Café
"For breakfast the next day, by far the best bet for big city coffee is Lodge 241 Gallery Café, an
eye catching orchid colored weatherboard building at the edge of town heading towards Dorrigo, before the road climbs steeply
to the much cooler Dorrigo plateau and, beyond the Waterfall Way, to Armidale and the New England highway route back to
Sydney. Sun-drenched bacon and eggs on Lodge 241's balcony is hard to beat."
SMH - TRAVEL
 Lodge 241 Gallery Café is an institution
that stands alone as one of Bellingen's most significant and unique historical landmarks, and as an award winning café
at both local and regional level.
It enjoys a prominent main street position at the top end of Bellingen, and yet had a distinctive country feel with
its riverside location and some of the best river and mountain views in the area.
The central level is home to the jewel in this crown of Bellingen, the Café/Gallery which accommodates 60 people
with indoor, balcony and terrace seating in one of the most beautiful environments that you will ever experience.
If you want to socialize then take a seat at the huge 18 seat table and engage in conversation with all sorts of people.
If it's privacy today, then take a seat at one of the many tables or benches with views to die for. Lodge 241 is an integral
part of the Bellingen community today with its innovative menu, majestic building, relaxed and inviting atmosphere and professional
service.
 The kitchen is modern and functional, and all
equipment is in excellent condition. Produce used in the restaurant is fresh and sourced from local farmers, butchers and
bakers.
The current owners have a well-deserved reputation with the visitors and locals alike for providing a fresh food and coffee
experience that is second to none. The Lodge chef makes all the pies, pastries, cakes, jams, pickles
and chutneys from scratch. The lunch blackboard is a seasonal delight, and the meals are all cooked to
order. The philosophy of blackboard menus allow more flexibility to use what is fresh on a daily basis, and for the chefs
to be at their creative best - all the time.
Awards
 |
| 2002 |
| Winner |
Best Coffee Shop |
NSW North Coast |
| Winner |
Best Coffee Shop |
NSW Regional |
| Finalist |
Best Café/Restaurant |
Australian Regional |
| Finalist |
Best Tourism Restaurant |
NSW North Coast |
| |
| 2003 |
| Finalist |
Best Coffee Shop |
NSW North Coast |
| Finalist |
Best Tourism Restaurant |
NSW North Coast |
| |
| 2004 |
| Finalist |
Best Breakfast Restaurant |
NSW North Coast |
| |
| 2005 |
| Finalist |
Best Breakfast Restaurant |
NSW North Coast |
| |
| 2006 |
| Finalist |
Cafe Restaurant |
NSW Lower North Coast |
| |
| 2007 |
| Finalist |
Cafe Restaurant |
NSW Lower North Coast |
Catering
Catering for your special needs with menu ideas for functions, weddings, party plans, group meetings and reunion breakfasts
and lunches. Our communal table seats eighteen people. Private evening parties catered for a minimum of 25 people. Contact
Tanja Karl-Crooks on PH: 02 66552470 for available evenings and menu prices.
Lodge 241 in the news
Gallery Cafe
117-212 Hyde Street, Bellingen 6655 2470
Few things beat drinking freshly squeezed lemonade while gazing at lush mountains through
the curve of a jacaranda tree. This cafe is immediately striking because of its natural surrounds and also because
of the heritage building where it is housed. Join the content bunch of locals who sit at tables on the veranda for
lazy games of chess, while intermittently caving in to the treats on offer. Lemon tart will make you sing. Other sweet
temptations in the warmth of a northern afternoon include cranberry, strawberry and kiwifruit cheesecake. Those looking
for healthy savories will enjoy home made pot pies or seafood rissottos. Don't forget to peruse the collections of
prints while you're there, with fascinating artwork collected from Australia and overseas.
Open: lunch seven days.
Prices: cakes $6.00; mains from $8.50.
The Sun Herald
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A complete experience
BELLINGEN'S Lodge 241 Gallery Cafe recently won the award for Best regional Coffee Shop in the Restaurant and Catering
NSW (RCANSW) statewide regional restaurant awards.
The win delighted the owners, who took over four years ago aiming to make The Lodge a land-mark between Sydney and
Byron Bay.
'We are very conscientious about presenting ourselves as a fresh food and coffee experience," said Laurence Crooks
who owns the Lodge with his wife, Tanja Karl-Crooks.
"We have gone to great pains to have full-time chefs. All our prepared food - our pies, pastries and cakes are all
in-house.
"We go to the market to get our fresh produce and to the Coffs Harbour Co-op for our fresh fish - except for the
trout from Ebor."
The Crooks infuse their own herbal teas like lemon grass, ginger and camomile and no tea bags are allowed.
With Tanja coming from a North American hospitality background and Laurence from hotel management, they also have
a philosophy of offering full service, so all the customer has to do is choose a seat.
"We like people to sit and relax and we don't hurry people along. This is somewhere people can sit and relax for
an hour, read the paper and enjoy good quality food and not pay a fortune."
The café is open seven days a week from 8am-5pm. Tanja and Laurence like the philosophy of blackboard menus,
which Laurence said allowed more flexibility; to use what was fresh on a daily basis and also kept the chefs interested
and allowed them to be more creative.
The Coffs Harbour Advocate
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Magical menu at Lodge
On the blackboard menu at Lodge 241 today is a crispy leek risotto cake with pan-seared mushrooms, ratatouille and
garlic aioli.
Another of the vegetarian choices on the menu is baby spinach, roasted beetroot, orange and Bulgarian fetta salad.
Those who like meat with their lunch can choose a dish like the Turkish lamb burger with grilled eggplant, humus
and a side of greens or the egg fettuccine with bacon, mushrooms and shallots in a rich Neapolitan sauce.
Freshly made cakes are always a feature of the Lodge menus.
Laurence said a lemon citrus tart and a baked cheesecake were permanent fixtures on the cake menu. Today's cheesecake
is a baked blackberry cheesecake. Lodge 241 Gallery Cafe can be contacted on 66552470.
The Coffs Harbour Advocate
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