It was pitch black when my phone alarm went off. I fumbled for my phone and put it on snooze but before it could chime again I raised my weary, sleep deprived body out of its four hour sleep and got up remembering why I had set it so early. I was on my way to Dunkeld, Victoria today to the Royal Mail hotel to help celebrate the launch of the Melbourne Food & Wine Festival!
Dunkeld is a small town in Victoria of less than 500 yet incongruously it boasts what is said to be one of Australia’s best restaurants. Set near the Grampian mountain region, it is best accessed by small charter plane. The flight to Melbourne is smooth and then we board the smaller charter plane to get to Hamilton airport which is near Dunkeld. Boarding the small plane is like being in an episode of Being John Malkovich but its thankfully without event and we take the 20 minute drive to The Royal Mail Restaurant where chef Dan Hunter, the former chef de cuisine of Andoni Luis Aduriz’s Basque Mugaritz restaurant (who only days ago had their kitchens devstatingly destroyed by fire). It is also a place that Anthony Bourdain visited during his Australian leg of filming “No Reservations”.
Anthony Bourdain’s visit to The Royal Mail
Before we try out the 10 course degustation we get a tour of their gardens. Yes The Royal Mail is a restaurant that grows as much fruit, vegetable and herb produce as possible and their plan is eventually to have a completely self sustaining garden or should I say gardens as the gardens are spread out across five different properties. Some of the grounds were established 10-12 years ago with some of the fruit trees being 6-10 years old. They only use organic seeds and organic gardening practices. Some items they grow are very unique and hard to find commercially such as a Japanese white strawberry which has a shelf life of 2 days and needs to be handled very delicately.
We’re introduced to young chef Damian Neylon who is the chef that tends to the garden. Yes you read right, the chefs attend to the gardens here. He’s obviously ambitious taking on this task but he says that he also feels that it’s rewarding. They grow a total of 150 herbs and with this also comes challenges. They need to work 15-16 weeks ahead and to avoid having to buy things in, they simply change the menu to suit what is available. Working like this encourages the kitchen to dehydrate, powder and preserve items as much as possible.
I quickly photograph and step away…
We also get a peek into their 25,000 bottle wine cellar where precious bottles of wines are stored such as a $16,000 bottle of Romani Conti. I grab my camera tightly knowing of my clumsiness and propensity to bump into things. Somehow I know I’d trip straight over that $16,000 bottle as I am literally a Taurean in a china shop. After our tour, we sit down to our 10 course degustation prepared by Head Chef Dan Hunter.
Pork sandwich and Sardine on toast served with Philipponnat Reserve Rose (Champagne, France)
To call this little rectangle a pork sandwich seems a bit too simple. What it is is two slices of thin lightly toasted bread and the softest, gooeiest, unctuous pork you could imagine. Our table is quiet eating this apart from the odd moan escaping. We’re all busy eating this in tiny bites to prolong the experience. I’ll admit now that I’m not a huge sardine lover so whilst I can appreciate sardine lovers would really like this, it’s not my cup of tea. It’s a soft sardine on a wafer-thin cracker with an aspicy sort of jelly on top.
Heirloom tomatoes with different basils served with Philipponnat Reserve Rose (Champagne, France)
The heirloom tomato salad is deliciously simple with freshly picked tomatoes from the garden in sweet varieties, miniscule chopped chives and various types of basil including a fragrant lemon basil which just sings with flavour.
Sugar snap pea, soured milk, spearmint, sashimi served with 2008 Bannockburn Sauvignon Blanc (Geelong, Vic)
One of the most intriguing dishes was this two parter with a wall of minted sugar snap peas, creamy mascarpone-like soured milk and the sashimi. And what sort of sashimi was it? It looked like tuna but tasted nothing like tuna. We hear the other table asking the same thing and it turns out it is watermelon sashimi of all things. We have to ask how it’s done and the floor staff know straight away. They quarter a watermelon and bake it at 70 degrees for 12 hours where it is dehydrated and caramelised. It is then vacuum sealed and snap frozen to set the texture, the result being unusual and delicious.
Egg yolk, toasted rye, legumes, yeast served with 1997 Best’s Great Western Chardonnay (Grampian, Vic)
A dish that many thought was like eating breakfast, it was a fenugreek, mung bean and legume salad with rye and yeast and a runny egg yolk in the centre. When cracked the yolk oozed all over the crunchy salad giving it a delectable creaminess. It was one of the most original and unforgettable dishes for many.
I get up and watch the tweezer action from the open kitchen as the chefs huddle around the pass and plate each item up. It looks like they’ve timed the movements like a ballet.
Southern rock lobster, proscuitto, sea lettuce, quinoa served with 2000 Crawford River Riesling (Henty, Vic)
We could really smell the lobster being prepared. It was a slice of lobster with proscuitto in the sauce on top of it with quinoa that reminded me of fried eggs. It’s a dish that I’m not really in love with with the lobster being a touch bland and hard to cut and there is no discernable prosciutto flavour and everyone at the table feels the same.
Yellowfin tuna, onions, nori, garlic served with 2004 Crawford River, Riesling (Henty, Vic)
The yellowfin tuna is a stout portion pink in the middle and cooked on the outside. I can really taste the nori flavour and the garlic and onions.
Eel, beef tendon, kohlrabi, potato served with 1986 Mount Mary Cabernets (Yarra Valley, Vic)
This was an intriguing dish with the very smoky eel. The fern-like fronds on top are Wild Yarrow which Dan confesses “grows on a nature strip in town”. The beef tendon is so soft and delicious that we all wonder how it was done and he explains that it is sous vide for 12 hours after which time it turns into pure gelatin. When it is cold, it is hard but when heat is applied, it turns into this gooey, jellied texture. The sauce is also made from the bones of the eel to bring it all together.
Lamb, eggplant in white miso, pinenut, chlorophyll served with 2005 Best’s Great Western Pinot Meunier (Grampians, Vic)
The standout dish for me was definitely the lamb dish. There is a baton of eggplant cooked in white miso with a hint of lemon and the Flinders Ranges saltbush lamb is tender and perfectly cooked. We’re all enjoying this dish immensely and I blurt it something nonsensical like “It makes your saliva flow” to which Sally counters with the more eloquent expression “It’s mouth watering”. The chlorophyll is from spinach.
Rhubarb with citrus, almond and licorice
One of the prettiest dishes I have seen, the slicker than lip gloss red is gorgeous. I’m not a huge licorice lover but it’s handled very subtly here. There are three rhubarb batons, slightly firmer than I am used to and they pair well with the crunchy almond (although I ran out of almonds for the mouthfuls of rhubarb). Astrid picks up that sauce has a maple syrup flavour which is why I was thinking of pancakes when I ate these.
Fresh and dried berries, beetroot, black olive, rose served with Dogiotti ‘la caudrina’ moscato d’asti (Piedmont, Italy)
What has to be one of the prettiest dishes ever is the medley of fresh and dried berries, olive, beetroot and rose. The berries range from sweet to sour to crunchy and soft and the beetroot ice cream is distinctly beetrooty but not odd at all. I don’t taste much black olive in it but I do love the dehydrated rose petals which are similar to very thinly dried apple crisps albeit with a rose flavour.
Pistachio, hazelnut, honeycomb, chocolate served with sanchez romate cream cherry (Jerez, Spain)
The outstanding dessert for me was most definitely the moist pistachio sponge, the tiny crunchy crumbs of honeycomb and chocolate and the sticks of chocolate with a hazelnut ice cream. I am so entranced, I forget to take a photo of it so Mel quickly loans me her dessert for a snap shot. It’s divine and I find myself chasing down every single crumb on the plate. At some stage during this meal, our table have all contemplated plate licking.
Ahh yes, for a moment we all contemplate raising the Dunkeld population just a smidgen.
So tell me Dear Reader, have you ever licked a plate in appreciation or wanted to but didn’t?
Dan Hunter
The Melbourne Food & Wine Festival runs from the 12th of March to the 23rd of March, 2010. This is the 18th year that it has run and there will be 250 events with 100 events under $100.
NQN visited the Royal Mail as a guest of Tourism Victoria and the Melbourne Food & Wine Festival.
The Royal Mail Hotel
Parker Street, Dunkeld, Vic
Tel: +61 (03) 5577 2241
www.royalmail.com.au
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64 Comments | Add your own
Wow, that rhubarb dessert is absolutely stunning! I would love to try it!
OMG! How sensational does that meal look! How on earth does the restaurant stay in business in the middle of nowhere? Or has it made the town a tourist attraction. Between your post and the Anthony Bourdain video, I’ve just gotta go.
That all sounds delicious, Lorraine, particularly the very first bite – the super tender pork sandwich!
So, I grew up having sardines on toast every Sunday morning as a treat… ours looked a bit different though. They were just smooshed up canned sardines topped with pepper and white wine vinegar!
But heavens, Lorraine! This food!! The yolk and rye salad?! Want! And how on do you manage to make “gooey” meat sound delicious? And I’m so obsessed with pistachio right now…
Lastly (I’ll stop after this
) I’m a definite plate-licker. 
Adorable post with your entire trip even on the plane.
When can I go with you to a degustation??
All the gorgeous dishes looks wonderful; Kudos to the Chef Dan Hunter!
Have a great week,
Gera
As ever, Lorraine, you’re one blessed woman! I have had this place on my must-do list for ever and ever; but have yet to find the means to traipsing there with like-minded friends/rellies. I know what you mean re the Romanée Conti moment. Dan Hunter should be listed as a Living Treasure immediately.
I’ve heard people sing praises about this restaurant – now I can see why!
Oh Lorraine, that all looks so good, worth the early start. I frequently wish to lick my plate but am usually too refined. My father-in-law doesn’t resist and when I catch the children doing it, they blame Granddad.
What a great looking meal. So many creative dishes. They certainly don’t accept serving anything ordinary. The garnishing is pretty special, I guess this comes naturally when your kitchen has a massive garden at its disposal.
What an amazing experience! It certainly looks like such an impressive restaurant.
haha and how small was that plane! It
Hi Nigella I am really in awe in front of my pc !! the chefs are really amazing you are very lucky to have eaten in such a place !! Dan hunter is a magician ; one question is the egg yolk totally raw? and to you many thanks for this adventure sharing !
cheers from Pierre in Paris
Wow!! What a gorgeous degustation menu. I love all the courses!
Hello Dan Hunter. He is cute ehehe. Everything looks very colourful. The yellowfin tuna looks delish.
wow – everything looks so good Lorraine, just stunning
‘Poetry in Motion’, is what came to mind when you were describing the artistry of the chefs. I’d love to experience this restaurant, another to add to the all ready extended list. The desserts look totally divine!!
Did you linger for more dining events Lorraine or did you travel up and down in one day?
You have the best life in the world
Thank you for letting us all live vicariously! It looks like an amazing day- such beautiful photos, as always. You can really see some of the influences from Mugaritz in the plating- we made it there a couple of years ago on our honeymoon and had the most magical time- wrote some of it up here http://www.eat-tori.com/2008/04/mugaritz.html.Must must must try and make it down to Royal Mail sometime very soon. x
Wow. The food looks great!
Are you around on the 21st for the bloggers’ conference? if you are, see you there
Very excited to see you trekking to country Victoria! I shared a great meal with friends at the Royal Mail just over a year ago and while it was very pleasant, we didn’t have the luxury of trying so many dishes. That must have been fun.
Wow! Just wow! What amazing looking dishes and I love that they grow the food!
I am SUPPOSED to be working, but cannot stop salivating over the computer. That meal looks so simple, yet so not simple……Thanks for the brilliant photos. Also, can yoy/someone tell me which Asian resturant Anthony Bourdain went to first on the video please….have trip to Melb coming up, and would love to try. Thanks NQN……
Wow, sounds like an adventure just getting to Dunkeld! The food looks suitably amazing, too, and I must say I just adore your photos: the colours are so vibrant I would probably lick the screen (as well as the plate!)
Isn’t the hotel fabulous? Says a lot for savvy Victorian ffod sensibility entreprenuership.
ooh my gosh all that food looked sooooo good! I have wanted to visit the Royal Mail for ages but I cant convince the boy on the fancy looking food!
Wow, those gardens sound phenomenal, Lorraine! I’ve always wanted to have a huge garden, full of fruit trees (especially cherries!). I imagine it’s wonderful to be able to go outside and harvest your food and eat it amazingly fresh like that. I definitely think that rhubarb dish is the most gorgeous dish ever!
Thanks for sharing your experience – those dishes look amazing!
I love the idea of chef’s tending the garden! I wonder when they get time to sleep though…?
Looks like a lovely meal, and that lamb is calling out my name.
I’m not sure if I’ve licked any plates but I’ve certainly done the old finger wipe trick many times! I tend to hold myself back from such things when dining out, though I am quite talented at getting every last tiny morsel off my plate using cutlery. Or bread.
I am completely blown away!
What amazing dishes!
I am yet to experience food like that, but you are definitely inspiring me to get out there!
I’ve been wanting to go there for such a long time – the food looks so awesome. I love how it’s styled
Looks like an amazing experience! I love that they have a whole garden out the back to get the fresh ingredients from.
Those desserst look like works of art. I am always tempted to lick my plate in a restaurant or use bread to mop up delicious sauces but usually refrain from doing so.
Ah… I’ve heard wondrous things about this restaurant. The food looks absolutely splendid. I often feel like licking the plate, but will only do so when I’m in a restaurant I know very well and am tucked away inconspicuously in a corner. Yes! I’ve done it several times!
Ohh yum! The lamb and pistachio dessert looks most appealing right about now (am hungry and can’t wait for lunchtime).
And I love the grow your own concept. Would love to have a garden full of herbs, fruits and vegies one day but don’t think my 2x5m balcony can hack it.
Gorgeous looking food. Yum. And I love the Melbourne Food and Wine Festival….I will have to try and squeeze in a trip down there….
How long would it take to drive to this restaurant from Melbourne? Don’t think the budget would stretch to a charter plane!
Can I have your job ?Please…..
another beautiful place n more beautiful food…what can I say!
))
OMG where do you find these places?? Whenever we wind up at McDonalds I think of your blog and weep internally lol
On a side note – that expensive bottle of wine reminds me of the episode in Black Books when Manny and Bernard drink a bottle of wine worth $7000 pounds by mistake and then try and re-create it using cheap wine, vanilla ice cream and some oak leaves
If there is a dish I love, you can bet I’ll lick it up. I might even sneak it back home with him and never wash it. Haha, I kid…but boy, Lorraine. Can I have your life? I’m serious. You have the most exciting foodie adventures!
OMG! Why did I move to the Netherlands from Melbourne?!!! I must be crazy. Dan Hunter is amazing. And you Lorraine, you always say it just right!
You are so fortunate to be able to experience something like this. That is one of the most beautiful plating I have ever seen.
wow! the food looks A-M-A-Z-I-N-G! Dan Hunter is sure an awesome cook! (: Your food adventures make me really jealous! hehe Thanks for sharing this Lorraine!
I think you know my answer on the plate licking!
Lorraine, you officially made me extremely jealous! What a great experience–and the food, ahhh, the food is pure perfection. Just want to try.
If I had enough spare change, I would go in a heart beat and try out all this wonderful dishes. Green with Envy.
Lorraine> I really felt like I was with you on that meal.. the presentation and your photographs are just the best. This restaurant is a destination indeed… the idea that you have to fly there makes it all the more special.. do they have a cookbook yet?
Ahhh Victoria! Brings back such memories!! Thanks for this virtual meal with you!!
Oh, that rhubarb dessert sitting in the sticky redness is so appealing in a candy sort of way!
wait, more than 150 types of herbs exist? wowza, i guess i never really thought about that.
that egg yolk atop those earthy ingredients is as beautiful as a ray of sunshine on a dreary day.
Plate licker in private, bread or rice mopper upper in public! Great to have experienced this with you!
Tiny planes freak me out
Wow Lorraine you lucky girl. I went to the Royal Mail a few years ago when it was not quite so famous for a wine makers dinner and I can remember it still being utterly fabulous then!
Great that you have come to Victoria. We have some wonderful resturants.
I gotta get my bum back to Victoria and this absolutely dreamy, entrancing place!!!!! Oh that pistachio sponge Lorraine… that looks heaven on a plate!
Gosh that looks amazing. I must admit that I’m a dessert junkie and these ones had my tongue hanging out.
I’m not a plate licker, my 7year old son however… Well, let’s just say that he’s been caught a time or two
I think you have more adventures than I do!
Wow the food looks amazing, like a work of art. It takes real talent to do this kind of food so well.
Wow! I too watched that episode of No Reservations in awe of this place. Would love to go there!
Mmmh, that looks just delicious (and drat these amazing chefs for making Sous Vide look like the way to go… it’s just too hard to replicate at home!)
I’ll take the rock lobster and the lamb please. (I didn’t know rock lobster really existed, I thought it was just something the B52s made up? How daft am I?!)
Great reportage, Lorraine. I really want to visit this restaurant – haven’t made it there yet, but I’m sure I will by the end of the year.
Anthony Bourdain is my favourite-est.
while that berry dessert looks wonderful, I would be upset if that was me eating it. I dislike dried berries as they always taste like freezer burn to me
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[...] can still be found at the fanciest restaurants. Case in point, my trip a few months ago to The Royal Mail. They gave us a simple heirloom tomato salad simply dressed with basil and chives. It was easy and [...]
[...] station! The whole dish is simple but so effective and beautiful and reminds me of the food at The Royal Mail Hotel (down to the picking of the [...]
[...] where it (produce) is coming from.” And of the chefs in Australia that he admires he cites The Royal Mail’s Dan Hunter, Attica’s Ben Shewry and Vue de Monde’s Shannon Bennett. And it seems a part of him is [...]
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