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2023
11 August 2023
A new look and culture at Cade Kitchen and Bar
Mudgee's popular Cade Kitchen and Bar has undergone a radical transformation, with a few surprises.
After nearly four years in the restaurant business - and riding the ups and downs of COVID, owner of Cade Kitchen and Bar, Renee Cade said she hopes the community can come along and give the renovated restaurant space a go.
At the center of the changes, both figuratively and literally, is a large pizza oven. Imported from Italy, it sits in the middle of the restaurant space surrounded by a bar, offering a different kind of intimate dining experience.
"We've had a really good response. People are like 'whoa, it's taken up - it's so big, it's taking up all your restaurant'. But the response has been good and I don't think Mudgee has caught on yet," Renee said.
"There's been lots of changes in the last few months. Menu changes, building changes - inside the restaurant with the bianco bar. Our next project is coming for the coffee bar, we're going to rearrange that as well. We've got some new exciting gelato coming."
Takeaway isn't the only new menu item that the new oven accommodates, with steak even being on the menu as part of the oven's capabilities.
"The flatbread pizzas are a new thing, we do a wood-fired wagyu... we're doing a merged breakfast and lunch menu. We do breakfast from 7.30am every day... at 12pm we start the flatbreads. We are open from 7.30 in the morning and we close really late. It's a pretty unique thing for Mudgee," Renee said.
"It's a big machine from Italy, it rotates, it goes up and down, it's got everything. We have not even used it to its full potential yet. We're going to do some crazy stuff..."
Chef Gabriel Rodriguez said he thinks the redesigned Cade offers something not many other establishments in Mudgee do.
"I think an important thing to keep in mind is that Cade is a casual dining restaurant. It's not a fine-dining restaurant, but it's a place that uses dine ingredients. It's different to a fine-dining experience, we use a lot of local producers that supply us with incredibly good meat and vegetables..." he said.
"it's a place for everyone. You don't have to necessarily dress up fully to come to Cade, you can just come here after work regardless of what you do. Come here after work, sit down, have a gelato, have a pizza, have a beer. Done and dusted."
The restaurant will also have a presence at Flavours of Mudgee in September, with Renee and the team planning to feature their pizza and gelato at a stall along Market Street during the event.
CREDIT: Benjamin Palmer1