Jenn R.
Yelp
The degustation is 7 courses, with 2 supplement options; all with the option of matching Wills Domain wines. We added a10th course! It wasn't because we needed more food, though! Lance loved the Carrot & Quinoa Salad last trip & wanted me to try it. It was available ala carte, and they happily added it into our lunch for us. Our service that day was top-notch from all staff. They were friendly, attentive & so knowledgeable of the dishes & wines they brought us.
It started with a sourdough bun & cultured butter, a glass of NV sparkling & 3 'Snacks' - crispy kale with wattleseed, mini herring tacos & fish bladder. The herring tacos were more of a tostada; the corn tortillas crisped up & the perfect textural counterpoint to the oily fish. The fish bladder was something totally different. The texture was similar to a prawn cracker, with that crispy/tingly/stick to your tongue awesomeness. It had quite a fishy taste, & when slid through the creamy fish sauce, it was such a unique treat. Rich & salty & went perfectly with the sparkling.
Next was Cured Kingfish. The cucumber mousse & lemon curd were the perfect accompaniment to the delicate fish. This came with a 2013 Rose which treads that sweet/dry line, making it easy drinking & well suited to seafood.
The Garden course paired heirloom tomatoes with various types of basil from their own garden. The flavours of each basil leaf are vastly different, whilst still maintaining the basic basil flavour that tomatoes love. This came with a savoury pine nut granola & one of my favourite things ever - mozzarella ice cream. The ice cream is intensely cheesy, whilst still being unmistakeably ice cream. It's perfect in this dish, but could also make an amazing dessert.
Next was the broth supplement. This was a simple but delicious dish. A small marron, a few native fruits, sea spinach & a lovely jamon broth poured over it at the table. I uncouthly picked up the bowl to drink the last little bit that my spoon couldn't get!
The Ocean dish was dhufish with silken cuttlefish draped over the top & a crunchy potato stack. The cuttlefish was a shiny black ribbon, slightly chewy in texture & quite mild in flavour. Definitely a novel way of serving cuttlefish. The matching Cuve d'Elevage Chardonnay was my favourite wine of the lunch. It has a wonderful butteriness in the mouthfeel.
Paddock brought us a melt-in-your-mouth-tender piece of rump with a caramelly-charred baby onion. This & the fish both showcase how good the local meat & seafood are down south. Simply cooked & presented - the flavour is in the produce itself. This was paired with a 2010 Reserve Shiraz, my favourite red of the day.
Then we had our extra dish; Carrot & Quinoa Salad. Beautiful multi-coloured carrots roasted to a tender, sweet but still fresh crunch, or peeled in long strips decorated a salad made of quinoa & various nuts & seeds dressed simply, & a few dollops of strongly smoky yoghurt dabbed around the plate. It was a perfectly realised dish. Each texture & flavour element bringing out the best in every item. If you don't do the dego at Wills Domain, I urge you to try this. It's so good!
The cheese supplement was a Heidi Raclette, a Swiss style cheese, nutty & ripe flavoured. A fairly plain buckwheat cracker, a long, thin strip of apple & drops of intense almost-burnt onion jam brought out the cheese flavours perfectly. It was well matched with a Scheurebe wine
First dessert was served with a 2008 Shiraz. The aging making an ideal mellow complement to the chocolate dessert. Being summer, instead of a rich & heavy dessert, this was a rich & light dessert. It consisted of 3 different balls, one a ganache, one an ice cream, one I think a sorbet, topped with a ribbon of beetroot. Beetroot & chocolate are a classic combo. Beetroot & caraway are a classic combo. Combining all 3 was spot-on. The caraway was subtle, the beetroot sweet & earthy, & the whole dish lively, despite it's richness.
The final dish was an elderflower cheesecake with an oat cookie base & strawberries. This was an elegant, but ultimately forgettable dish as I can't really remember all the details. I enjoyed it at the time, but nothing about it stood out enough to gush about. The dessert wine was enjoyably sweet and light, not cloying. It had a nice floral tone to match the cheesecake.
Oh, & the palate cleansers! First was an Apple Sour & one of the best drinks I've ever had. It was zingy & refreshing. It was like a cider with a dash of apple cider vinegar turned into a 'spider'. Apparently they have complaints that it's a little too sour, but I thought it was perfect. Add some rum & it would make an epic cocktail! The second was a herby sorbet. Basil, coriander & mint all mingled in your mouth, each flavour taking precedent at times as we tried to pick the herbs used.
Our coffees came out with peanut butter salted caramel truffles. Just in case we weren't blown away enough already, these little bites were a perfect full stop