The Provenance’s courtyard
“Please ring the bell then enter “. I am very much about first impressions and from glancing into the picture perfect courtyard and seeing the heavy brass knocker, the ornate doorbell and sign I think I’m in for a real treat. However I’m too busy taking photos to follow the instructions properly and the heavy door swings open and we are ushered into the lobby for The Provenance. Owner and Head Chef Michael Ryan greets us with a handshake and a smile and an angled spatula sticking out of the shoulder pocket in his chef’s whites.
Where are we? Why my friend Gina and I are in Beechworth in Victoria. Mr NQN has had to work (poor baby!) so Gina has volunteered to take his place for my little trip to Victoria. We’ve been prepping ourselves for this meal today having all but skipped lunch as we didn’t want to ruin our appetites for this meal. The evening before, Michael’s tweet letting people know that I was visiting did induce some envious comments from fans of his food and I wasn’t going to waste this exciting eating opportunity.
Amuse bouche: French radishes with whipped butter and miso powder
We start with an amuse bouche with a different. It is a plate with two French radishes with whipped unsalted butter from a local Myrtleford supplier and a sprinkling of dehydrated miso powder. We are to dip the radish into the whipped butter and then dip it into the miso powder. It’s a crunchy, smooth and buttery texture with the salty miso powder which bizarrely, and stay with me, tastes a little like beef stock powder!
Poached octopus, sake infused cucumber, umeboshi, raw broad beans, avocado, ponzu 2009 Dal Zotto Arneis
Rutherglen
Our first dish is a dish that Gina is usually reluctant to eat. She doesn’t like octopus and so I offer to eat her version if she doesn’t like it. no such luck 
The octopus is sliced thinly and is paired with traditional Japanese flavours and Michael brings them out and explains to us that he uses grated daikon to tenderise the octopus which is a traditional Japanese method and this is then poached for a mere five minutes. There are strips of pickled cucumber pickled with sake and ginger. to finish it off there are little squirts of umeboshi puree and avocado puree.
Asparagus three ways
An extra course for us proves to be one of my very favourites. It’s the ultimate in simplicity-three spears of asparagus. The bottom one is a pickled asparagus, the middle a white sous vide asparagus and the top a steamed green asparagus spear and they are all topped with a seaweed sauce. The difference between the three asparagus is readily apparent and the simple but perfect seaweed sauce complements it. It reminds me of dishes I had when I lived in Japan that celebrated the simplicity of good, seasonal produce.
Butter sautéed cauliflower, cauliflower puree, mustard sabayon, polenta shortbread crumbs, brown butter jelly
2008 Mayford Chardonnay Porepunkah
Vegetable phobic Gina’s first words when she tries this are “If I could cook vegetables this way I would eat them”. There is a little trail of butter sauteed cauliflower, pickled cauliflower florets, a chickpea and cauliflower pure sitting on a bed of small and large crumbed polenta shortbread crumbs, topped with a creamy, light mustard sabayon and brown butter jelly which pulls the whole dish together. In fact if there’s one thing that we could perhaps suggest is a few more of the jelly cubes-it’s not greed I promise! And I’m so fascinated by the brown butter jelly as it tastes like browned butter but I’ve never seen it in a jelly form before. Michael tells us that it is done by gelatine filtration.
Chef Michael Ryan
Confit artichokes, cured tuna, blood orange, olives, pangrattato 2009 Sorrenberg Gamay, Beechworth
Another dish is given an Italian flavour with the olive cheeks and beautifully lush soft and silky artichokes that have been cooked at 82 degrees celsius for three hours. The tuna has been cured between two sheets of kombu, sugar, salt and sake. It is served with a soy beurre blanc which gives it a lovely saltiness. This dish was all about the silky textures of the tuna and the artichokes.
Tea smoked duck breast, steamed duck leg, pickled cabbage, congee, crisp shallots, spring onion oil served with 2009 Punset Barbera D’Alba DOC, Piedmont, Italy
“This may have ruined all congee for me” I tell Gina as I taste the shallow bowl of congee with soft shreds of steamed duck leg, finely sliced pickled cabbage that sit atop a bed of congee, crispy shallots and star anise. On top of this sits three pieces of tea smoked duck and three strands of pickled cabbage. It’s flavoursome and comforting with a range of textures and flavours. And I doubt that I’ll get congee this delicate and flavoursome as this at home.
View from our table out of the window
Berkshire pork belly, celeriac, shiso and pork cheek salad, pork dashi, fried celery leaves served with 2004 St Jean du Barroux Oligiocene Grenache Shiraz blend, Ventoux, France
Our last savoury dish is the much anticipated pork belly. It comes as a slender slice of pork belly with a semi crispy skin that only just sticks to the tooth. It sits on a bed of spring vegetables and a celeriac, shiso and pork cheek salad with broad beans, aspargus and spring onion and some roasted pork bone dashi that has been cooked for ten minutes just to get the flavour of the pork through. In the centre is a slice of simmered daikon and on top is a fried celery leaf with a kombu (seaweed) powder.
Rhubarb mousse, strawberry and yoghurt sorbet, strawberry and rhubarb salad, green tea syrup cake, salted green tea praline 2006 Baumard Coteau du Layon Carte d’Or Chenin Blanc, Loire Valley, France
Michael asks us if we would like try another dessert and share instead of getting two of the same and we eagerly agree. There are several components to this dish and it is a very photogenic shades of pink and green. In the front there is a light as air rhubarb mousse and it is light we wonder how they managed to cut it and lift it into the plate. It is topped with dehydrated raspberries. To the right of that is a little pile of lightly stewed rhubarb and strawberries and I particularly like the sweet local strawberries. The final component is the green tea syrup cake which is moist and strong in green tea which is paired with a tangy strawberry and yogurt sorbet and topped with a sprinkling of green tea praline which gives the soft, moist, chilled and smooth components a nice crunch.
Tocino del Cielo, confit pineapple, coconut crumble, toasted coconut ice cream
The pineapple dessert is a tropical dessert with pineapple and coconut flavours and a most interesting component called “Tocino de Cielo” which translates to (heaven’s little pig) which is essentially a custard made up of just egg yolks and sugar. Michael tells us that the recipe specifies something like 24 egg yolks and 1 kilo of sugar and we are fascinated by it so we pop a square of it in our mouths and it tastes like a little square of firmish but still jellied creme brulee. So if you’re ever stuck with an excess of egg yolks (bakers will know what I’m talking about!), try making this dessert!
We hate to rush but with some quick sips of my Tea Corporation Earl Grey tea (cute cup and teapot combination!) we have to leave for we have a date with a ghost! Michael comes out of the kitchen to chat and bid us goodbye and taking our well fed tummies we change into some walking around footwear and clothing. We are off to the Beechworth ghost tour! Now if you know me, you’ll know that I adore a good ghost tour and Beechworth is known for its variety of ghost tours. There is one that starts at the post office and we have Laura who is giving her very first tour. She is dressed in period costume as a “lady of the night” and we follow her lantern around the town of Beechworth and shows us building of significance where ghosts are spotted (if there are more than ten sightings, then it is considered a “sighting”).
She gives us a history of each building that we visit and the form that the ghosts take. Ned Kelly and Mad Dog Morgan were famous bushrangers that have a history here and she explains the role of Doctor Dobbin who was the town doctor and how he had skinned the head of Mad Dog Morgan in an effort to study it phrenology and then cut off his genitals to use as a snuff bag. Kinky bugger!
We finish up the tour in front of the Beechworth prison and then are offered another tour-one in the lunatic asylum! This one is more “hardcore” and it starts on the ground of the La Trobe university site. There are two types of tours: a historic guided walking tour and an investigation tour where they take around several types of equipment in order to read any paranormal activity. We are being guided by Ian who is a seasoned tour guide. They run tours at 10pm and midnight tours and prove very popular.
The May Day Hills lunatic asylum is chilling and we see the horrific conditions in which the inmates lived-the inmates of course were considered “lunatic” for a variety of reasons, even for being different. I can only think that I would have definitely been considered a resident there! You only needed signatures to put you away but eight to be released so effectively no-one was released!
Ian showing us how thick the glass was in the windows
We make it to the Grevillea room. “This is not a nice place” Ian tells us. In fact, it is where some of the most gruesome experiments took place on the patients. The Darwin chair (unrelated to Charles Darwin) was a contraption which spun people around for 100kms per hour from anything for 15 minutes or two hours. He tells us the legend of one man was in the chair for two hours and ten minutes and when they took the straps off him he collapsed to the ground and it took him 24hours to be able to stand again. Ian tells us that people have thrown up after being in this building and fainted and this is the building in which most people feel an “effect”.
Now I must confess that I have had encounters with ghosts-not seeing any but feeling them and smelling them is the most common encounter that I’ve had. When I touched an autopsy table at Berry Museum I felt a chill go right trough my body and stay with me for a while afterwards. So I was interested to see my reaction to this. I didn’t faint or throw up but I did feel a heaviness and a depressed mood which started and ended when I entered and left the building.
We end off with visiting the “store” where there is a notorious ghost called Harry who has been known to help visitors up the stairs by pressing gently against their lower back. Ian who knows that I am keen to see a ghost asks me to go up first carrying my lantern. Sadly Harry was out of action that evening and I didn’t feel his presence but we did go to bed excited and at 2am!
So tell me Dear Readers, have you ever been on a ghost tour and what did you think of it?
NQN and Gina traveled and explored Beechworth as guests of Sydney to Melbourne Touring and dined at the Provenance as guests of Chef Michael Ryan.
The Provenance
86 Ford Street, Beechworth, VIC
Tel: +61 (03) 5728 1786
Beechworth Ghost Tours
www.beechworthghosttours.com
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46 Comments | Add your own
Oh i can imagine the excitement that tweet created!
Skipping lunch was a wonderful option ,and i would have done the same too.
What a hearty meal and everything looks so elegantly delicious!
That meal sounded and looked delish! I particularly like the look of the desserts – but then I always do!
That dangling head in the asylum is rather scary!
Love the asparagus three ways and the duck congee, so simple but luscious.
Cute teapot and cups too.
That place looks so pretty and elegant!
you are so lucky….
I didn’t do the ghost tour when I was in Beechworth…
I have never been on a ghost tour, but I have felt many “presences” at different places. Some good. some not so good.
I don’t think I would like to do a ghost tour there as I don’t think they would exactly be happy ghosts…
That meal looked totally amazing would love to experience it myself and thanks for sharing the chilly ghost tour, think I’ll skip that I’m easily spooked.
ooooh – no I havent been on a ghost tour as such – but we did tour Old Melb gaol years ago and I kept getting chills!
I went on the ghost tour at Port Arthur. Although I didn’t see anything it was the most terrifying experience of my life.
Not sure if this kind of food is my cup of tea, nice to sample, but not for an entire meal. Sometimes all I crave is a great big chicken schnitzel, side of chips and salad and I’m in heaven
I have however been on a ghost tour around The Rocks in Sydney! I think its more the fascinating history of how people used to live and all the scandals than the possibility of the presence of ghosts. Sydney has such a fascinating dark history!
I’m glad you and your friend didn’t get sick or throw up on the ghost tour. Talk about a waste of good food!
We were in Beechworth just after Christmas, but unfortunately the Provenance was closed during that time. All we could do was stare through the gates at the lovely courtyard, and at the menu, and drool.
Oh we love it down there and go down every 2 years just about … we usually stay in Bright and spend a week touring around, eating and drinking to our hearts (and stomach’s) content… so many beautiful farm stalls & producers of amazing food, restaurants, wineries and interesting things to do ….. havn’t done the ghost tour yet and The Provenance is on the list for this years visit.
Oh how I wish we had of stayed at The Provence, it sounds heavenly, the food looks & sounds amazing. But…, aaahhh, you can keep the ghost tour, scary stuff for this little chefette
Beechworth is a gorgeous place – the food looks good too.
That octopus dish… oh my. I would love to eat that, it looks fantastic! Same goes for the asparagus cooked 3 ways. *drools*
p.s. Can’t do ghost tours/horror movies, I’m a wimp!
I really enjoyed reading this post and taking in the beautiful pictures of the food at Provenance. It is a place I would like to visit and even more so after seeing his interesting dishes.
Never been on a ghost tour but I went on the Jack the Ripper tour in London, loved it.
It’s wonderful to see the transformation of Beechworth over the years – I lived there as a teenager in the 80s and it was very much a country town with fried mars bars at the fish and chip shop (the building behind the corner setting of your tour lady-of-the-night). Now the area is abuzz with food and wine finds. The old asylum (now Latrobe uni) really does have a reputation locally for being haunted by so many of those poor souls – I don’t think I’d be game enough to do the tour – well done!
What a meal! I love all those Japanese touches, too. And that has to be the fanciest congee I’ve ever seen.
Well, the closest I ever got to a ‘ghost tour’ was when husband dear and I took our 6- and 8-year-old daughters, thrilled to be on their first trip to Europe, for an afternoon tour of the Catacombs in Rome. Somehow they happily escaped our clutches – next thing there were various ‘arghs’ ‘oohs’ and ‘ahs’ emanating from the side passages! The front and back guides were quietly hysterical, but we did think we would be sued by a couple of US ladies who were scared enough of the low, narrow and dark passages, lined with skeletons, without believing such to be haunted!! Have never been on another ‘ghost tour’ – don’t think I could have beat the occasion!
The Provenance – perchance too many dishes with too many flavours – I failed to find a ‘central focal point’! Many apologies for my culinary incompetence!
Oh wow, everything is so gorgeous I don’t even know where to start! I think the cauliflower dish is my favourite, though.
I wanted to do a ghost tour when I was in Savannah a year ago, but alas! It started raining like the dickens so I chickened out!
Awww the food is just too gorgeous to eat! I am not a fan of ‘ghost’ tours… the last one I went to at North Head was scary enough for me, went back to my room and slept with the lights on (though I’m sure my managers though it was absolutely amusing that I got scared so easily).
We had dinner at The Provenance on New Years Eve. The food was sensational. We also stayed in one of the guesthouse rooms out the back and the accommodation was lovely. Of all the dinner courses I think my favourite was the cauliflower. It was sensational. But of everything we ate – my favourite was the breakfast the following morning. It’s the best egg and bacon I have had in a very very long time. Highly recommended!
What a beautiful place! I am not so sure about the octopus, but the remainder of the food looks great – and love the china. I have never been on a ghost tour, although I found parts of Old Melbourne Gaol a little spooky.
all the dishes look so pretty and using interesting combinations. nice place!
On my wishlist for this year…. lucky you!
There’s a charming elegance about this place. I’d certainly love to dine here if I’m in Beechworth!!
I love miso but I know where you’re coming from about it tasting like beef stock.
You’re so brave Lorraine, I wouldn’t do a ghost tour if someone paid me!
I’ve been on a ghost tour at the old Darwin Goals and the Army Barrcks in East Point,NT.
It still gives me the creeps but i’m a sucker for scaring myself witless!!
I love the theatrical aspect of such places! Who needs time travel when places like these exist!
The dishes look delicious and very inspiring! Are you going to give us some recipe ideas similar to these examples? More green tea recipes please! And how do you tea-smoke duck?!
Wow that food is so beautifully plated – stunning. Love the ghost tour as well!
Have a wonderful Friday! I haven’t seen Black Swan. I want to, but I’m worried because it’s so dark…
Looks like such a fun day with your girlfriend! i too would have blasted past the doorbell
I have never been on a ghost tour, but I have visited several ghost towns here in the American West and it’s disconcerting to see these places where people lived and died abandoned.
Park City (where I live) was actually a ghost town of sorts for a little while where you could buy old miners’ houses for back taxes. Then someone decided to open a ski resort and now those old miners’ houses are about a million dollars each!
I wish I had bought a bunch of them back in the day when they were going for a few thousand dollars……
Lovely story, as always. I really need to come see your beautiful country…
Firstly, The Provenance sounds really exciting – the rhubarb mousse – YUM – and I love the little radishes! There’s a French place here called Le Cafe Anglais which serves little french radishes to nibble on, albeit without butter or miso powder! As for ghost tours? I am the BIGGEST SCAREDY CAT EVER so no thank you!!
I met two travellers from Beechworth in Egypt- of all the places in the world! I love beechworth and go for a visit a few times a year. Its a beautiful place doesn’t matter what season it is.
This place has more gluten free, gourmet and organic food than any other country town I have seen!
The Brewery do great pizzas too.
Glad you enjoyed your trip!
You are a master at communicating the look and taste of a dish….I so enjoy your blog!!!! Bravo!
the very idea of ghosts freaks me out–i can’t even begin to watch a movie or tv show where there’s a chance one’ll pop up. no thank you!
brown butter jelly and coconut ice cream, though, i’ll gladly accept.
We have only eve been to Beechworth once and would love to go back again – it is such a pretty town.
this is a very inspiring chef Bravo !!!pierre
I shared a former mountain cabin with a ghost who, in the confines of the dimension he occupied,
liked to cook bacon. Also, he did not like that I made a walk-in closet out of the tiny extra bed-room, and he would pile my many sweaters in the middle of the floor. The following resident had a Buddhist send him away,and he came to me at 3 a.m. and woke me up with bacon smell singe up my nose. I’m not kidding.
That place looks wonderful. I went on a ghost tour in new orleans. It was really creepy especially as there was one house that had all these really cruel things that happened in there. Very interesting and definitely something I would recommend.
Now I can put a name to the ghost that pushed me into a room at LaTrobe at Beechworth…I was the last person to enter this tiny room as apart of a tour. I hesitated and was going to stay outside when I felt a hand in the small of my back. I quickly jumped into the room! I also felt sick and was sure I was going to faint when in the ‘worst’ building. I had to squat down or I would have passed out. I was not the only person affected, another lady had to be practically carried to a car when we finished the tour.
Sounds like you had a wonderful visit and the food at Provenance is also rather special. Plenty to do in Beechworth and several great restaurants and well as some excellent local accommodation. Hope to see you back in Beechworth some time in the near future. Jamie
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