Dining at Benji's

Banjo Patterson is an Australian icon. His childhome home by the banks of the Parramatta River in Gladesville still stands, its sandstone walls as solid and sturdy as his resonating poems of life in a century gone past. Patterson's grandmother, Emily Barton, was a literary genius in her own right, but the grandson remains more significant in heritage, for it was him who penned The Man From Snowy River.

On a nippy winter's night, I was privileged to dine in the warmth of the Banjo Patterson House and with my cousin Susan and her hubby Boo Ann's family right in front of a much appreciated working fireplace. The window sill beside me led to a view of shiny lights by the riverbank, marred only by swaying palm leaves on a windy Saturday evening. The menu has been tastefully littered with verses from Banjo's most famous poems and images of his youthful countenance from another era.

Would Banjo have recognised the menu served? Maybe not the main dish of baked duck breast or the fancy desserts that belong to a more fusion age. I fancied that he would have chosen the kangaroo sirloin, the liquor-laced coffees and the wholesome pumpkin and potato soup (which I had as an entree). The ambience was one of easy, relaxed and fine dining, cocooned against the outside world, without a care for the weariness of the past week. Every time I had the privilege to be dining here there would be a wedding party in another function room, but bar for the alcohol imbibers hanging around the entrance, one would not have been aware of such a party. Instead I could concentrate on the 30th wedding anniversary celebration for Susan and Boo Ann.