I still smile when I think about our lunch at the Weldborough Hotel. I’ve yet to encounter a prettier or more charming beer garden than the one here.

The beer garden at the Weldborough Hotel

I first wrote about the Weldborough Hotel last year, when we stopped in for a drink one sunny afternoon. We made it back for lunch before our trip was over, and we were not disappointed.

S. ordered the BBQ Steak Sandwich with chips. This was served in a foccaccia bun along with bbq sauce, cheese, onions and lettuce. The steak was a beautiful tender cut of Scotch fillet, pounded thin and cooked just right (with a little bit of pink left in it). The lettuce was fresh and tasty while the onions were cooked until they were soft and sweet. All of this and the right amount of bbq sauce was layered together in the lightly toasted bun and served with some crisp, well cooked chips on the side. All in all, a great, simple lunch dish that combined a lot of different textures and flavours.

BBQ Steak Sandwich

I ordered the Italian Chicken, which was the Weldborough’s take on a chicken parmigiana sans the breadcrumbs, which was great for someone such as myself who shouldn’t be eating wheat.  This was a pan-seared chicken breast topped with smoked bacon and a flavoursome, herby tomato sauce, served with crisp chips and a fresh and colourful salad. Very appealing to look at, it was also very tasty to eat.

Italian Chicken

To finish, I ordered a piece of apricot cake with ice-cream. This was a lovely home-made cake that highlighted the sweet, seasonal apricots, one of my favourite fruits.

Apricot cake

The Weldborough Hotel source as much of their produce locally, mostly from Scottsdale but also Ringarooma, St Helens or Pyengana. Chicken and eggs are free-range and hormone free. This approach of using local and fresh produce pays big dividends. The menu at the Weldborough Hotel, while not extensive, is a classic pub menu that delivers delicious and satisfying meals that don’t disappoint, and we would definitely go back again.

A quick check of their website shows that a lot has been happening at the Weldborough Hotel over the past year. It seems their accommodation, including the campsite, is fully up and running, so if you’re cycling or walking in the area, this could be a good option. They’ve won a tourism award, they’re now featured in Lonely Planet’s Tasmanian travel guide, and they continue to win fans. We still are, and wouldn’t hesitate to recommend the Weldborough Hotel to others.

What we had:
Italian Chicken $19
BBQ Steak Sandwich and Chips $15
Apricot cake with ice-cream

All of this was, of course, enjoyed with some selections from the Weldborough’s fabulous micro-brew range.

The full menu for the Weldborough Hotel is available here.

It’s exciting when you chance upon a place that turns out to be good, which is what happened to us when, returning from a film last Monday night, we walked past The Moat on Little Lonsdale Street. Something about this place caught S.’s eye (I think it was the astro-turf) and he decided to return there last Friday evening for a couple of drinks with friends. Drinks soon turned into dinner and I was cajoled to join him there also, after receiving numerous text messages telling that ‘the menu looked very good’.

It was.

Sitting under the steps that lead up to the Wheeler Centre, The Moat, which only opened last week, is a stunningly good cafe in a wonderful setting. Tucked away from the street, in the ‘moat’ of the State Library, it is a wonderful oasis of good food and drink, away from the hustle and bustle of the CBD.

The Kitchen Garden

When I was a child one of my grandmothers made, what seemed to me at the time an incredibly exotic, prawn dip. It consisted of cream cheese, prawns, finely diced celery, small prawns, a little paprika and caraway seeds. Looking back, I think it was the caraway seeds that gave it its edge and made it seem exotic to my seven-year old palate.

Now its 2011 and I’m a lot older than seven. And when I saw potted prawns on the menu I knew immediately that I would have them. Childhood food memories are a very powerful force!

This entrée consisted of prawns set in butter with shaved fennel. Some may baulk at the amount of butter but don’t – infused with the lemon zest, fennel seeds and shaved fennel it was at once fresh and creamy, a perfect foil for plump prawns that ‘popped’ with freshness as you bit into them.

Potted prawns

Our second entrée was the Mount Leira cured lamb with chickpea puree. It was turning into a walk down memory lane for me, as this dish reminded of the pickled lamb another grandmother used to serve on hot summer days.

Cured lamb

The lamb was thinly sliced, beautifully tender and neither too salty or too spicy to let the flavour of the lamb come through. The squeeze of the lemon cheek added a hint of zingy freshness. The olive bread and chickpeas added additional flavour and made this a really filling dish. It’s so unusual to find lamb as a cured or preserved meat these days, so this was a really good reminder of how good it is and makes me wonder why we don’t see more of this on menus or in delicatessens.

Meatballs

I’m a big fan of meatballs and these were a sterling effort. The four meatballs were generous and plump, sitting in a light Napoli sauce that we mopped up with bread.

The highlight of our meal was the quinoa salad, with which we also ordered the optional cumin poached free-range chicken. A medley of quinoa, tomato, cucumber, red onion, mint and coriander, dressed with a honey dressing and topped with bee pollen, this was a salad of substance. The bee pollen provided a lovely floral fragrance, the honey a sweetness that did not overwhelm the freshness of the herbs. The use of quinoa was restrained, making for a satisfying yet light meal. It was, for me, one of the best salads I have eaten all year. I highly recommend it.

Quinoa salad with poached chicken

The reviews I found of The Moat suggest that the food is Mediterranean however, I found it to be modern retro – food of the 70s given a modern interpretation. Perhaps it was just the dishes we choose on the day. That said, we absolutely loved it. The food, the attentive and friendly service and being able to sit outside protected from the traffic of Little Lonsdale Street, we really enjoyed our meal at The Moat. The menu has enough options to keep it interesting, and there are some good vegetarian choices.

Things were running extremely well there when we visited, for a restaurant that is still in its first week of operation. Apparently it’s taken the owners 13 months to get to this point. I hope they are successful. This is a really great cafe.

What we had:
Potted Prawns $15
Cured lamb $16
Meatballs $18
Quinoa Salad with poached chicken $18

The Moat
176 Little Lonsdale Street
Melbourne
9094-7820

Our trip to Beechworth in July was a late birthday present for me and way for S. to decompress at the end of one job and before starting another. We treated ourselves to two nights staying at The Provenance, where we based ourselves while we had our other adventures in and around Beechworth such as The Stanley Pub and Bridge Road Brewers.

Like many Victorian country towns, Beechworth was built on the back of a gold-rush. The architecture of the town reflects Victorian sensibilities, albeit on a smaller scale than places such as Ballarat or Bendigo. Beautiful nonetheless. Among this grandeur, The Provenance Restaurant is located in the chambers of what was once the Bank of Australasia.

Vegetables, puffed rice and congee sauce

On Saturday evening, with great excitement, we sat down to our six course degustation menu with matching wines, starting with the pickled, cooked and raw vegetables,  puffed rice and congee. The interest in this dish was created by the array of textures present: the pop of the puffed rice, the softness of the congee and the crunch of the pickled vegetables. I loved the look of this dish, which had a brightness and hinted at the coming of spring. I chose to match this dish with sake instead of wine, ‘Choujya Kimkame Ca 70′. This was quite a memorable sake, earthy, almost mushroom-like taste and exceptionally smooth.

Roasted broccoli

Our next course was the roasted broccoli, white bean puree, confit garlic, lemon, anchovy custard and bacon. This dish was a sophisticated interpretation of the classic pairing of broccoli with a salty partner, given added depth by the white bean puree. It was light and satisfying.

Braised and grilled octopus salad

Our third course of braised and grilled octopus, red wine, aioli, potato, fennel and preserved lemon salad had more of a mediterranean influence. The octopus was soft and tender, with citrus highlights provided by the preserved lemon.

Slow cooked pork belly

The slow cooked pork belly, soy milk and miso broth, daikon, mushrooms and black oil is, for me the stand-out dish of the evening. The pork was meltingly tender, the soy milk and miso broth both sublime and comforting, something that would be prepared on a cold winter’s day. The mushrooms provided an earthiness and the daikon a bit of ‘tooth’ against the soft pork. With its combination of flavours and textures and visual impressiveness, this dish truly reminded me of cuisine we had experienced in Japan.

Wagyu flat iron steak and short cooked short rib

Our last savoury dish of the evening was the grass-fed wagyu flat-iron steak, slow cooked short rib, grilled spring onions, smoked tofu dressing and konbu no tsukudani. This was another excellent dish, drawing on classic Japanese flavours and techniques. The beef rib had a depth of flavour that I hadn’t experienced before. The combination of tender beef and smoked tofu dressing had us crying out ‘more please’! I particularly liked the inclusion of the grilled spring onions, which reminded me of their paring with meat on yakitori in Japan.

Pineapple curd, roasted pineapple and chrysanthemum jelly

Our final dish of the evening was the pineapple curd, roasted pineapple, pickled mandarins, almonds and chrysanthemum jelly. This colourful dish was the perfect way to end the meal, with the fruit cleansing the palate and the curd and fragrant jelly providing a slight richness that rounded the dish off. This dish, with its multiple elements, combination of textures and sophisticated preparation techniques highlighted Michael Ryan’s impressive skills.

We thoroughly enjoyed our degustation meal at The Provenance. Each dish provided an array of sensory delights, and the Japanese influences transported us back to a beloved country. It’s an experience I highly recommend and one I wouldn’t hesitate to try again. Our accommodation was superb too. Our room was spacious, well-appointed, warm (even on a cold winter’s night in Beechworth) and had a very comfortable King size bed, and a very large spa, which was a great way to relax and unwind. If you’re looking for a little luxury, an amazing dining experience and a weekend away, this is the place to go.

For some other perspectives see these reviews: Ms I Hua, Out of My Kitchen, Where’s the Beef and Eat, Drink, Stagger

What we had: Degustation meal with matched wines $140pp (there is also a vegetarian degustation available).

The Provenance
86 Ford Street
Beechworth
5728 1786