Bar Botanica is breathing new life into Erina’s The Fragrant Gardens with a new garden café, bar and gelateria.

It’s the brainchild of local couple Julia and Dan Hughes, who have been churning their popular Mr Goaty Gelato from the Distillery Botanica site for the last two years. The goat milk gelato often uses flowers and botanicals from the garden, spawning arguably one of the first garden-to-gelato scoops in town.

The Hughes might be new to the Coast, relocating there from Sydney a few years back (Dan once worked at Bronte’s Three Blue Ducks) but they’ve quickly made their mark. They hired local artist Nicole Berlach to breathe new life into the 1970s mud-brick hut via a series of hand-painted botanical motifs.

The menu at Bar Botanica is based on an ‘elevenses’ concept, which is an old English term referring to a light snack taken at 11am. At Bar Botanica, the concept is being extended past the morning for an elegant all-day menu, plus coffee and gelato.

Hughes brings his experience working in Michelin star restaurants across Europe and hatted ones in Australia to a smart-casual, produce-driven menu. Highlights include a ploughman’s lunch featuring Moore’s Gin-spiked cheddar made from local producers Little Creek Cheese, seasonal salads and a chicken liver parfait with Distillery Botanica blackcurrant liquor. House-baked pastries and 14 flavours of gelato and sorbet, churned onsite, are also available.

There’s the option to dine inside the revamped mud hut or take a lazy picnic out in the fairytale-esque gardens. The café is waiting on their liquor license, after which time they’ll also be pouring Distillery Botanica gin, Hunter Valley wines and local Six String beer.

Bar Botanica
25 Portsmouth Road, Erina NSW
barbotanica.com.au