The Wilpena Pound Resort offers an incredible amount of natural beauty. The National Parks amphitheatre and the possibility of having interactions with kangaroos and emus in their natural habitat is heart-warming. Visitors who stay at one of the available accommodations has use of the resorts facilities. During our time, we make sure we fill the car with fuel, shop at the resort store and test the resorts bar and bistro, Poddy Dodger’s.

With a well-maintained bar and dining area, Poddy Dodger’s has a good range of South Australian wine and beers available. The staff is friendly respectful and helpful in choosing that right drink for you. The bar area is comfortable with a lounge area overlooking the swimming pool and a dining area looking out into the front gardens.

The garden area is where the resort performs its welcome to country presentation nightly. Our recommendation is to make sure you visit the bar between 5pm and 6pm for the resorts happy hour. The resort also has a restaurant called Captain Starlight which is adjacent to Poddy Dodger’s. During our stay the majority of visitors we saw ate at the bistro. A  bonus while eating or drinking at the bar is that if you wait long enough you just never know what kinds of animals may visit the garden.

We initially sit on the lounge and take advantage of the AUD$5 glasses of wine. Honestly, you can’t go wrong. We also grab some menus to see what types of food they have on offer. After some glasses of wine, we move to a table and prepare to order dinner. The bar doesn’t have full table service, so ordering of your meals is done at the main counter.

Since we are hungry from a long day of adventuring the Ikara-Flinders National Park we decide to order some garlic bread as a starter. Our mains consist of a Mediterranean salad for MacKenzie, a fish and chips for myself and a chicken schnitzel with pepper sauce for Josie. For dessert, we selected two Pavlova with mixed berries and a Cherry-ripe cheesecake.

Is isn’t too long before the garlic bread is served which disappears from the plate just as quickly. Soon the main meals come out. First to arrive is the chicken schnitzel with pepper sauce. The lightly panko crumbed chicken fillet is a good size, it doesn’t encompass the whole plate and is served with chips and salad. The pepper sauce comes in a small pot and is quite nice. Overall the whole meal is evenly cooked and meets our expectation.

The next meal to arrive is the fish and chips. This mouth-watering beer battered Flathead fillets are golden brown and served once again with chips and salad. The Flathead fillets are small but as the serving comes with three fillets it is enough to satisfy my appetite.

Finally, the third dish to be served is the Mediterranean salad. Mac’s Mediterranean salad consists of mixed salad leaves, Spanish onion, feta, artichokes, olives, caper berries, cherry tomatoes, butternut pumpkin, cucumber and bell peppers dressed with a bush tomato balsamic. A chicken addition option is also available, but as Mac’s a vegetarian she eagerly consumes her fresh and tasty salad.

Once we finish our main meals, the staff efficiently clear the table and commence bringing out the three desserts. The girls both selected the Pavlova with mixed berries, cream and toffee crumb. The Pavlova was an interesting combination of ingredients with the large dollop of cream and the toffee crumb. Unfortunately, the girls were a little disappointed as the meringue base didn’t have that meringue crunch that you expect from a Pavlova.

The Cherry-ripe cheesecake was served with ice cream, a passionfruit sauce and biscuit crumb. Rich and strongly flavoured the large cheesecake slice was a little sickly. It had a creamy smooth texture and looked nice with a bright pink colouring, but it was very sweet.

Overall Wilpena Pound Resort’s Poddy Dodger’s was a nice bar and bistro. There is a good selection of dishes on the main and specials menus. The room is clean, the food is good and the adventurous wildlife is a bonus. So, visit the Flinders Ranges, head into Wilpena Pound Resort, have a meal at Poddy Dodger’s and tell them Simon from Ourworldinreview sent you!

Additional Information for Poddy Dodger’s

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