Fortune favours the brave, especially, it seems, when it comes to the competitive world Terrigal restaurants. Arc. Est opened its lofty wooden doors back in May 2020, at the height of the pandemic, and ever since it has been thriving.
And understandably so. The first thing you notice as you enter is the feel of the place. The cavernous restaurant is alive with an incredible atmosphere.Â
Terrigal Restaurants: Arc Est.
Smart seating creates a façade of intimacy, while somehow maintaining that required safe space needed in recent times. The busy wait staff weave in and out of each other with such majestic grace that suits the arrival of one of the newest fine dining arrival to the Central Coast.
There’s a warmth here. The premises used to be Harrisons Café, a run-of-the-mill cake and coffee stop. Inside is now a melting pot of luxury meets rustic, with sandstone walls, dark deep wood and an array of hanging wooden lampshades, creating what is the closest you’ll get to eating in a Mediterranean set-up for a while.
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Fine Dining Experience
Even during their lunchtime run, the restaurant is fully booked. Wait staff are doling out crisp glasses of champagne, bottles of French rose and cocktail after cocktail. There’s an excitement. The result of a satisfied glimpse that one day, hopefully soon, the restaurant experience we knew until recently will return.
The owner and chef, Scott Macfayden, is putting his 25-year restaurant experience into the project, working alongside his wife, Ruth, who has had an equally lengthy tenure in hospitality. Their previous venture was Chop’n’Grind, also in Terrigal, but Arc. Est couldn’t be further from the laid-back burger bar.
The cooking is impressive. Crispy pork belly with spinach, beetroot and walnuts ($28) may sound simple but is the perfect balance of crunchy, salty and zesty, with flecks of fennel and sweet candied walnuts.
Incredible Seafood & Cocktails
A seafood medley ($32), with tender wild salmon, prawn, mussel and calamari are individually cooked with care and served with a fragrant seafood sauce.
The detail even goes down to the starter of oysters that arrives with a champagne mignonette that raises this to something more than just your standard fresh seafood starter. And the bread, pulled straight from the oven, is warm and doughy.
The wine list champions Australian vineyards, punctuated lightly with offerings from France and Germany. But our home-growns take centre stage.
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And then, as if this walk down memory lane of what a restaurant experience once was pre-pandemic hadn’t been sweet enough, it’s exceeded by dessert. There’s chocolate mousse that is so deep and dark you’ll keep telling yourself you’re full but fail to put down the spoon. A brulee – that changes each day but on our occasion was passionfruit – that is delightfully tough to crack but perseverance pays with a creamy thick goo that is outlandishly satisfying.
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Arc. Est is a true testament that it doesn’t matter if you open in the middle of a global pandemic or a hospitality boom, if you’ve all the right ingredients – vision, menu, interiors and even staff – it can succeed. Bravo!
The Details
Name: Arc. Est
Address: Shop 7/18 Church St, Terrigal NSW 2260
Contact: 0451 717 607
Website: https://www.arcterrigal.com.au/
Congratulation!