Destination Dining: Rick Stein, Port Stephens

The spanner crab at Rick Stein is a "gloriously messy" cracker of a dish. Photo / Instagram

Port Stephens is a sleepy seaside town two hours north of Sydney. Home to exquisite beaches and peaceful bays, it captivated celebrity chef Rick Stein enough for him to open a restaurant making the most of the area's exceptional seafood.

We arrived ... after a siesta in our room in the newly refurbished Bannister hotel, conveniently attached to the restaurant. Set in a lofty cliff face overlooking the ocean, the complex is a slice of coastal lux with bright white spaces, pastels and soft wooden furnishings.

Our first impression was ... we could definitely while away the evening here. The restaurant space is huge, yet warm and inviting, with floor to ceiling windows that allow panoramic views of the water, framed by the curling branches of old Aussie gum trees.

We chose here because ... you can't really visit this town without taking up the opportunity to dine at a Rick Stein restaurant.

We started with ... a colourful plate of sashimi and a generous glass of semillon. Produced in the nearby Hunter Valley wine region, it's like a sauvignon sans the grassy notes - and it was a great match for the fish which was clean, delicate and accompanied by a light wakame salad, pickled ginger and wasabi.

The menu ... is a seafood fiend's dream, with a substantial selection of fresh and cooked dishes featuring French, Japanese and Indian elements. If you're into oysters, there are four varieties to begin with from the menu's "on ice" selection. Then a range of fish, from ocean trout to mahi-mahi and sardines. And if you really want to push the boat out, spanner crab and lobster. Save for two dishes and a list of somewhat snoozable sides - fries, a green salad with vinaigrette - the menu is an ode to fresh fare from the deep.

The highlight was ... the Singapore chilli blue swimmer crab. We were warned twice, by our waitress and a note on the menu, that we were in for a "gloriously messy" meal. And it was literally a cracker of a dish that sent red sauce spattering across our white table cloth. The crab was sweet, the sauce a piquant contrast and the decision to try it much applauded.

Dessert was ... a force-fed endeavour. We shared a vanilla pannacotta with pistachio cream and poached rhubarb. Unnecessary, but we reasoned we hadn't far to roll back to our room.

- Rebecca Blithe