19 April 2016

Weekend Cafe Hot Spot: Pialligo Estate

| Sophia Carlini
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Farmhouse

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.

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Followed by crumbed, salted cod and kipfler potato croquettes,

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A serving of bread and butter,

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Yellowfin tuna, fresh peas, sea blight, almonds & Tasmanian wasabi,

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Western Australian scampi, nashi pear (fresh from the Pialligo Estate orchard), salted pork, spanner crab & petrossian caviar,

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Fennel, jersusalem artichoke, hazelnut, wild sorrel, verjuice and Pialligo Smokehouse duck…

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and Lynden biodynamic lamb, young carrots, gingerbread, black cumin & golden raisins.

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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.

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Thank you Sophia for your photos and your write up of the meal you enjoyed.. Seven plates for your meal. One with just one oyster for the patron. I’ve not had that experience before.
However they are lovely photos showing the nice looking ingredients on their large plates. . They must own a lot of plates.

“Now the restaurant looked and felt like a farmhouse with a neat touch of faux corn and pumpkins perfectly placed on the tables”

Gold!

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