This Saturday’s weekend cafe hot spot strays a little from our usual format. Instead of reviewing a cafe for breakfast, Sophia headed to the new restaurant at Pialligo Estate, which opened its doors last Friday, for lunch.
I recently went out to the Estate before its grand opening for a first look, and was so impressed that I made a reservation on the spot to have lunch over the official opening weekend.
Last Sunday I made my way out to Pialligo Estate. Now I must say, I was immediately blown away by the service. I was greeted at the entrance by an extremely polite young lady who instructed one of the wait staff to escort me to my table – my chair was even pulled out for me. The menu options were explained to me and I was left to ponder for a couple of minutes.
I was impressed with the finished look of the restaurant, the last time I had been it was still under construction. Now the restaurant looked and felt like a farmhouse with a neat touch of faux corn and pumpkins perfectly placed on the tables.
The course option was four or six, with or without wine pairing. I decided to go with six courses as I wanted to try the entire menu. As I was driving, I chose to not pair wines and instead ordered a glass of Moscato – which was actually one of the best Moscatos I’ve ever had.
The courses came out slowly, which if you are not in a rush is ideal. If you are going to go for lunch I would recommend ensuring that you have the time to spend there. It’s worth it.
First up was oysters from Ewan McCash, one per person, sat on a bed of rock salt.
Followed by crumbed, salted cod and kipfler potato croquettes,
A serving of bread and butter,
Yellowfin tuna, fresh peas, sea blight, almonds & Tasmanian wasabi,
Western Australian scampi, nashi pear (fresh from the Pialligo Estate orchard), salted pork, spanner crab & petrossian caviar,
Fennel, jersusalem artichoke, hazelnut, wild sorrel, verjuice and Pialligo Smokehouse duck…
and Lynden biodynamic lamb, young carrots, gingerbread, black cumin & golden raisins.
We also had a platter of Australian and international cheeses, and I totally forgot to take a photo! Trust me when I say it was yummy!
After the cheese board I was so full that I just couldn’t even contemplate dessert – I had been defeated. Dessert would have been raspberry, sheep’s milk yoghurt, pistachio and rose. I have no doubt that it would have been absolutely delicious and today, whilst I write this, I am regretting my decision to forfeit dessert.
Lunch at the Farmhouse was everything I expected it to be. It certainly lived up to the definition of fine dining. Impeccably trained formal wait staff, delicate foods with fancy names (some of which I Googled) and interesting flavour combinations – gingerbread and lamb?!
In my experience I have found that fine dining is not for everyone, so if you love it, I highly recommend you go however, if fine dining is not your thing, Pialligo Estate may not be your cup of tea.
