Devils Corner Cellar Door

1 Sherbourne Road
Apslawn
Tasmania 7190

Situated on a gentle hillside just off the A3 near Asplawn, between Bicheno and Swansea the Devils Corner Cellar Door commands stunning views of the Freycinet peninsular.

The site hosts a viewing tower as well as a cluster of former shipping containers housing the cellar door along with ‘The Fishers’ and the Tombolo Café offering seafood and pizza's respectively.

I headed to the Trombolo cafe and being a traditionalist, went for the Margherita. After ordering at the container my buzzer was soon going off, I returned to the counter to pick up the wooden board holding my meal and returned to our spot enjoying the sun on the lawn. There were some outdoor tables, but I'm not sure how things would work in less favourable weather. The pizza was a great, a thin crust, crisp at the edges, softer in the middle, topped with a good napoli sauce, plenty of mozzarella and fresh basil leaves.

The fish burger from The Fishers came stacked high with lots of asian 'slaw on top of the fish cake style patty inside the brioche bun. The fries came with an oyster shell full of mayo. It all got a tick of approal.

The two meals were $17 each, wine is available at the cellar door area. On a sunny summer afternoon Devil's corner seems to be very badly named, great views and a relaxed vibe, it is delightful spot for lunch.

Boynton's Feathertop Winery, Porepunkah

6619 Great Alpine Road
Porepunkah
Victoria 3740

The autumn lunchtime we visited Boynton's Feathertop Winery was beautiful, showing off the location near Mount Buffalo and the colours in the trees.

As it was Easter the restaurant was fully booked, but the cellar door also offers food and it was a perfect day to enjoy the busy outdoor area.

It was busy inside too, with plenty of interest in sampling the produce.

In one corner was the fridge containing a range of dips, meats, cheeses and smoked fish. After selecting the items you are interested in and paying at the counter, they are brought out on a platter. 

We selected a baguette and some dips....

...along with a smoked rainbow trout. The flesh of the fish was moist and only subtly smoky, the better half wasn't a fan of the skin, but I enjoyed it.

The zucchini dip was heavy on the cumin, not in a bad way, but it was the dominant flavour. The olive tapenade had a strong kalamata hit, with occasional hints of the capers and anchovies.

Due to an earlier ride up Buffalo I didn't try the wines, but I was assured they were good. My long black was a good and helped recharge me for the afternoon.

Despite the crowds the service was pretty swift and friendly, possibly helped by the semi self service platter selection process. The components of the meal seemed expensive as we selected them, and our food came to $38, given the setting and the service overall the experience was worth it, and I'd happily head back if we were in the area on such a nice day again.

Greenpoint Brasserie at Domaine Chandon

727 Maroondah Highway

Coldstream 

VIC 3770

It had been a long time since we had visited the Greenpoint Brasserie at Domain Chandon in the Yarra Valley, but good memories of previous experiences there persuaded us to return with visitors staying briefly in Melbourne.

The setting amongst the tidy vines and gardens is idyllic.

The simple modern fit out make best use of the location, with views across to the Yarra ranges. We had a booking and were promptly shown to our seats, both the tasting bar and the restaurant were pretty busy, with a variety of patrons, some in decent sized groups.

The salmon rillette with capers and horseradish was served in a coffee cup and topped with a fine layer of jelly along with rye bread. The texture was great and although the flavour was pleasant it lacked some punch.

We shared the charcuterie platter this included a rustic Pork, apple and cabbage terrine, a much finer chicken liver parfait and Casalinga Sopressa for the carnivores. On the veggie side, the balsamic onions were the best pickled onions I can remember having, the mixed olives were good and I liked the sweet tomato and pepper caramel chutney. The only quibble would be the size of the board and servings given the $32 price tag.

Three of us ended up choosing the herb crusted hapuka, which I don't remember seeing outside of New Zealand before. The fish was fresh, firm and perfectly prepared with the crust adding texture and flavour. The nicola potato, asparagus, speck, parmesan and beurre blanc all added to the dish.

The lamb rack served with truffled white polenta, broad beans and tomato was the other dish sampled by our party and proved equally popular, as did the 2010 sparkling Rosé.

 

We found the service friendly, attentive and efficient. The bill with several glasses of wine came to $240 which didn't seem over the top given the quality of the food and wine. The afternoon we visited there were a reasonable number of flies around, and as guests were regularly using the sliding restaurant doors to wander in and out of the beautiful garden, plenty had made it inside, and certainly knew when our mains arrived. There isn't much that could be done, but it did leave a distinct entry in the memory bank. Domaine is certainly worth a visit if you are in the Yarra Valley for the combination of the food, wine and vistas.

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Tirohana Estate, Martinborough

42 Puruatanga Road
Martinborough
Wairarapa
5711

The Tirohana Estate, just outside the centre of Martinborough and was the only one of the many wineries that was open for dinner when we were in town on a Thursday. They even had a shuttle to pick us up from our accommodation and whisk us to the beautiful location followed by a friendly welcome from the staff. The dining room was fairly small, probably seating 30, and was pretty full over the course of the evening.

The menu at dinner is a set 5 course $59 per person prix fixe affair and kicked off with a amuse bouche of parmesan pannacotta, which I didn't mind but wasn't a winner with the better half who preferred the 'Sauvignon Squeeze' aperitif.

To start I had the soup of the day - local mushroom with truffle oil , served with estate bread brushed with local olive oil. It was flavoursome and not too heavy.

The crumbed tiger prawns were a hit.

I chose the main of fish of the day poached in a tomato, kalamata olive and red wine sauce with a feta and onion salad, which was fantastically flavoursome but slightly overpowered the fish.

The fillet of Angus Beef au poivre, brandy cream sauce, green beans, baby carrots was beautifully tender even cooked medium, but the pepper was a little full on.

We went outside to enjoy the views across the vines...

...and the sunset before tackling dessert.

I rarely eat dessert and was keen to try the spiced pumpkin bread and butter pudding with caramel sauce and vanilla bean ice cream. It lived up to my expectations and surprisingly wasn't over sweet.

  

The apple, almond and cranberry filo with almond and manuka ice cream was also a success.

Finally were presented with our petit fours, mini lemon drizzle cakes...

Dining at Tirohana Estate was a great experience and most of the dishes were great. The atmosphere and service were wonderful too, well worth a visit!

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Wild Dog Winery

Warragul Korumburra Road,
Warragul,
Vic 3820

We'd visited the Wild Dog Winery a couple of times before and eaten there once before, it is perched in a beautiful spot in the rolling green Gippsland hills, just south of Warragul.

The interior is bright, airy and spacious, the carpeted floor prevented it becoming echoey, it was fairly busy when the four of us arrived on a spring Sunday lunch time, with a couple of largish groups as well as plenty of smaller tables.

The menu offered a couple of degustation options, but we decided to select our own dishes, however it was a little tricky working out how much/what to order as the dishes were grouped into sections charcuterie, sea, meat and earth with items of differing sizes hard to identify. The waiting staff weren't able to easily explain of suggest things either. In addition the pizza's on the website menu were on offer when we visited.

In the end we decided to share two items from the charcuterie section for entree, which with some extra bread worked out well. The Spanish chorizo pan-fried with tomato came with slices of toasted bread. The combination of flavours was suitably Iberian, the tomato based sauce being a particular highlight.

I don't often eat Chicken liver pate these days, not good for keeping the cholesterol under control, but this carefully presented dish reminded me what I've been missing.

We had a long wait after the first dishes came out before our 'mains' came out, we were relaxed, but too much time passed with only extra bread offered to go with our entrées and a brief explanation of a busy kitchen from a waitress. The pan fried atlantic salmon fillet, was served with highly praised squid ink, a smoked eel croquette and a micro herb salad.

The milk fed veal scallopini came with portobello mushrooms and a garlic, wine cream sauce and polenta.

The Gypsy Pig pork bellie, micro thai salad, espuma, black sesame rice crisps looked wonderful.

I ordered the King George whiting, but was initially presented with the King fish dish, a much lighter affair accompanied with Tasmanian shima wasabi, pickeled shallots, radish, watercress and lemon oil. The waitress apologised and let us have the extra dish on the house, it was interesting and great to share and try, but I'm not sure I would have been happy with it as a main.

The whiting was crumbed and came with tarragon, lemon pepper, lemon and aioli. The fish was perfectly cooked and the dish was more filling than it initially appeared to be.

As sides we shared a couple of 'Earth' dishes between the four of us. The curry beer batter cauliflower with onions, tomato, greens, quinoa, balsamic and yoghurt.was an interesting and well executed combination, I was left wanting more of the cauliflower!

The house smoked beetroot, was another taste sensation I hadn't experienced which left me wanting more! It came with chopped greens and cottage cheese.

Overall the food was great, the only downside of the whole experience was the long wait and the mix up with the my main.The bill came to around $190 for the four of us including a bottle of Wilddog Riesling, a few glasses of the Pinot Grigio, a beer and some coffees, not to forget the Noojee Num Num!




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Yarrawood Estate

1275 Melba Highway
Yarra Glen
VIC 3775

We'd been to Yarrawood a few years ago, and were back for a Saturday lunch. There were a few other diners but there was plenty of space, as the weather was great for the deck outside. The cellar door cafe menu focus on sharing plates and light lunch items.

I went for the turkey foccacia, which was tasty and filling without being out of this world.

The chicken schnitzel foccacia was likewise fine without being exceptional.

I didn't try the wine, but apparently the rose was great.

The setting amongst the vineyards is spectacular with wonderful views of vines and the Yarra valley beyond. The service was a bit Jekyll and Hyde, with one wonderful waitress and a seemingly stressed or angry manager... It's worth popping in here on a sunny day for the setting alone!

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