THE GREAT ESCAPE
Australia’s South West is where Lexus breaks new ground, as it branches off the carmaker path towards a lifestyle brand with its Escape To Amazing experience at Margaret River. Mei Anne Foo hops on for the ride
Ialmost killed a kangaroo. The marsupial hopped out of nowhere, landing right in front of the powerful Lexus NX 300 I’m behind the wheel of. Instinctively, I swerve to the left, realising retrospectively in that split second as the compact crossover hits gravel that it might have been safer to stay the course. But as quickly as I turned, I manage another swing, bringing the vehicle back onto the road and narrowly missing hitting the roo – or so I thought.
Heart still palpitating throughout the otherwise trouble-free cruise, I steer slowly along a winding road, trying to take in Australia’s spellbinding south-western coastline before me. Our convoy finally pulls to a stop at an elevated car park overlooking Yallingup Beach. Rudimentary inspections reveal that the NX has escaped without a scratch, but others who drove behind us tell me that they saw the small mammal go under the mini suv before hobbling away. Strangely, nobody in the car felt any sort of impact.
“Shows you how solidly built the Lexus NX is,” says Mike from the expert driving team, who’s usually the one in the driver’s seat. “And I’d say, you handled it pretty well. This happens all the time, though not usually in the middle of the day. Come to think of it, I’ve never seen one come up that close before either. We were lucky! In more ways than one.”
Mike’s team is responsible for chauffeuring guests around for the duration of Lexus’ four-day Escape To Amazing event at Margaret River, a first-of-its-kind, experiential journey that aims to show customers that the Japanese luxury car marque can do more than just transport people. Lexus wants to transport the senses as well, avows Toyota Motor Corporation President Akio Toyoda, who is actively overseeing the brand transformation.
ROAD TO TABLE
My senses were transported all right. From the scenic drive to the table I’m now sitting at, set especially for us inside the owner’s private estate at Wise Wine.
I let out a nervous laugh as I stare at the pieces of kangaroo meat served in front of me: spice-cured, chopped, cooked to medium rare and lined up perfectly on a plate – paired with miso made of sandalwood nuts, which took six months to ferment. The sauce’s acidity counteracts the gamy taste of the meat. This stunning dish is presented by celebrated chef and fervent forager Paul Iskov. The chieftain of Fervor, which provides pop-up dining experiences throughout Western Australia, even garnishes the steak with some crispy saltbush collected earlier that morning during our scavenging masterclass held near Meelup Beach.
The amazingly flavourful lunch, though, is proving that it isn’t just a typical field-to-table display of skills. “If you’d actually killed that kangaroo, it would have been a road-to-table experience too,” jokes Vanniya Sriangura from Thailand, one of the couple dozens of guests around Asia-Pacific transported to a land where a dozen marsupial kinds live. I reply: “I’d certainly be putting the ‘gas’ in gastronomy then, huh?”
While I don’t want being a kanga killer or crippler on my conscience, chef Iskov’s take on the bush tucker meat gives me some semblance of a
WE CONNECT WITH THE SPIRIT OF THE LAND THROUGH SONGS OF THE WADANDI PEOPLE, CUSTODIANS OF MARGARET RIVER
guilt-free reason to tuck in. “Kangaroo is, I believe, one of the most sustainable meats in Australia; there are two of them for every human here. Plus, they’re extremely healthy, being low in fat. And they produce less methane than other farmed animals, making them more environmentally friendly,” says the chef nicknamed Yoda (“I’d like to think it’s because I’m old and wise,” he quips, “not because of my big ears.”).
ROAD TO THE RIVER
Apart from flora and fauna sightings, and smells and tastes only foraging can deliver, we connect with the spirit of the land through the singing of the Wadandi people, custodians of the Margaret River land, around a crackling campfire in the middle of the woods on a chilly first night.
We also tune in to the visionary stories of culinary geniuses the likes of chef Shaun Quade, the successful but media-shy co-founder of virtual reality-primed Melbourne restaurant Lûmé ( he leaves to open a new restaurant in Los Angeles this year), who explains his high-tech creations, and TV cooking royalty Nigella Lawson, who expresses how “words are like ingredients”. A short but sweet meet-and-greet at the Lexus-exclusive supper area at Xanadu Winery leaves guests visibly beaming at the sight of the domestic goddess.
Also memorable is the private art tour and Art Series tasting at Leeuwin Estate, which came about when its founder Denis Horgan first visited Château Mouton-Rothschild, the pioneer in commissioning leading contemporary artists to create paintings for wine labels. Horgan shares: “I asked owner Philippine de Rothschild if she minded us putting artworks on our labels as well and she said not at all. While they only put up one painting per year, we do five and now have a collection of 150.”
Simone Horgan-Furlong, Horgan’s daughter and second-generation co-owner of Leeuwin Estate, gives us the grand tour. Walking through the modest art gallery, she illustrates the provenance behind important purchased paintings, including four by John Olsen and one by Sir Sidney Nolan, and their relation to the respective wine labels. “What I love about the art is it tells us a story – a story of every vintage,” she shares. “Even though the vintages we produce are very consistent, they have their own nuances. The art is our way of saying every wine is unique, so every Art Series wine will have a different painting on the label. We’re proudly Australian, so they’re all by Australian artists.”