Dan B.
Yelp
Wheelers is an absolutely beautiful restaurant, sitting halfway between the towns of Merimbula and Pambula. It is also one of the more pricier options in the area; so our group chose it for special occasions.
The Wheeler family is known locally for their oyster farm, which sits next door and is still operational (And yes, they have oysters on the menu; more on that later). But the family eventually sold the restaurant to a third party. The owner, Jacqui, was there on both visits, and she was all smiles and attentiveness.
First items first: appetizers. Only a few of us (incl. yours truly) were into oysters, so we ordered a full dozen to split between just three of us. They were fantastic: small, clean and slightly sweet, with a hint of brine. Easily the best oysters we had in the area. We ordered these on both visits.
The menu was very nice, but the scope was somewhat limited for me. One battered fish; one grilled fish; one risotto; one chicken dish; one pasta dish; one mixed seafood platter and a a surf n' turf. Going the against the Yelp grain, I ordered the same thing on both my visits:
-- Surf and Turf: (AUD 39). It arrived in a little "tower" shape, topped by crispy onions. The beef filet cut was wonderful and cooked to perfection (medium-rare for me). It's really the main reason to get this dish. The prawns were tasty enough but slightly over-salty due the added bacon. The potatoes underneath were perfection (sitting in juices from beef/prawns/bacon). Note that this dish normally comes covered in hollandaise sauce, but I asked for them to hold this both times (p.s. why would you ruin this already rich dish with hollandaise?; this seemed over-the-top to me).
The dessert menu was pretty impressive. I had the warm crepe dessert on my first visit, with macerated oranges, rasberry compote and a spicy-chocolate sauce. Stunning! On my second visit, I had the Affogato, and it wasn't quite as thrilled with this candy-sweet concoction. (I didn't care for the big, crunchy sugar crystals on top of the ice cream). It was my first affogato, however, so maybe it's just not my dish in general.
Wheeler's was the last night out for most of us on this work trip; and the wine was flowing quite freely (an excellent list here, I might add). It was a fitting meal and perfect setting to close out our time in Merimbula. But I was not quite done with Oz; I was on off on my own adventures.