferryman didn't charge
me for him even though he has turned 5 only a week ago..so grown up. We hopped on board with only one other passen
ger and enjoyed the rustic old lady "Sun". Pulling out of the sparkly waters of Brooklyn Marina, the lad inched his way up to the wheelhouse to watch the captain driving the boat. He had great humour and jolly'd the lad along telling him what he was doing and why. Once we arrived, the gangplank was wheeled out and we hopped happily on to the wharf. The first thing we passed was the chalkboard roster for the residents running the cafe, then was the bicycles and prams left by residents who had taken the ferry to the mainland that morning (it was a weekday after all). Nothing locked up, all just higgeldy piggeldy under cover from the elements. Its nice to see that they all trusted they would be there when they returned this evening. The cafe is right next to the ferry pier, so as it was still a little chilly we popped in to check out the wares and had a hot choccie. Perched at the front doo
r was the cutest little white fluffy dog curled up c
osily in his red coat, and doggie bed. All was good until we approached to pat him, and had a very short and sharp snap that made sure we kept our distance. Once inside though, the other locals were friendly! Two ladies setting up for the day, cooking and setting the tables. As you walk in there is the nice display of locally grown fruit and veg, with assorted grocerie
s set out on shelves. To the left was the counter with the menu on blackboards, and the fridges of specialist meat ordered in for last minute dinners. Above the counter was a huge and modern looking painting that suited the light and airy room. To the right was a view to die for. Teak tables, casually set with local flowers, comfy chairs and summery striped cushions backed by a wall of french doors that were closed today but in summer would be open to the coastal breezes. The view of the water was spectacular. The cafe also had outdoor seating but the building itself was so close to the waters edge, you felt like you were on the beach as you sat in what felt like a sunny loungeroom in a beach rental. We had out hot choccie quickly before setting off up the road leading from the wharf. Lined with wheelbarrows, the road rose lazily in to the bushy surrounds. The barrows all had cute names or the name of the houses on the island and were parked there for carrying shoppi
ng and luggage I guess. As there is no cars, there must be times when you arrive laden with more t
han is able to be carried by hand. Great idea, also not chained up, and again re-inforcing the casual nature of the island and the acceptance that all would be left as it was. As we left the cafe, the postman was sorting the mail for the island into the many letterboxes on the outside wall of the cafe. The island doesn't lo
ok too big, but I was surprised by the amount of boxes available so there must be more houses tucked away amongst the trees that you can't see. We took
a road to the left as the sign said the bowling club was that way. We came out at a reserve with some kids play equipment, public toilets, a community centre and a bowling club and green. Surrounded by houses, I could imagine it being a g
reat meeting place for the locals in summer. I'd love to do barefoot bowls there one hot summer night with cicadas drumming and to complete the night by having dinner at "Sheila's" (the bistro attached to the basic clubhouse). Cold beer in hand, with a walk to the holiday house...it would be heaven! From here we spotted an oddity. A stone turret nestled amongst the palm trees. I had no idea what it was, but knew that this island has quite a historical story. The houses facing on to the clearing were an interesting assort
ment of
modern, old fibro, the turret and interestingly there was a "front door" and frame used as the front gate to a very quirky looking house with chickens free-ranging around the overgrown garden. I noticed a plaque on a rock just at the base of it which said it was the only remaining part of Dangar's house which burnt down in 1939 and was now heritage listed. It looked fantastic as a front gate I have to say. Apparently gentlemen used to smoke cigars and I'm thinking that maybe the turret has something to do with the grand house that was on that spot? Anyway, with that on my mind, we wandered down a grassy path to the water, lined with jasmine the smell was irrestistable. The sun had warmed up and we stripped down to shorts and t-shirts. The lad hopped straight in the clear water, and played in the sand while I just sat on the stone sea wall dangling my feet and soaking up the rays and the view. Now my week had been a little fraught, so this was the perfect tonic to bring me back to a nice quiet state. We spent hours here, t
hen decided to wander back to the cafe and shop for lunch. The menu is not la
rge, but includes a Ploughmans Lunch, Island Pies, Kids sandwich boxes with little rolls and a tiny pot of jam, Bacon and Eggs (they do a weekend breakfast), and we decided on the Wagyu Beef Burger. We decided to share as it was apparently quite substantial. We had the choice of turkish bread or bun. I'm glad we did because when it was plonked down in front of us, it was pretty daunting! Two milkshakes in the old fashioned aluminium cups and the meal was complete. We chose the sunny corner with the best vie
w, and chattered easily with the ladies in the shop. The burger was delicious, the beef pattie was juicy and moist, there was a base of avocado mash, caramalised onions and salad which I was tickled pink to see included good old fashioned tinned beetroot! DELICIOUS! We shared the bits we wanted (I got all the beetroot), and worked our way through the b
urger. I think it was about $12.00 so was well worth it. They had a great range of cakes on display and also had boxes of chocolates labelled "a taste of the island". The milkshakes were great and afterwards we wandered around the nick nacks and t'shirts and had a chat before skivving o
ff to the little sliver of sand close to the cafe to play until the ferry returned. The pace was perfect, the weather was perfect, and I think as a day out it is well worth the effort. We saw the ferry coming so ran to the pier only to find it was the postmans boat, doing the rounds. You can buy a ticket on this and take a longer trip around the basin and to Patonga, but this was purely a stop to pick up the mail. The Deckhand leaned out of the door and scooped up the mail, before the driver expertly manouvered the boat back out towards Brooklyn. So, back to the beach we went....only to have 10 minutes of play before the real ferry arrived! On we hopped, the same driver took us cheerily back, and we happily picked up our bag, towel, bucket and spade and went home. What a great day, what a great Australian experience, and to top it all off, hapi eating!
d at the palatial Club Five Dock in the Three Peppers $10 lunch special no less. Who would have thought? I've driven through Five Dock many times en route to Leichhardt, and Haberfield. Today we were on the way to Burwood and decided we didn't want to eat there and thought that the cafe's along Great North Road looked interesting. We were right! As we wizzed past trying to find a parking spot, we saw a hole in the wall, that had no name on the awning, but was packed and looked like it was calling us. However, as we got on foot and turned the corner, we decided there could be many more delights to be found if we just spent a few minutes doing a reccie! Indeed there were. What we found was a mixture of businesses, some cafes, quite a few 
deli's and many more
pasticcerias. How fantastic! The windows of the deli's were growning with beatiful olive oils of all varieties, flour dusted bread in all shapes and sizes, and of course beautiful meats. My first stop was Bills Fine Fruit and Veg on the corner of Great North Road and Garfield Street. The piles of Blood Oranges "sweet and juicy" the sign said, were literally CALLING me. I stopped to buy a few. They were sweet and juicy, and really REALLY yummy. As I went in to pay, I foun
d piles of really fresh herbs and other bits and pieces and just under the counter was a range of Lebanese Honey, with all different varieties of nut
s floating in the jars. They looked spectacular, and after a LOT of umming and aahhhing, I decided on the Orange Blossom Honey with Whole Pistachios. My husband and children just love honey so this was a really nice surprise for them all to try on fathers day along with the Brioche I bought from a local produce market. It looked so good, I was tempted to lick the glass jar. It is a beautiful golden colour, thick and consistent in colour, with loads and LOADS of pistachios in it! As we walked along the road we decided that there was more on offer to take home, than to eat and we just couldn't make a decision on where to have lunch. As we looked up, the answer was very clear. The majestic columns of the Club Five Dock loomed across the road, and we just looked at each other and walked in! A quick and frien
dly sign in was done, and we were 
directed to the Bistro on the ground level. Now, I don't know why, but I just figured the Bistro would be Italian food. It was a nice surprise to see the menu's for Three Peppers restaurant..mostly with a Thai theme. As we stood by the large blackboard, we watched some huge thai dishes going past that smelled great. There was a good crowd there for a week day as well, and when we sat down and saw they had a $10 lunch menu, I'm not surprised really. On one side was the favourites, and the other was the made to order thai dishes. My friend had the Steak Sandwich which came with those MAGNIFICENT chips, and I decided on the Thai BBQ chicken on Jasmin Rice. As we waited 
we checked out the decor. Clea
n, modern, with a very small childrens playroom to the side, so a family friendly
place I would say. The buzzers went off and our meals arrived. The steak sambo was the clear winner I think. I had to try a chip and OH BOY, I couldn't believe the texture and flavour. I know its just a chip, but really there are so many insignificant and murdered chips out there that these were a real stand out. They were hand cut, and as we munched away and disected them, we have come to the conclusion that they are double fried, with a bit of roughing up in between and some extra seasoning done before the second fry. I could be wrong, but I have to say the conversation took the whole lunch time and we have both resolved to come back just for a plate of chips! Very satisfied, we left (with not a crumb of chip left anywhere in sight) and
walked up towards the car and decided to check out the un-named cavern. Well, it turned out to be a second shopfront for the popular Tamborrino Pasticceria. Well, we didn't have time to stop, and neither of us had any room left for dessert so the only smart thing to do was take away! I took with me a vanilla slice (the crispy golden top was enough to send me into raptures), a fresh chocolate horn (I wanted the canoli with both vanilla and chocolate custard, but was distracted when they were packed, so this is what I ended up with), and two little custard and strawberry tarts for the children. This took me a good 5 minutes to decide on though as we were jostled in the very narrow space in front of the groaning glass cases of pastry. Obviously this is a popul
ar place, lots of tables on the footpath were full of loc
al mums with kids, most tables in the cavern were also taken, so I think they've obviously expanded recently. There was also beautiful cakes in the cases which looked like big chocolate roses. I really needed time to have a go
od look, but we needed to move on. I don't think we really did justice to the street, so there will be more blogs to come on this, but as a quick taster, I think we did rather well. Club Five Dock , Tamborrino and Bills Fine Fruits, along with many other pasticcerias and continental delis can all be found in Great North Road Five Dock. If possible, visit when you have some time to really look through everything on offer. Each shop has so many treasures, it would take more than just an hour to wizz around. Happi Eating!
But a slightly closer look reveals a texture that's a little bit more "coated" than your average Twistie. Now if only blogs had aroma attached! Oh well, we'll have to do it visually! 
And so continues my review of interesting Asian snackfoods! Here's the obligatory mascot ...
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