The
Good Life
ƖŔŔĕſ ĶƆ IJĕſĕ ëīëĶŕ Ķŕ Ʒſşŕǿ
ëŕīëōşƱ !şǔĕĕȜƆ īşşĎ ćſĕƱ Victoria Cosford
Simon Haslam
Impressive cocktails at Loft Byron Bay. Photo Jess Kearney
One of the wonderful things about living in this fantastic area is that, no matter how long you’ve lived here, you can fall in love with Byron again and again. It was a beautiful day on Saturday, but our domestic chores took so long that we didn’t arrive in Byron for lunch until around 2pm. How cool to be able to chill out upstairs at Loft Byron Bay, overlooking Jonson St, with a cocktail and the lunch menu? My partner ordered the ceviche, perfect for a hot day, and we shared the vegetarian roast zucchini and the delicious cabbage salad (shaved cabbage, mint, orange, and sheep’s yoghurt with Nimbin Valley pecans). Of course, it’s a very comfortable, stylish place with good service,
but one of the highlights for me was sitting on the southern side near the bar, looking over Jonson St, an activity that never seems to lose its appeal for me. After Loft, with the wind from the north, we set up our cabana on the sand dunes out of the wind at Cosy Corner and watched the surfers. With no trouble getting a park (that day!), and no-one around us, we were right under the spectacular ridgeline
topped by the lighthouse, with nothing but beach and headlands stretching into the distance in the south. Walking back to the car with the afternoon sun lighting the vegetation at the back of the dunes, it’s not hard to see why Byron is such a desirable place to live. Q Loft: loftbyronbay.com.au
@loftbyronbay Open: Sun–Fri, 4pm–late Saturday, noon–late
dşĈëō ƱĶŕŕĕſƆ Hats off to Raes Dining Room Wategos (two hats) and new kid Bar Heather at 139 Jonson St Byron (one hat) for their standing in the SMH Good Food Guide. Along with Bistro Livi (M’bah) the only other regional hat winners were two restaurants each in Canberra and Orange, and one in Newcastle, proving the quality of restaurants in our immediate vicinity.
Maybe the sort of people who frequent farmers’ markets are a different breed to the rest of the general population when it comes to their coffee, those challenging customers in café queues demanding ludicrously elaborate concoctions like 'half-strength decaf latte on oat, piping hot please.' I’d asked Michelle Clarke of Bangalow Coffee if she encountered much of the preciousness which permeates our coffee culture. Ever the diplomat, she agrees that ‘certainly people are more discerning regarding their coffee’ – although does concede that ‘sometimes all the milk options can be challenging on a busy part of the morning, but we work our way through it!’ And indeed they do, Michelle an unfailingly patient and warm presence at farmers’ markets for well over a decade now. ‘Even though some are mainly looking for a caffeine hit’, she continues, ‘most just want a good brew.’ A good brew is definitely what you’ll get when you visit Michelle’s stall. She and husband Andy established their Nashua plantation in 1998 and started harvesting several years later. They planted one variety of coffee only, K7 (Arabia), which had been recommended by the NSW Department of Agriculture. ‘It was the most suitable for
Bangalow Coffee’s Terri Tompkins, Michelle Clarke and Kaya Love. the Northern Rivers at the time’, Michelle tells me. The flavour doesn’t vary much from year to year, and the Clarkes allow their raw dry beans to mature over 4–6 months, for a richer flavour. They’re that rare thing up here, coffee growers whose own beans they harvest then sell – no blending, as that would involve an overseas bean. ‘Our coffee’, says Michelle,
COFFEE SH
‘is hand-picked over many months and only the ripest cherries are harvested. This allows the end product to be very sweet and mellow.’ That some regular customers have been frequenting their stall for over ten years is surely testament to that! Bangalow Coffee are at Mullumbimby Farmers Market every Friday from 7 to 11am.
OP
Open 6am – 12pm Monday – Saturday Shop 6/108 Stuart Street Mullumbimby. #ELPELBFRσHHBVKRS ALLPRESS ESPRESSSO
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wĈƐşćĕſ ǩǬǽ ǩǧǩǪ The Byron Shire Echo 25