In The Taratory is stepping out of the Territory for the next few posts: we headed down Beechworth way for Easter, and there’s plenty to do there. I can’t help but share some of the highlights for a location which is less than half a day’s drive from Canberra. First up: the hatted Terrace Restaurant at the All Saints Winery in Wahgunyah (near Rutherglen).
We’ve just arrived in the region, and rock up to the award-winning restaurant without booking. Just as we’re seated, All Saints’ Twitter account tells me it’s advisable to book because they usually get packed out, but, save for another couple, it’s empty. We get what I think is one of the best seats in the restaurant: Boyfriend looks towards the courtyard, I get a view of the whole restaurant (I love people watching), and we both get a few of their landscaped gardens. Gorgeous.
Gorgeous view from the Terrace Restaurant
The menu’s pretty straightforward: two courses are $55, and three are $70. I’m in full holiday mood so see nothing wrong with a three-course lunch!
We order wines (All Saints, of course), and our dishes, and are soon served bread which is freshly (and loudly) cut from loaves on a nearby table.
And so we begin – with Sparkling Shiraz and Marsanne
I shouldn’t have dismissed All Saints’ warning about the restaurant filling up: within half an hour most seats are taken with couples, families and what looks like a hen’s night.
The service is consistently warm and professional between our two female hosts (who provide helpful recommendations), but it’s slow going – there’s more than half an hour between the courses (my own fault for insisting on three!).
First up for me is the spanner crab raviolo with crayfish bisque and cherry tomatoes – and I’m given a second serving of bread to help mop up the bisque.
Spanner crab raviolo
It’s tasty and I like the style and dough of the raviolo, but I think another filling would suit better and better absorb the bisque – even spinach (?). It may sound silly, but the roast tomatoes are among the best I’ve ever tasted: so ripe, so juicy, so perfectly roasted and seasoned.
Yellow fin tuna, smoked tomato, capers and white anchovy
There’s just a touch too much happening in Boyfriend’s dish – even in the photo there’s plenty, but underneath the tuna is anchovy, too! – but it’s highly enjoyable.
Next (after some time) is the mains: I’ve got semolina and goats cheese gnocchi with grilled raddichio, pumpkin puree and nut butter.
Semolina and goats cheese gnocchi
The pumpkin puree and nut butter fills the palate but remains light, and perfectly complements the delicate gnocchi. The raddichio is too bitter for me – and, I think, disrupts the aesthetic of the dish – but by being placed on top rather than throughout the dish, it can easily be pushed to the side.
Boyfriend’s char-grilled swordfish is again a busy dish, with three tiger prawns, a base of cannellini beans, and chorizo, tomato and parsley – but he insists the flavours and textures work together.
Char-grilled swordfish
The recommendation from our host is a glass of the All Saints muscat to match my dessert of quince bread and butter pudding.
I’ll say it again – pretty venue!
The desserts are pretty – yes, even the humble bread and butter pud! – but the flavours don’t stand out for either of us.
Dessert time!
Chocolate pannacotta, poached pear and muscat syrup
Boyfriend loves the pear and the muscat syrup – and wishes there was more – but the chocolate pannacotta reminds him of a certain dairy snack, and the sugar stick adds little.
Quince bread and butter pudding with ginger ice cream
My pudding is delicious (certainly the best bread and butter pudding I can remember having), but what I’d expect to be sharper flavours of quince and ginger don’t quite push through the ice cream.
The food and venue are elegant: the presentation of both complement the other, and the pretty garden and dappled sunlight edging in don’t hurt! The Terrace is where you can and should linger longer (… okay, okay Boyfriend keeps playing/singing/tormenting me with I’m Going Back Again to Yarrawonga) and soak in the surrounds – and the wine on offer!
Date: Thursday, 17 April 2014
Where: All Saints Estate, Wahgunyah
Cost: $70 each for three courses + $13 Marsanne + $13 Sparkling Shiraz + $9 Muscat
Worthwhile factor: Borderline highly worthwhile – a little finesse on flavours (and a little quicker wait times between courses!) would get it there
Want more? Check out the website here, including menu and wine list.
In The Taratory 
I was away when you did all this — in Toronto and Southern California – so am just catching up.
We haven’t eaten at All Saints for many years but remember the lovely ambience. We were at the winery in July 2012 though I must say it’s not my favourite winery of the area. It’s a pretty amazing place to wander around — and that entrance drive is stunning.
We went to some amazing place in Canada — if you want to check them out, Google EVOO Montreal, and Ursa Toronto, Bent Toronto and Origin Toronto. We went to other good places too but these four are probably the standouts.
You did well to catch up on all the posts! We had quite a packed few days! I agree – All Saints is now my favourite winery of the area, but it’s certainly worth the occasional visit. I’ll be looking up those amazing places you visited!
I sat up late last night, just to read them as I’d been trying for a week to get to them! I always enjoy reading your adventures. Takes me back to my own twenty-something days! (Let me know what you think when you get around to looking up those places).