While many city slickers feel like they’ve left Sydney the moment they hit the upper North Shore, you haven’t officially left the city until you’re cruising down the motorway. Just after crossing the Mooney Mooney Bridge, it’s worth veering off the freeway to Mount White where you’ll find Saddles. This stunning 28-acre estate, less than half an hour from Hornsby, is home to a homestead restaurant channelling Americana ranch vibes and a cute kiosk serving house-baked goods.
You can swing by for just a coffee and a fresh pie – the beef brisket with housemade tomato sauce is a real winner – and enjoy it at the shaded picnic tables overlooking the dam. But if you’ve got time to spare, it’s worth booking a table on the lakeside deck for a long, wine-fuelled lunch.
While you can order signature bakery treats like the pork and sage sausage roll or honey-wattleseed scones from the restaurant, a three-course meal makes the journey even more worthwhile. Saddles’ seasonally changing lunch menu heroes locally sourced ingredients – many grown on the property – while embracing the flavours from afar.
Settle in with freshly baked bread and smoked butter, before enjoying shared entrées like compressed melon and goat’s cheese bruschetta, or a vibrant beetroot-cured salmon gravlax. Native ingredients shine in the mains – think ricotta gnocchi basking in lemon myrtle beurre blanc, spatchcock sprinkled with warrigal gremolata and wattleseed popcorn, or a Wagyu eye fillet zhuzhed up with a Kakadu plum jus.
If you’re ordering wine, let the team steer you – they know exactly which drop will make your food sing. Save room for dessert and perhaps even pair it with an apéritif at the bar. Fair warning, you’ll quite literally need to saddle up for this one – some of the stools are made from repurposed horse saddles.