Food and drink
For breakfast and coffee ENZO
Peppers Creek, 1946 Broke Road, Pokolbin enzohuntervalley.com.au Diners regularly interrupt their breakfast to take a turn around Enzo café’s perimeter. The courtyard, with its brick paving warmed by the sun and its soothing water feature, invites such relaxed perambulation with a good flat white in hand. The menu at day’s open is a brief list of well-executed fare, including local free-range eggs and some-of-everything breakfast boards in vegetarian and ham-lovers’ varieties.
For lunch MARGAN RESTAURANT
1238 Milbrodale Road, Broke margan.com.au Located in Broke, the Margan estate is anything but. Owners Andrew Margan (winemaker, viticulturist) and Lisa Margan (chef, nutritionist, organic farmer, restaurateur) have coaxed a bounty of riches from the earth. The ethos at the restaurant, which is headed by Lisa and head chef Thomas Boyd, is “estate grown, estate made”. From the alfresco tables, guests can see the 4000-square-metre biodynamic plot that produces 90 per cent of the ingredients. The estate grows vegetables and fruit and has olive trees, beehives, chooks happily pecking insects among rows of heirloom tomatoes (truly organic pesticide) and a flock of sheep. Butter, cheese, salumi, bread, pasta and gelati are prepared on site and the Mediterranean-influenced menu changes according to what’s pulled from the soil.
For dinner EXP.
1596 Broke Road, Pokolbin exprestaurant.com.au The opening flourish sets the tone for a meal at Exp. as something not merely consumed but experienced: mortars filled with vivid-green herbs, snap-frozen by liquid nitrogen, are brought to the table, steam billowing. Ownerchef Frank Fawkner presents each diner with a pestle and tells them to go at it posthaste. The greenery, pounded to a fine dust, is combined with butter then spread on rounds of housemade sourdough. There follows a parade of dishes such as housemade Jersey-milk haloumi with pumpkin and warrigal greens and Australian Pinnacle Meats Wagyu with native rice, mushroom, black garlic, daikon and wasabi. Exp. stands for any word starting with those letters, especially experience and experimental.
For taking home COCOA NIB
Keith Tulloch Wine, 996 Hermitage Road, Pokolbin cocoanib.com.au While her mother is manning the counter at Cocoa Nib, chocolatier Aymee Slaviero, the owner of this temple to the mighty bean, is in a purposebuilt kitchen in her garage, creating. Until recently, Slaviero singlehandedly produced every block, bar, Easter egg and mousse-filled chocolate inside this Aladdin’s cave of confectionery. The display is as beautiful as a jewellery store but any reluctance to destroy these perfect creations is soon forgotten when the chocolate starts melting on your tongue. Bags of Orange Kisses and Coconut Roughs and blocks studded with Turkish delight and pistachios should find their way to your home. Don’t neglect the cakes and local Silverskin coffee. And whatever you do, buy extra Macadamia Coffee Toffee. Trust us.