Miss Marple’s Tearoom

Miss Marple’s Tearoom has been around for some time and is a major hotspot for tourists. Located in the Dandenong ranges, they are well known for their Devonshire teas and scones. Davin and I finally dropped in to check it out recently during our long weekend after lunch.

It was a beautiful sunny day and perfect for a laid back drive to the Dandenong Ranges. When we arrived, I instantly loved the look of Miss Marple’s from the outside and even more so on the inside.

Set in a Tudor style building, the restaurant is dedicated to Agatha Christie’s novel series character, Miss Marple. Upon entering you will see Miss Marple memorabilia everywhere and I was struck by the charm of it. The decor included wooden table and chairs, floral curtains and table cloths, and porcelain teapots of different colours and styles all along the walls. There were quite a few people inside but there was also a nice quietness to the place.

The friendly staff seated us at a lovely window table with a bed of flowers just outside. Given we had just had lunch we couldn’t order anything more than the tea and scones. However we did see plenty of people ordering main meals there too.

We ordered two plain scones served with ‘Miss Maple’s Own’ home-made raspberry jam and freshly whipped cream. We also ordered a pot of tea and chose the Teapot of Taylors which was described on the menu as their house blend ‘Yorkshire Gold’ and was apparently voted as ‘best cup of tea in England’ by the British Tea Council. Interesting!

The scones came out and I was surprised how different they looked to the scones I’ve normally experienced. These scones were not round and small. These were tall and more rectangular in size. In fact, they were so tall I could cut each scone into 3 sizeable pieces. They came out piping hot and boy were they good! The texture of these scones were so light and fluffy compared to any scones I’ve had before. The raspberry jam and the freshly whipped cream was delicious. The tea was also amazing. I have to agree that it was probably one of the best teas I have had. It had a lovely flavour to it.

Overall it was a great stop in experience for us. It would have been great to try some of their other main meals but maybe next time when our tummies are not so full!

Miss Marple’s Tearoom
Approx $25 AUD per person
Address: 382 Mount Dandenong Tourist Rd, Sassafras VIC 3787
Phone: +61 3 9755 1610
Website: www.missmarplestearoom.com

Miss Marple's Tearoom Menu, Reviews, Photos, Location and Info - Zomato

O.MY

For Davin’s birthday this year, as per the usual custom, I made a reservation at a fine dining restaurant. Any excuse to eat somewhere nice we always say! This year I chose O.MY, a two chef hat restaurant in Beaconsfield which looked really promising.

It’s their philosophy of respecting the earth, for what they grow, and their commitment to sustainability and minimal waste which drew me to them. They have established a large garden at a nearby farm to grow the produce for their restaurant and are passionate about growing and using fresh, seasonal produce as well as sourcing other ingredients required from local suppliers. Because Davin’s taken a real keen interest in growing his own vegetables and herbs lately, I thought this would be the perfect dinner place for him!

Once a butcher’s shop, it has been transformed into a 25 seat restaurant, another reason why I was drawn to it. With only 25 seats, you know that it’s going to be a real intimate experience. Right outside the restaurant there are herbs and vegetables being grown out front, and I picture the staff coming out throughout the day to pick what they require for their kitchen.

Upon reaching the entrance to the humble restaurant, the door instantly opened for us and a friendly staff member greeted us and promptly seated us at our reserved table. We started off with a couple glasses of proseccos which came out really quickly and then they checked in to see if we had any dietary requirements. The concept at this restaurant is that they offer a seasonal menu for $115 per person and the menu is determined by what their garden offers so don’t expect a menu that you can peruse. Perfectly fine for us because we eat everything and we love surprises!

To talk about every single dish will take all day and night because there were so many! However I’ll talk about some of the highlights. Each dish was presented carefully and lovingly on beautiful crockery made from either wood, ceramic or stone. Here were some of the dishes.

Diamond tomatoes, labna, zucchini seed tart shell

Corn barbecued in its husk

Beet leaf shell and fermented beetroot mousse

Beef fat butter, house made butter, garden salt and house made bread. The beef fat butter actually tasted like a steak! It was amazing.

Freshly sliced apple, verbena powder, almond milk sauce and onion top oil

Basted beetroots with cherry juice, meat jus, beet juice sauce, buttermilk gel and sheep sorrel

Steamed zucchini with ricotta, seeds, puree, grated salted egg yolk, pickled coriander berry and borage flowers. It came out looking like a pumpkin but it was zucchini!

Potato puree, chicken jus, black garlic sauce, egg yolk, chicken skin powder, beans and flowers. This was one of our favourites and was so full of flavour!

Dry aged scotch beef with jus and fresh tomato varieties. The steak was probably more well done than we would have preferred however the tomatoes were deliciously sweet

Cucumber granita, compressed mouse melons, honey labna, sunrose leaves, mint leaves and cucumber flowers. So refreshing!

Soil. This is their special dessert which represents their passion of growing their produce from their garden. It had farm honey icecream, a soil of spent grain from beer making, burnt citrus, balsamic powder, chocolate and mini nasturtium

Overall the dishes were beautifully presented and were very unique. The staff here are really trying to utilise their produce in the best possible way and they certainly push the boundaries with flavour combinations. Because they are mainly showcasing their garden produce however, the dishes are mainly vegetarian and the meat dishes were minimal. I think this would be great for vegetarians but for the people that love their meats, don’t expect that here.

The service was top notch and staff were very attentive, always ensuring our water was topped up and taking away our empty dishes almost instantly. What we also loved was that every staff member that came around to our table were really sociable and were happy to have a chat, whether it’s about the dishes or just about things in general. I think that’s really important in today’s day and age. Having such great customer service really makes a difference in terms of your experience. So if you’re ever looking to venture out and fine dine at a unique and intimate place, check out O.MY.

O.MY
Approx $115 AUD per person
Address: 23 Woods St, Beaconsfield VIC 3807
Phone: +61 3 9769 9000
Website: omyrestaurant.com.au

O.My Menu, Reviews, Photos, Location and Info - Zomato

Burger Project

I’ve always loved a good burger so one night at Chadstone while we were searching for a not so expensive place to eat for once, we decided to finally try out Neil Perry’s Burger Project!

They advertise that their beef is 100% grass fed and comes from Cape Grim in North Western Tasmania where happy healthy cows live on green, pristine pastures. In fact when you walk into the very spacious restaurant, one side of the wall captures this beautifully.

The restaurant itself as I’ve mentioned is very spacious for a burger joint with an abundance of modern white chairs and tables with overhead hanging lamps. We were overwhelmed with the space and where to sit!

The concept there is simple, order at the front desk, take a buzzer back to your table, then come collect your tray of food once you’re buzzed. The focus is of course burgers! Following recommendations from the friendly staff, I ordered the Cheese burger which apparently a popular choice. This had grass fed beef, cheese, onion, pickles, tomato, lettuce and secret sauce. Davin ordered the Chili Cheese which was pretty much exactly like mine but with the jalapeno. We also got a serving of large chips with chipotle chili salt and chipotle mayo dipping sauce, and chocolate shake with malt. My eyes also lit up when I saw their dessert menu which had a strawberry pavlova so I ordered that too!

It didn’t take too long before our buzzer started buzzing and vibrating and we received our tray of food. The burgers were presented inside their packaging and looked promising. When we pulled them out my first observation were that they weren’t the massive burgers you often get. In fact they reminded me of some of the burgers you would get a fast food chain because of the size but also how it looked. The bread looked a bit soggy, squashed and flattened. Not the crispy bun you would expect. However upon taking a bite of the burger, it tasted pretty good! The beef patty was cooked and flavoured well. Their secret sauce was quite nice and complemented the burger ingredients. I guess the only let down was the bun.

The chips were good however I think they over seasoned it as it got quite salty and so we couldn’t finish it. The chipotle chili salt was nice but you don’t want to just be tasting salt. The milkshake was perfect, not too sweet but with a good dose of chocolate flavour. We loved it. Finally the strawberry pavlova was probably a bit on the sweet side for me because of the strawberry sauce. The vanilla bean icecream itself was good and the meringue was crunchy. I think it was just missing some real fruit.

Overall, the burgers here were good however were just lacking a good bun. If you order one of their seasonings for the chips, also make sure to ask them to go easy on it!

Burger Project
Approx $25 AUD per person
Address: Chadstone Shopping Centre, Dining Terrace, Level 1, 1001B/1341 Dandenong Road, Chadstone VIC 3145
Phone: +61 2 9259 5600
Website: burgerproject.com

Burger Project Menu, Reviews, Photos, Location and Info - Zomato

Short Straw

We had the pleasure in finding another great brunch / lunch place in Hawthorn recently which we’re excited to share with you. Hawthorn has always been buzzing with great eateries and this one does not disappoint.

Short Straw is a cafe located on Glenferrie Rd and is pretty central in Hawthorn. Upon entering you experience clean painted white walls, lots of wooden decor and bricks, with green plants scattered throughout above and below. I loved their feature wall which captured some artwork which reflected the cafe itself.

We ordered two lattes to start off with and then perused the menu. I ordered the Wild Mushrooms dish which had slow cooked chili and garlic wild mushrooms with truffle cream on crispy polenta. I added their optional additions which were crispy pork belly and a poached egg. This dish was really yummy. The wild mushrooms soaked in the truffle cream were a perfect match. The pork belly was really soft and literally broke away however the skin was way too hard to chew so I just put it aside after a few attempts. The poached egg was cooked perfectly and the polenta was also done well.  I also ordered a Green Glow cold-pressed juice to go with my meal too which was really good.

However Davin’s dish was the highlight! He ordered the Poke Bowl which had multigrain rice and cured sesame seed salmon, sweet corn, soybeans, avocado, wakame and ponzu dressing. Now we recently came back from the U.S where there’s such a huge craze with poke bowls over there and they do it great. It’s only recently that this poke bowl craze has hit Melbourne so we were interested to see how they did it here. And the verdict? The poke bowl was AMAZING! It was so flavoured and balanced at the same time. The salmon was super fresh! We were a bit unsure of the sesame seeds and the multigrain rice but it worked! It was one healthy bowl of lovely and fresh flavours. We will definitely be back for this!

By this stage we realised that we still hadn’t got our lattes yet which we ordered at the start so we followed it up with the staff. They were very apologetic about the lattes. They brought them out at the end of our meals, however were nice enough to take it off the bill. The lattes were actually quite good and strong which I liked.

Overall the food was top quality and we will definitely be back for that poke bowl!

Short Straw
Approx $25 AUD per person
Address: 743B Glenferrie Rd, Hawthorn VIC 3122
Phone: +61 3 9815 3451
Website: shortstraw.com.au

Short Straw Menu, Reviews, Photos, Location and Info - Zomato

Chopstick Delight

Oh what a name… I chuckled when my work colleague recommended this place to me. I love it when Chinese restaurants put two random words together, and voilà! I couldn’t picture the location when my work colleague was describing it to me, and when I got there I soon realised why. It was nestled within a small strip of shops amongst residential housing. If no one tells you about this restaurant, then chances are you’ll never drive past it. Well I guess that’s what I’m here for, so let’s proceed shall we?

We rocked up and this place was PACKED! I was amazed how busy Chopstick Delight was considering the location. One thing about the Chinese community is that word gets around fast when the food is good, and it looks as though this place got some good ol’ word of mouth. In hindsight, this was how I discovered the restaurant! I walked in and just thought to myself – WOW! This place is the OG of Chinese restaurants, Cantonese to be precise. Pink walls – check, old school Chinese framed prints – check, fish tank – check. The décor doesn’t look like it’s been changed since the 1980s, but for some reason I felt right at home! We didn’t see a special fried rice ordered during our stay, the people that come were after some specialised Chinese dishes.

The waitress recommended Wintermelon soup to start off with. Her English was really good, and she understood everything we asked her. I believe she may be the owner of the restaurant. I’ve had plenty of Wintermelon soups in my lifetime, and they were all on the bland side. The one I had here was very tasty and full of seafood goodies! Since there was only two of us, we didn’t get the soup served from the actual melon, but we were able to see it served like that from another table and it made us equally happy.

We also ordered the free range chicken, spicy quail and Chinese broccoli with garlic. The free range chicken is a pretty sought after dish, and I’d recommend calling ahead to reserve some because it does sell out quickly. The texture of the chicken was spot on, it was chewier due to the chicken actually having room to move! The spring onion sauce was just to die for, it went so well together with the chicken. The quail had a really crispy skin with a thin layer of spicy salt. I’d recommend eating the quail dine in only, as we did take away once and it didn’t do the quail justice. Perfect crunch with the Chinese broccoli, it was fresh and not the old and tired broccoli you get at some other Chinese restaurants.

All the dishes we had were absolutely perfect. They were not heavy handed with the seasoning at all. Some of the other reviewers have mentioned that their crab is really good, so we cannot wait to try that in the near future. This is a hidden gem of a restaurant, I highly recommend it, and I’m sure you guys will love the food here too!


Chopstick Delight
Approx $35 AUD per person
Address: 79 Mackie Rd, Mulgrave VIC 3170
Phone: +61 3 9560 3688
Website: chopstickdelight.com.au

Chopstick Delight Menu, Reviews, Photos, Location and Info - Zomato

Famili Ria

We absolutely love Indonesian cuisine however haven’t come across many local places that have stood out for us. However we recently came across Famili Ria in Surrey Hills which had really high ratings so decided to check it out one night. Upon reading the reviews, the fish cakes were apparently exceptional here and the food really authentic. Now we can’t say we’ve ever had Indonesian fish cakes before and certainly can’t judge on the authenticity. However we know what good food tastes like!

Famili Ria is a small, family style restaurant and its main focus is its food. Upon entering, the menu covered one side of the wall with pictures of all the dishes you can order. The one and only worker there was very friendly and because we were so overwhelmed with the menu and was unsure of what to order, she gave us some recommendations.

We decided to settle on the Pempek Sampler which were a combination of the different handmade fish cakes as the starter. Given there was so much hype about it we had to try them!

Based on their recommendation, for mains Davin ordered the hot and spicy noodles with chicken and mushrooms, and I ordered the green chilli chicken with rice. We were warned that both dishes were quite spicy and was given the option of the level of spice so we decided to settle on medium.

The fish cakes arrived first with a light sauce and we dug into them. The first thing that came to mind for us was that the texture was quite chewy. It confirmed for us that we’ve never had Indonesian fish cakes before so it was a whole new experience.  We weren’t sure if we liked them or not. There was one in particular in which the batter looked like noodles on the outside which I enjoyed as it had a really nice crunch to it.

Davin’s noodles were really nice and flavoured but boy were they super spicy! As soon as I took a bite I realised that we probably should have gone with mild instead of medium! Davin can normally eat spicier than me but even he was struggling! The only thing that kept us going was that they were actually quite delicious! Also, the green tea and coconut juice helped a bit!

My green chilli chicken with rice was probably the star of the show. The chicken was tender and so flavoured. It was also really spicy but again because it was so nice you just had to keep going. I knew the green chillis were probably the source of the heat but you couldn’t help but scoop a bit of that with each bite of the chicken. So good!

Overall the food was quite good and cheap. My dish was $10.50 and Davin’s was $9.50. The fish cakes sampler was $14 so it was definitely one of our cheaper meals! If you’re ever in the mood for some Indonesian check it out and decide for yourself!

Famili Ria
Approx $15 AUD per person
Address: 1115 Riversdale Rd, Surrey Hills VIC 3127
Phone: +61 3 9808 6767

Famili Ria Menu, Reviews, Photos, Location and Info - Zomato

The Meat & Wine Co

The Meat & Wine Co have been around for some time and we’ve heard a few good things about them but it’s taken us quite a while for us to finally check them out! The main reason being is because we’ve been lucky enough to have found a number of great steak places in Melbourne. However on this occasion it was time to give it a go!

We visited the Southbank restaurant (there are also franchises in Hawthorn and South Yarra) and upon entering staff were really friendly. We didn’t make a booking that day and just walked in to see if there was any availability for two. They advised us that they would be happy to accomodate us if we gave them some time and took us up to their bar for some cocktails while we waited which was perfectly fine for us.

The bar and overall restaurant was very classy, with dimmed lighting providing that intimate feel and modern furnishings. We ordered a couple of cocktails and after some time we were seated at our table.

 

Of course both Davin and I ordered a couple of steaks. I ordered the 200g fillet and Davin ordered a different 300g steak. Both steaks were ordered rare and came with large cut chips. Sauces were extra however given I love my sauces so much I had to order some! So I got the garlic cream sauce and Davin got the black garlic butter sauce. Davin’s black garlic butter sauce was really nice and had this lovely sweetness to it. My sauce was just okay. Our verdict on the steaks? We thought it was nice, however the steaks didn’t blow us away. They weren’t as soft as steaks we’ve experienced elsewhere and was probably pricey for the quality that we got.

We also ordered the the wedge salad which was really nice and flavoured. We liked the honey bacon, fresh tomatoes, blue cheese and ranch dressing. For wine we got a half bottle of the Saint Clair Pinot Noir.

Overall, the service and ambience was great, the steaks were good however for the price we think there’s probably better out there.

The Meat & Wine Co
Approx $80 AUD per person
Address: 3 Queensbridge St, Southbank VIC 3006
Phone: +61 3 9696 5333
Website: themeatandwineco.com

The Meat & Wine Co Menu, Reviews, Photos, Location and Info - Zomato

Butchers Diner

We have had a flurry of great cheap eat places lately! Great for our wallets, and great for our stomachs, it’s truly some amazing times. The latest addition to our collection is a relatively new eatery called Butchers Diner. It may be fate that I found this place because we were desperate for some late night dining. The reason being I slept till 10PM from what was supposed to be a late afternoon nap! We didn’t feel like the usual fast foods / kebabs, so decided to see what else was open. To our surprise Butchers Diner is open 24/7, yes these guys never close! With our sights set on their lovely looking cheeseburgers, we ventured to the city to try these guys out.

Being on the Spring Street side of the CBD, parking was a breeze. We parked on Spring Street, a quick 300 metre walk and we were right on their doorstep! You’d easily miss this place if you’re not paying attention, as they are fairly low key without any big flashy signs. We walked past the narrow door, and the tables, and was greeted by a massive fridge with dry aging beef. I personally love watching beef being dry aged, I reckon it’s such a fascinating process and would always stand in awe looking at the meat! The aromas of the dry aging filled the diner, and we would have loved to eat inside. However we spotted a table just outside of the diner which had a lamp right over it. We couldn’t resist because it’s rare for us to get such good lighting for our food photos! I guess you could say we have different requirements compared to others.

Wasting no time we quickly withdrew money from the ATM right outside the diner (they are cash only). Lucky our card has no ATM withdrawal fees, otherwise we would have been stung with a $2.50 fee. We ordered a steamed dim sim, cheeseburger with house bacon, Creole salmon cutlet, warm organic potato salad and duck heart yakitori style. With full intentions to get the cheeseburger, I changed my mind at the last minute to get the salmon cutlet. I was not disappointed at all! The salmon was cooked beautifully and the Creole flavouring brought me back to New Orleans. Creole always pushes the boundaries with saltiness, and this salmon cutlet was no different. It was perfectly flavoured but I could tell just a bit more salt would have tipped it over the edge.

Helen’s cheeseburger was pretty awesome! The beef patty – my oh my, it was still pink inside and was bursting with beef flavour. Bun wasn’t too sweet, and even the tomato and lettuce was breathing with freshness. We were happy to pay the extra $2 for the crispy bacon as it went so well with the burger. All this goodness for only $14.50! A quality burger for under $15, now that’s a rarity these days.

I have to pay my respects to them putting offal on their menu. Offal is so underappreciated it’s not funny, and we’re glad to have tried the duck heart yakitori style. We’ve never had duck hearts before, only chicken hearts. The texture was different compared to chicken hearts as it was a more bouncier. We enjoyed the new experience and would gladly order it again. We might even try the ox tongue and gizzards next time.

The two fellas running the front of house were so friendly. I was brought out a warm chicken roll instead of the warm potato salad. Could have been my fault or their fault. But who cares because when I told them, there was no kicking up a fuss or any blame game. He just said “sorry i’ll fix this right up for you”. PERFECT! The guy that took my order even recommended the communal water so I could save some money on a bottle. Seriously how good is that!?! In poker, we have a term called ‘implied odds’. It simply means the odds are based on not how much you could win immediately, but how much you can win in the future. With him suggesting the other water, he may not have got $2.50 off me on the night, but I can guarantee that we’ll be coming back and spending a lot more in the future.

I have nothing bad to say about Butchers Diner. The fact that they can serve such high quality food for the price, and be open 24/7 is mind blowing. Doesn’t matter if you’re looking for a late night dining, dinner, lunch or breakfast place, you can rest assured these guys won’t disappoint. Two thumbs up from us, and we recommend giving Butchers Diner a go if you haven’t done so already!

Butchers Diner
Approx $25 AUD per person
Address: 10 Bourke Street, Melbourne VIC 3000
Phone: +61 3 9639 7324
Website: butchersdiner.com

Butchers Diner Menu, Reviews, Photos, Location and Info - Zomato

Roast Duck Inn

We may have come across the best roast duck and crispy skin roast pork we’ve ever had so far! On a night where we didn’t want to travel too far into the CBD, we came across the recommendation of Roast Duck Inn.

Situated along a strip of other restaurants and shops in central Box Hill, Roast Duck Inn is a small and no nonsense shop with one purpose. To produce top quality roast meats and food of course! So if you’re looking for great service or a place where you can spend hours with your friends catching up, this is probably not the place for you. It is obvious that people literally come for the food, they eat, and they are out of there.

Upon entering you’ll see a front counter for customers to come in and collect their takeaway which seemed very busy. Given the shop was small, tables are limited so it makes sense people might choose to duck in to get takeaway to bring home. Between Davin and I we knew we had to try some of the roast duck and the roast pork given this was what they were famous for. So we ordered half of a roast duck and a plate of the crispy skinned roast pork with rice to share. We also ordered a plate of the garlic bean sprouts and a couple of homemade ice lemon teas.

They served us with complimentary soup and hot tea which we loved. The soup was not one of those MSG soups that comes with a lot of meals in other Asian restaurants. It had bits of duck and vegetables in it and tasted healthy.

Then out came the main dishes very efficiently and promptly. The roast duck was just as good as people claimed it to be! It was served with this lovely sweet sauce you can dip the duck in. It was AMAZING. The skin was so crispy and flavoured, combined with the sweet sauce it was a match made in heaven!

The roast pork was also fantastic. The meat was melt in your mouth tender, and the skin was super crispy you could probably hear us from far away eating it as we crunched away. It was flavoured perfectly and not too salty. We were pretty shocked when we took our first bite because we were so surprised at how good it was.

The garlic bean sprouts was also really nice. It was flavoured really well and the serving so generous! Davin and I felt like we were eating and eating and the plate was just not clearing. One serving was probably enough to feed about 4 people.

The homemade iced lemon teas were also really nice. I always get worried about them being too sweet but this was also done perfectly and you could taste the actual tea more than sugar.

Overall we really couldn’t fault the food at all here. We were awed at how good it was and will definitely be back when we’re in the mood for some good roast duck or pork!

Roast Duck Inn
Approx $30 AUD per person
Address: 31 Carrington Rd, Box Hill VIC 3128
Phone: +61 3 9897 3788

Roast Duck Inn Menu, Reviews, Photos, Location and Info - Zomato

Woodland House

Davin and I will use any excuse to celebrate by eating out somewhere nice. So recently when it reached the mark of 13 years since we’ve been together we quickly agreed we needed to celebrate through some fine dining! Forget the presents, we just want to eat something amazing! We ended up making a reservation at Woodland House in Prahan.

For those that don’t know, this restaurant was formerly known as Jacques Reymond, one of our favourite 3 hat restaurants during its time. We were lucky to have dined there and met Jacques before he decided to step down in 2014.  So of course we were super excited to return to a place we really enjoyed, even though it was under a new name and ownership. We knew that Woodland House had 2 chef hats and the reviews were very positive.

Upon entering we saw that they had kept the restaurant looking like the house that we remembered it a few years ago. We loved that about the restaurant, that it has this modern, homey and intimate feel to it. We really felt like we were dining in someone’s home. The staff were super attentive and friendly, opening doors, pulling out chairs and checking on us. They were also SO quick! They asked us if we preferred tap or still water, and as soon as we said that tap water was fine within a few seconds they were back pouring us our water. We ordered a couple of glasses of champagne to start off with and a bottle of red for dinner and within an instant the drinks were there! We barely had time to take a few snaps before they were back to serve us!

The menu offered a tasting menu or an a la carte. From Tuesday to Thursday they also offered from the a la carte of 4 courses for $90, 5 courses for $110 or 6 courses for $130. It allowed us to pick any of the dishes on the a la carte menu which was great because it meant if Davin and I got a few different dishes each we had more to try! Being as greedy as we are, we opted for the 6 courses. Now we don’t want to bore you with every single dish that came out so we’ll just talk about the highlights. But before we go into that, we have to say that hands down every dish was fantastic. Every single dish was cooked to perfection, flavoured and presented beautifully. We could not really fault any of the dishes and it is clear how meticulous and carefully thought out each of the dishes were.

The Murray Cod, spanner crab and smoked sour cream dish was an exceptional dish. We absolutely love cod and have had this fish a number of times especially when we were in Europe. It has such an interesting texture for a fish, almost like a scallop. And this is probably why Woodland House ingeniously presented the cod to look like a scallop! It was cooked to perfection and the lovely sauce poured over it was flavoured but not too intrusive. It complemented and ensured the cod was the hero of the dish.

The green peas, cured pork fat, abalone and sardine dressing dish was a truly balanced dish. The sardine dressing was like a silky smooth sauce and flavoured well. Again it didn’t overpower the star of the dish, the abalone which was paper thin and the softest we’ve ever had!

The Sancho kangaroo, pickled beetroot and currant reduction was also another highlight. The kangaroo was cooked perfectly, rare to medium rare, and they had these cute little mushrooms we’ve never had before which had a lovely bouncy texture to it.

The corn fed duck, grilled octopus and sweet pepper was also another amazing dish. The skin on the duck was so crispy and flavoured. The grilled octopus was an interesting combination with the duck but it worked.

The Cape Grim short rib, witlof, preserved plum and horseradish dish. The beef was cooked for 7 hours and it was melt in your mouth soft. The bitterness of the witlof gave it an interesting flavour.

We also had a number of desserts which included the chestnut with sesame, beetroot and yoghurt sorbet, and the pear souffle with salted liquorice icecream and star anise. Both desserts were delicious and presented beautifully.

We were also served some complimentary additional desserts. What stood out from this for us was the miso butter icecream which was SO good! It was light and buttery with a subtle strawberry jam which was not too sweet. To add to the delightful experience they allowed us to take home the remainder half bottle of our red wine.

We were thoroughly impressed with Woodland House. From the attentive service, to the top quality presentation and well balanced flavour of the dishes, it is truly an all out experience that we would highly recommend to anyone that wants to fine dine or celebrate something special.

Woodland House
Approx $130 AUD per person
Address: 78 Williams Rd, Prahran VIC 3181
Phone: +61 3 9525 2178
Website: woodlandhouse.com.au

Woodland House Menu, Reviews, Photos, Location and Info - Zomato