Friday, July 25, 2008

Oakdene Vineyards

Location: 255 Grubb Road Wallington, Ocean Grove
Link: www.oakdene.com.au
Cuisine: Modern Australian
Company: MSJ Winter Clerks

We were taken down to Ocean Grove for lunch as a farewell for our winter clerkship. It's approximately a 1.5 hour drive to the winery but the food awaiting us was well worth the drive! The meal was accompanied by wine tasting - a series of sauvignon blanc, chardonnay, pinot and shiraz.

~Food~
The food was absolutely amazing. We were given a choice from a set menu for each course. The menu looked like this:


For entree, I ordered the 'King scallops with pancetta, celeriac, Lake Connewarre samphire and black truffle butter'. The scallops were tender and wrapped in crisp pancetta. The flavours complemented each other perfectly and the butter sauce finished it off beautifully.


For the main course, I had the 'Tasmanian salmon fillet with eshallot creamed potato, broccolini and lemon beurre blanc'. The salmon was crispy skinned on the top, and tender and juicy underneath. The salmon was perched on top of broccolini and a bed of creamy mashed potato. The mash was perfect - smooth and creamy, with just enough butter and salt to flavour it. It was finished off with the highlight of the dish - the lemon butter sauce!


I lament that I didn't get a photo of the dessert, for it was so beautifully presented. I chose the 'Chocolate fondant with Belgium chocolate sauce and vanilla ice-cream'. The dish came with a thin chocolate biscuit standing upright in the fondant, which was smothered in chocolate sauce. The ice-cream was a necessity to balance out the richness of the chocolate.

~Atmosphere and Service~
Very relaxed. We booked out one of the back rooms that overlooked the garden. Albeit cold without the heaters and overly warm with them, the area was a good area for group functions. The service was quite nice considering they had to deal with almost 30 of us.

~Price~
I have no idea about the price - the firm paid for us.

~Overall Impression: 9/10~
With the food so amazingly fresh and full of flavour, I recommend the drive to anyone up for a bit of a day trip.

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