We were staying at Coastal Bay Motel for a couple of nights and looking for a good feed for dinner, walking distance and you can’t go wrong dining at a bistro, as it is more affordable and yes, usually generous servings. The Hoey Moey is only an 8-minute walking distance from our motel and it is a pub with a bistro – done! The ambience of this place is like your typical pub layout, comfy chairs, tables evenly spaced out and of decent size with elbow room and air conditioned. Their menu selection provides simple (your typical pub food) to fancy all at affordable prices. You order and pay at the bar – both cash and cards are accepted. You are given a buzzer to take to your table and when it’s ready, you collect your meals. Considering it was a full-house, we didn’t have to wait long for our meals. I ordered ‘Build a BBQ Platter’ (2 smoked meat options served with a slider bun, pickles, corn on the cob, onion, slaw, chips, onion rings & baked beans – I had chosen pulled pork shoulder sliced and peppered brisket sliced). The platter was generous, the food was delicious and the meats cooked to perfection and yes, I managed to finish the lot – no room for dessert. My daughters ordered ‘Chicken Schnitzel’ (served with chips, salad and gravy) – they both loved it. Chicken schnitzel was of a generous size, chips crispy on the outside and fluffy on the inside and salad was fresh, topped with a delicious vinaigrette dressing. My wife ordered ‘Penne Napoli & Seasonal Vegetables’ (Grilled vegetable medley tossed with house-made Napoli sauce, topped with Kalamata olives, fried capers & crumbled feta cheese). Over generous with the penne pasta, she was struggling to finish her meal but managed. She loved the vegetables, a fantastic mix, capsicum was what made this dish delicious and she said they were cooked to perfection – not sloppy, grilled amazingly and the feta gave it that nice tasty finish to her meal. We were all super impressed and loved our meals that we went there the following evening. This time, I ordered ‘Surf & Turf’ (300gm Grain-Fed Scotch Fillet Steak with mushroom sauce and house salad & chips) I asked for my steak to be cooked medium rare, which is exactly what they did and even had a label ‘medium’ on the meat – cooked to perfection and juicy that just melted in my mouth. I had room for dessert and ordered ‘Coffee Blondies’ (white chocolate and almond brownie, served with coffee ice-cream and salted caramel sauce). It’s different to the usual chocolate brownies but it is actually nice and the coffee ice-cream and salted caramel sauce complimented the brownie nicely. I did attempt to eat the popcorn but it was half-popped popcorn and it was too hard to eat it – I’m not too sure if it was there for garnish or to eat it, I left the popcorn but apart from that, the dessert was pleasantly nice. My daughters both ordered pizzas ‘Meatlovers’ (Napolitana base, shredded BBQ smoked pork, pepperoni, beef & fennel sausage, bacon & mozzarella cheese, finished with a BBQ sauce swirl) and ‘BBQ Pulled Pork & Pineapple’ (with Napolitana base and mozzarella). The topping was generous, loved the idea of having BBQ pork on their pizzas – not common to have on pizzas and very delicious. They loved the pizza base – a test to a perfect pizza because that’s what completes pizzas the base. My wife ordered ‘Classic Caesar Salad’ (cos lettuce, crispy bacon & parmesan cheese tossed with Caesar dressing, topped with boiled egg and garlic-herb croutons). A generous serve of fresh salad ingredients and bacon pieces. The only thing she wasn’t too pleased with her salad were her croutons – it was soft and not crispy. She described her croutons like ordinary toast, cut up into pieces but apart from that, she loved her salad. I highly recommend The Hoey Moey Bistro – the staff are very friendly and helpful, the service was fast and efficient and our meals are generous and filling at a fair price. We left with very full tummies, not once but twice!
