Since 1936, the Signal Box on Wharf Road has been a crucial and iconic part of Newcastle's identity. With an enviable waterside location, the Signal Box of 2022 is a far cry from the bare-bones and industrial necessity of yester-year, and while some elements have remaind; the exposed iron beams, polish concrete flooring and railway adjacence (it's right next to the lightrail), that's just about all that's recognisable these days.
Now those exposed red beams hold floor to cieling glass windows, making the most of the ocean views and natural light that pours in all day long. The polish concrete flooring is the palate for friendly and knowledgable waitstaff ushering crowds along for breakfast, lunch and dinner, and what might have been a meat pie and a warm beer for lunch in the past is now casual fine-dining that will please even the most discerning Novocastrian.
The globetrot of deliciousness starts, urgently, with a heaping plate of Hervey Bay scallops with roasted tomato, wakame, café de Paris butter which gathers in greed-inducing pools on the plate. Equally delicious (but putting up a heck of a fight) are the Singapore-spiced Morton Bay bugs, lightly dusted in flour, deep fried and plunged into a messy, crimson sauce. The bugs are sweet, hot with chilli and spiked with fresh lime, and best devoured away from polite company. Knife and fork optional, napkins mandatory.
Green papaya, coriander, pickled watermelon, and nahm jim dressing are unexpected bedfellows with barbecued Pukara Estate lamb ribs but the effect is eye-opening. Fat, winter lambs welcome the addition of such bright piquancy that comes with the fruit and the vinegary lime of the nahm jim means one lamb rib on your plate can easily turn into two or three.
If you're after something a little lower brow, a two-handed wagyu burger doesn't reinvent the wheel but hits the spot really well. A Stone & Wood beer battered snapper fillet is fish'n'chips but ya know, fancy, and is a great precursor to the burnt Basque cheesecake that you will naturally require for pudding.
For drinks, either pre or post dinner, make sure you head up the spiral staircase to the rooftop bar for a local tap beer or a hosue creating like the aptly named Daydreamer; a fresh and boozy whisky based with peach liquor and a dash of thyme syrup.