FIve restaurants designed to celebrate spring

Here's five Sutherland Shire restaurants that pay tribute to the season before Summer with inspired menus that celebrate its bounty.

The Bavarian Spring Fest Menu
The menu at the Bavarian hews pretty closely toward food you would expect from the southern German state of Bavaria. Located on the rooftop of Westfield Miranda Shopping Centre, the plant-filled conservatory-style rooftop restaurant is a top spot to enjoy springtime vibes with a two-hour food, beer, cider and cocktail package. For $69 per person you get your fill of warm pretzels, golden-crumbed schnitzels, roasted pumpkin, beetroot and goat's cheese salad, apple strudel and house-made vanilla ice cream. Drinks include Australian beers and ciders and a range of cool cocktails. The Bavarian is also giving its traditional schnitzel a southern-style makeover for the month of November. thebavarians.com
 
The Pines 'Food with Friends' Menu
Cronulla's newest venture is The Pines, a warmly outfitted restaurant with plush seating and an airy bar and dining room down by the sea. Executive chef James Metcalfe (who has worked at two-hatted restaurants in Sydney and Michelin-starred restaurants in London) will work alongside seasoned sommelier Chris Hoy (ex-Rockpool) on the beverages. This diverse international team is headed by general manager Brian McCarthy, originally from the US (who has worked for the Ritz Carlton brand around the globe). Opt for the set Food with Friends menu ($75 pp), which comprises a succession of carefully composed dishes such as leek and parmesan croquette with charcoal mayonnaise, a salad of pickled beetroot and burrata, and squid ink risotto, all of which sing of the season. thepinescronulla.com.au

Hazelhurst Café
Bunches of dried flowers upended on the ceiling, beautiful retro light fittings and fairy lights, artfully upturned tins of paint, baskets of lemons and boxes of tomatoes deliver the spring theme in spades at Hazelhurst Café. By day, it's as colourful as the artworks that grace the walls of the café and adjacent gallery. But on Friday nights the café morphs into a seductive and dreamy space -- like a scene from A Midsummer Night's Dream. One of the best ways to enjoy this beautiful community space is at one of the weekly WineDown Dinners where you can kick back and enjoy a tapas-style menu and chilled-out drinks on the deck. hazelhurstcafe.com  
 
7th Heaven Cafe
After the year that has just been, we need to eat at restaurants that transport us to somewhere more exciting. The quirky menu at 7th Heaven Café in Sutherland does just that. With party season somewhat subdued in 2020, dining in here is like an exercise in blue-sky thinking with nothing on the menu that could darken your mood. Choose from neon-bright wellness bowls, spiced butterfly pea lattes, and a plate of pond-green smashed avo with a plant-based poached egg that is the colour of sunshine. It's playful, fun and wholesome and the perfect fodder for your Instagram feed. Treat yourself to the Harvest Garden bowl after a mooch around the Sutherland Shire Farmers' Markets.  7thheavencafe.com.au

Jensens
Executive chef Carl Jensen has a well-known ability to take simple seasonal ingredients and transport them into something special. Zucchini flowers, dumplings and John Dory, crispy-skinned barramundi with charred pumpkin, lamb wellington, and caramelised pumpkin and ricotta ravioli are some of the loveliest options imaginable on a warm spring evening. Even on a fairly chilly evening, with the rain hammering down outside, the restaurant feels warm and cosy. When it opened Jensen's seemed like an ambitious project for Kareela, but Shire locals know and love chef Jensen who flips the spotlight between here and Summer Salt down by the sea. Watch this space: Jensen's Papa Js is also set to share the limelight under the new Hoyts cinema complex in Cronulla, which will also include Artie's Bar & Cafe.  jensensrestaurant.com.au