For our last dinner in Australia went to De’sendent, one of the few fine dining restaurants in the Margaret River area that is open for dinner, as most of the fine dining is at winery restaurants and only open for … Continue reading Dining in Australia: De’sendent
Our third and last lunch at a winery in Margaret River is at Leeuwin Estate, to celebrate my birthday. To us as Dutchies it is peculiar to see a winery called “Leeuwin”, because it is a Dutch word (for female … Continue reading Dining in Australia: Leeuwin Estate
Our second fine dining lunch at a Margaret River winery was at Vasse Felix. This is the oldest winery in Margeret River, established in 1967 (so in fact not old for European standards). Like most wineries in Margaret River, it … Continue reading Dining in Australia: Vasse Felix Winery
Wildflower is regarded as Perth’s best modern fine dining restaurant. According to the website, every dish celebrates the local resources honoring the six seasons of the Noongar calendar. It is amusing to me that it is apparently necessary in Australia … Continue reading Dining in Australia: Wildflower
O.MY is the restaurant of brothers Blayne (chef, on the left) and Chayse (sommelier, on the right) Bertoncello in Beaconsfield, about 45 minutes from downtown Melbourne. They started the restaurant back in 2013, when they were only 19 and 23 … Continue reading Dining in Australia: O.MY
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 … Continue reading Dining in Australia: Hogget Kitchen
As we were strolling down the Esplanade in Lakes Entrance, Victoria, Australia, we saw a restaurant called Sodafish on a boat and had a look at the menu. We were surprised to see a degustation menu with wine pairing. The … Continue reading Dining in Australia: Sodafish
Saint Peter is a fine dining restaurant in Sydney that specializes in fish. Saint Peter is another name for the fish also know as John Dory. All the dishes include fish, even the dessert. The restaurant prides itself for using … Continue reading Dining in Sydney: Saint Peter
On the final day of the wine tour, we visited two wineries in Southern Tassie. The first one was Pooley Wines. This family business was started in 1985. They have their own winery and two vineyards, apart from producing wine … Continue reading Australian Wine Tour Day 13: Southern Tasmania
The final state of Australia we visited on our tour is Tasmania. After a flight from Melbourne in a small aeroplane we got on our tour bus and drove to Ghost Rock, where we were welcomed by owner Justin Arnold. … Continue reading Australian Wine Tour Day 11: Northern Tasmania
The Mornington Peninsula has a cool maritime climate because it is surrounded by water on three sides. There are around 60 wineries, mostly family owned. The area specializes in Pinot Noir and Chardonnay. Although there were vines in the 1800s, … Continue reading Australian Wine Tour Day 9: Mornington Peninsula
Today we flew from Adelaide to Melbourne, so we only had time to finish one winery in the Yarra Valley. That winery was Coldstream Hills Vineyards of James Halliday. James (1938) was partner in a law firm until 1988, and … Continue reading Australian Wine Tour Day 8: James Halliday
The Barossa valley is one of the most famous wine regions of Australia, known for its big and bold wines. After an unplanned detour we arrived at Penfolds Magill Estate, where we were welcomed by Jamie Sach, Penfolds Global Ambassador. … Continue reading Australian Wine Tour Day 7: Barossa Valley
Today we ventured into McLaren Vale. In terms of climate this is between Adelaide Hills (cooler) and Barossa Valley (warmer). This was one of the first wine regions in Australia to be planted. The percentage of surface area planted with … Continue reading Australian Wine Tour Day 6: McLaren Vale
Today we visited Adelaide Hills, the coolest wine region in South Australia because of the high elevation (about 400 meters above sea level). Shaw + Smith is a winery founded by Martin Shaw and Michael Hill Smith. Their first vintage … Continue reading Australian Wine Tour Day 5: Adelaide Hills
Before I start with the report of today’s tour, a brief explanation about the tasting notes in these reports. First of all, tasting notes are always personal. There are 18 experienced wine tasters in our group and we usually all … Continue reading Australian Wine Tour Day 4: Canberra District, continued
The Canberra district has a cool climate thanks to the high altitude (700 meters above sea level) and a cooling breeze from the nearby ocean. It had been a wine growing region from the first settlement of Australia in the … Continue reading Australian Wine Tour Day 3: Canberra District
This is the first installment of my chronicles of the 13-day Aussie Tour 2023 of the Verenigde Vinologen Nederland (Dutch association of wine connoisseurs), with Master of Wine Cees van Casteren as our guide. We started with an overview tasting … Continue reading Australian Wine Tour Day 1: Sydney
After our camping adventure with simple but tasty food our trip to Australia ended on a gourmet note with a visit to Hentley Farm in the Barossa Valley. Hentley Farm is a winery that showcases its wines in a gourmet restaurant. The restaurant is open for lunch Thursday – Sunday and for dinner Saturday. We had the Discovery menu with paired wines for AUD 210. The menu took us about 4 hours, so it is quite substantial for lunch. There is also a smaller Du Jour menu. All the wines are from Hentley Farm. Continue reading “Dining in Australia: Hentley Farm, Barossa Valley”
Thanks to the wonders of scheduled posts, new recipes are posted on a regular basis while I am actually travelling through the Australian Outback in a camper van with very limited internet access and an even more limited kitchen. Even though it’s even more sparsely populated around here than in the South-Western USA that we were touring last year, the supermarkets here are well-stocked and so we’ve not been lacking in terms of nice food. Continue reading “Cooking in the Outback”
Stefan's Gourmet Blog 