this historical storage door continues to be an essential Margaret River address

Previous SlideNext Slide

Public vacation vacations, for those privileged sufficient to obtain them, have actually long been made use of as chances to charge. To choose lengthy drives. To take pleasure in lengthy strolls in nature and appreciate the outdoors. (At least while we still have them) To set up the gang for lengthy lunches.

Margaret River is an exceptional location to do any kind of in addition to every one of the above, three-day weekend break or otherwise. From Cape Naturaliste in the north to Cape Leeuwin in its south, Margies flaunts an awesome variety of consuming and alcohol consumption choices, not the very least along the stretch of Caves Road in between Metricup Road and Tom Cullity Drive that comprises component of the Willyabrup area.

Some individuals mean “Willyabrup” the conventional means with 2Ls Others create it with simply one L. Everyone, nonetheless, concurs that Willyabrup was where this single dairy products center started its improvement to food and a glass of wine Valhalla complying with the growing of the area’s very first industrial wineries in the late ’60s by, to name a few, medical professionals Kevin Cullen and the abovementionedTom Cullity So starts the tale of Margaret River a glass of wine. So start the tales of, specifically, Cullen Wines and Vasse Felix.

While Kevin’s little girl Vanya looks after Cullen’s daily, Vasse was gotten by the Holmes à Court household in 1987 and looks quite like a masterpiece storage door handled by an organisation with deep pockets. Admired from afar, its two-storey stone-and-timber digs are an image of pastoral, ’80s- period nation living. Inside however, the streamlined ground-floor sampling space– all tidy of line and dark of lights– betrays a passion in modern, clean-cut layout.

Upstairs, the first-floor dining establishment is improved with similarly contemporary accents– believe black steel, sharp angles and a soft scheme– yet all-natural light aplenty, a rising vaulted ceiling plus the opportunity to take pleasure in lunch forgeting the excellent medical professional’s initial growings act as tips that you remain in the nation which this is where the opening phase of Margaret River’s a glass of wine tale unravelled. The split, globetrotting food preparation, nonetheless, looks and tastes clearly currently.

A salted, puffy “flatbread” recollects the savoury anpan doughnuts discovered at Japanese corner store, yet the pickled mussels, fennel and sweet-cooked onion stacked atop are definitelyNordic There’s a comparable east-meets-west groove to the tartare of diced kangaroo bound in a gutsy Korean fermented chilli sauce and molded onto a smoked rice cake of pleasing crisis and eat: think about it as sushi for critical UFC bros.

Dishes are called utilizing that puzzling, shopping-list shorthand that was all over a years back. That last meal, as an example, shows up on the food selection as “kangaroo, ssamjang, rice, bush tomato ($26)“. Hurrah, then, for smiley staff that are well-drilled, well-informed and happy to decode what’s on the plate. Vasse has long been a benchmark for restaurant service. My latest visit suggests that Tanya Fitzgerald and her team are all-in when it comes to protecting this reputation.

There’s continuity in the kitchen, too. Head chef Cameron Jones worked alongside his predecessor Brendan Pratt, currently kicking goals with the Parker Group. Like Pratt, he’s big on DIY and fermenting, pickling and building up a larder of components to deploy when constructing his highly Instagrammable plates. (Could that be the influence of having a modern art gallery downstairs?) As it was during Pratt’s era, Jones’ brief is to create dishes that complement the wine: a departure from the typical food-and-wine-matching scenario in which the cooking leads the sommelier’s decision-making.

So fatty pork jowl gets charred over charcoal, plated on a rich coconut sauce sweetened with parsnip and mottled with black garlic oil, then concealed under sheaths of sorrel: all in the name of emphasising the zip of Vasse’s compact, modern chardonnays. Matching steak – in this instance, wagyu rump cap of real beefiness enhanced with a silky onion bechamel – with cab sav isn’t exactly surprising, but moving this pairing up the batting order of the tasting menu to before the fish and chardy match certainly is.

It’s one instance of the surprising and ambitious thinking that the Holmes à Courts have brought to Vasse and Margaret River generally. Among other things, the family has organically certified more than 300 hectares of its vineyards, established a dedicated sparkling wine facility at the former Watershed Wines site, and is in the process of resurrecting the Margaret River Hotel in town. Vasse might be the region’s OG vineyard, but sitting on laurels never enters the equation.

Desserts are just as intricate as what preceded them. “Pistachio, cherry, almond, grapefruit” is Jones’ homage to the Mr Kipling Bakewell tarts his nan stowed away in the rear of her cabinet, albeit reprise with frangipane, amaretto custard and freeze-dried citrus, and extra, besides. Detailing every aspect would certainly take longer than consuming the important things, so allow’s reduce to the chase and call it– et cetera of lunch– enjoyable and expert or, for those reviewing in American English, competent. Spell it with one L or more, it matters not. The take-home is this: Vasse Felix continues to be an important element in Margaret River’s food and beverage landscape.

Good Food testimonials are reserved anonymously and paid separately. A dining establishment can not spend for an evaluation or addition in the Good Food Guide.