ARRAWARRA BEACH HOUSE

We did scoff a bit when the lady next door proclaimed, “Our son has travelled all over the world, and he says there’s just about nowhere as nice as Arrawarra”, in what seemed to be an in-real-life scene from The Castle. We’d only been in Arrawarra a few hours and, whilst charmed by our gorgeous, rented beach-house, it did seem a bit of a stretch. Sure, it’s a nice spot but we’ve been to plenty of them over the years, many displayed on an enormous world map in the house's living room.

Arrawarra is a bit of a secret spot. You won’t find it on a  world map, no matter how big. From my experience, a typical conversation about the place goes something like this...

A TASTE OF NEW ORLEANS JAZZ FEST 2011

An unorthodox look at the 2011 New Orleans Jazz Fest.

My best mate, Scotty, lives in New York.

I've known him since we were kids, we were flatmates for a while, and we took the best part of a round-the-world trip together way back when. He is many things. Clever, amusing, successful MBA grad, senior executive, husband, dad and all-round positive spirit.

And when it comes to food, he has an adventurous streak.

I've seen him select some dreadful things from perfectly good menus all over the world. A bowl of raw, unfamiliar shellfish over grilled salmon in Southern Chile. A selection of offal over a mixed grill of the finest cuts in Argentina. Oyster patties in New Orleans (keep reading). Even The Spotted Pig's Chargrilled Burger with Roquefort Cheese, over, well, just about everything else on the menu there.