Rocks 'n' Pearls
272 Clovelly Rd,
Clovelly
Tel: (02) 9664-6086

Style: Scandinavian-inspired cooking with a focus on seafood
Cost: $40-60 for two
Wine: BYO
Reservations: Recommended on weekends

We heard about Rocks 'n' Pearls from a budget-dining-obsessed (Irish) friend of ours who has a convenient habit of finding those "cheap and cheerful" little gems where you enter with trepidation and leave totally replete and utterly stuffed. And with the added bonus of having enough cash left to get a cab home if you so choose.

The first hurdle is to know about this restaurant and then to know what you're looking for. After several false turns around Clovelly looking for a restaurant, we discovered that it was in fact a fish and chip shop.

We were warmly greeted by the owner, who looked after us the whole evening, chatting away and making us feel very welcome. The atmosphere was provided by a semi-open kitchen run by the owner's mum. The tables are small but well arranged in this tiny location, allowing just enough space to walk inbetween. While at the back a settee plays host to those waiting for a table.

The menu takes the form of a huge black board on the wall with a small but delectable choice of four starters, five seafood and two meat main dishes and three desserts.

The organic yoghurt bread is fresh, warm and comes in the shape of neatly folded pretzels, sprinkled with seasalt. Hmmmm

Over the starters of steamed mussels served on a bed of juicy, green tea infused noodles, carefully garnished with strands of seaweed and flavoursome smoked cod dumplings on a rich dill sauce we tried to figure out our hosts accent, finnish? Estonian?

A bit of both we are told when the generous mains arrived.

My barramundi fillet was perfectly cooked and complemented by the colourful, sweet and sour capsicum salsa. The grilled salmon fillet was well contrasted in colour and taste by a deep orange coloured sweet potato mash.

The only criticism was that they tend to undercook the fish so if you like your fillet well done don't be shy, ask for it.

Even after a 15 minute cool down phase after the main there was absolutely no chance to fit in one of the three promising desserts. A glimpse over at our neighbours' table revealed that we were definitely missing out.

A dangerously high stacked, warm (!) chocolate and orange tart, flavoured with Cointreau and lightly dusted with icing sugar seduced us and we were assured had the tastebuds positively dancing. While the "Iceberg", a truly amazing creation of vanilla ice cream casually scooped onto the plate and generously drizzled with chocolate sauce and swimming in a light blue aniseed liqueur had the diner gasping for joy. Next time we promised.

In the end we had a beautiful, stimulating evening, made new friends, paid about $45 for bread, two starters and two mains and, despite all that leftover money in our pockets, we decided to walk home - to work off those huge servings....