Hogget Kitchen is a ‘farm to table’ restaurant that is located in the Wild Dog winery, just outside of Warragul in Victoria, Australia. The restaurant has a great view of the vineyards.

The blackboard in the restaurant doesn’t list the menu, but instead all the suppliers of ingredients for the restaurant, which are all located in the Gippsland region.

The restaurant does not have à la carte but two chef’s menus “Let Trev cook for you”: 4 courses for AU$ 110 or 6 courses for AU$ 140. We opted for the latter, with wine pairing (AU$ 80 for 6 half glasses). Most of the wines were also from Victoria, some from very close by.

We started with an Australian Prosecco, Puncheon Darts 2023. It is made from the same grape variety (Glera/Prosecco) and the same method (Charmat/Martinotti) as Prosecco from Italy, but with grapes from Kings Valley, NSW, Australia rather than from the Prosecco region in Italy, and produced by a company in Victoria. It was a nice prosecco: fruity but dry.

The Prosecco was a good pairing for the snacks:

• Zucchini flower stuffed with ricotta and drizzled with a lemon and medlar syryp (medlar are a type of berries)
• Pie tee pastry stuffed with a cauliflower gratin and pickled onion
• Venison blackberry and beetroot croquette with a plum sauce

The second wine was a Patrick Sullivan 2023 Chardonnay from Gippsland, Victoria, Australia, unoaked and in a crisp style.

It was a good pairing for the heirloom beetroot tart with goat’s cheese and macadamia crumb. It was a rather mellow goat’s cheese and a very elegant dish.

The third wine was a Pinot Gris made as a rosé from the Mornington Peninsula, Victoria, Australia (and fortunately not as an orange wine), very elegant.

It was a good pairing for the steamed Corner Inlet Garfish with steamed green asaparagus, pea tendrils, and a white wine sauce. The fish had a nice texture. We thought the dish could do with a bit more seasoning.

The wine with the next dish was a 2022 blend of Sauvignon Blanc and Semillon by Entropy, a winery very close to the restaurant in Gippsland, Victoria. Produced like a white Bordeaux (in oak with aging on the lees) the wine had very good balance between the creamy texture and the fruit.

It was a good pairing for the hand-cut fresh tagliolini pasta with zucchini, pine nuts, deep fried basil, and a creamy sauce. A very elegant dish, which could do with a bit more seasoning (or a bit more parmigiano cheese).

The red wine was a William Downie 2024 Pinot Noir, again from a winery close by in Gippsland, Victoria. We liked this Pinot Noir so much that we bought a couple of bottles to drink in the camper. Very nice body and velvety tannins.

It was an excellent pairing for the Seaview Park Smoked Hogget with thinly sliced kohlrabi, broccolini, jus, Halcyon Farm gem lettuce salad with a tarragon and walnut dressing, and radishes from the restaurant’s own farm. The BBQ’ed meat was from the shoulder and leg and very flavorful. It was announced as 12-24 month old lamb, which is mutton in my book. Some pieces were too chewy, but the flavor of the meat was great.

The dessert wine was a 2019 Narkoojee late harvest Viognier from Gippsland, Victoria that must have had very high potential alcohol to have 14.5% alcohol and still be sweet. The sweetness was balanced nicely with acidity.

This was a good pairing for the Mille feuille raspberry and strawberry tart with chantilly cream.

Hogget kitchen is a great example of the ‘farm to table’ concept. I like the idea behind it, but in the end the quality of the ingredients is more important than the distance to the restaurant. However, in this case the limitation of using only local ingredients is not detrimental to the end result at all. Of course it helps to be located in a bountiful region such as Gippsland. Food, wine, and service are were very good. Don’t miss this restaurant if you are in the area; it’s only slightly over an hour from Melbourne.