Red Hill

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Polperro, and dining windows

Mornington Peninsula – Sunday 5 January 2025 – Lunch

I’d like to tell you a story. Let me begin by an admission that the restaurant is in the right. As in most accidents there is contribution by all parties though. This is one of those stories. Dun-Dun.

Polperro is a beautiful winery in the heart of Mornington Peninsula’s Red Hill. Today it is approaching thirty-five degrees, there is some nice music playing on the lawn, and the restaurant is cool and welcoming as the first guests arrive for midday seatings.

Everything is calm and just so. Riccardo comes to Catherine and my table and greets us with a nice introduction, and we have time to peruse the menu and wine list while our guests make their way to the restaurant. The first admission is that they are just under twenty minutes late to the table, having made their way from Melbourne.

Knowing our dining window is only two hours, we look to simultaneously catch up with our guests, but also order our drinks hastily, and hope that our snacks start coming out. This is a five course tasting menu with numerous components, and some need to be amended for Catherine’s gluten intolerance. We speak to Riccardo before our guests arrive to make sure the kitchen saw our note on booking, but are not explained what menu changes will be necessary. I notice early on some confusion on this, with the oyster covered in a delicious dessert lime foam, which is initially sent back to the kitchen, before being cleared again for take off to our table unchanged.

There is an early pace about things, but certainly not a rush, and it feels like we will not be catching up with the first course snacks taking quite some time to deliver to the table. As I’ve mentioned, starting proceedings late is our fault, but it cannot be that rare. The concern sets in when there are lengthy gaps between the chicken chawanmushi course, and the Moreton Bay bug course, and yet again to the final savoury course of impressively handled duck.

Earlier we had been warned about our two hour window (which was clear on booking as well) so with one course to go, and getting towards 2.15pm we are very aware our time is coming to an end. Interestingly, as a sign of things to come, the doors to the terrace are opened covertly around 1.30pm and the warm air starts heating the dining room, as a nod to the need to finish up that seems to be a feature of the early service, but perhaps not a good feature on a thirty-five degree day.

We know we have outlasted our two hour window, and we were given fifteen minutes grace, so we certainly do not complain about being escorted outside, though carrying our own drinks (wine and water glasses) was starting to verge on impolite. This was the point where the reasonable levels of service turned to average. With the later service guests coming in at 2.30pm the doors quickly shut, which was fair enough as I wouldn’t want to come to a baking restaurant either.

What also shut was most signs of any further service, with the terrace often bereft. We asked for our sparkling and tap water to be refilled and were given a jug of outside temperature water with no ice, and forgotten about for most of our time outside until later when my sparkling was again refilled. Our superb, but melting dessert, of chocolate tart with raspberry sorbet, was delivered long after any opportunity of a two hour dining window, making us start to question whether having a five course meal was even possible.

We were not alone by any stretch on the terrace. There was at least half a dozen tables finishing their meals in the heat, and others attempting to beat the dining window inside. At no stage was there any apology for the longer waits between courses, or for the stretching of the service team. In fact, I had to ask for my wine to be refilled with our bottle at the waitperson station so many times that Riccardo joked I was “thirsty”. The issue was each refill was three sips, and I like to drink a little after each mouthful. It is a winery after all.

Right at the outset we had apologised for starting the meal late. These things do happen though and we were on time having been close by earlier in the day. We tried to find out where our friends were on the way from Melbourne, but there is no mobile reception in the restaurant. Ironically I went out to the terrace to check if I could get better reception through the very doors that were opened ninety minutes later to let the restaurant warm up, but on this early occasion I was asked by the floorstaff to not use that door again!

Having let Riccardo know that our friends were 15-20 minutes late, the best practice would have been to bring snacks to the table which is the first course, quickly after they arrived, but I know kitchens don’t work that way and there is an order to service. At a restaurant with a set menu it is easier though.

In closing, I have clearly admitted fault, though there is contribution from the restaurant too. My advice is not to dismiss Polperro as a dining option, but to perhaps be fashionably early, or choose the later sitting. I also would like to suggest to the restaurant that some outdoor fans or a mist on the terrace could be a nice touch, and not outside the budget given the $140 per head menu, and reasonably expensive wine list (for a winery restaurant). Case closed.

Polperro Winery
https://www.polperrowines.com.au
150 Red Hill Rd, Red Hill
Phone +61 3 5989 2471

Recommended Mornington Peninsula lunches with review links:
Tedesca Osteria
Paringa Estate
Laura at Pt Leo Estate
Rare Hare
Ten Minutes by Tractor
Yet to be written about: Montalto

Recommended Mornington Peninsula dinners with review links:
Doot Doot Doot
Audrey’s

Summary of our week in Rye visiting various cafes and restaurants, including T’Gallant
And keep in mind St Andrew’s Brewery for a casual lunch too

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Tedesca Osteria – Red Hill, Mornington Peninsula – Monday 7 November 2022 – Lunch

The plaudits have come from seemingly everywhere for a relatively new destination restaurant, with attached accommodation, a leisurely hour or so drive from Melbourne. As with many acclaimed venues, the reasons are somewhat intangible. Sure there must be magnificent food (and wine), service, atmosphere, and environment, but there is often something else that adds the bow needed to be truly great.

Here at Tedesca Osteria, Graceburn House, and our accommodation for the evening, Glasshouse, there is a quality that I need to spend time articulating. Saying there is a friendliness that only the country can provide is too simple. Saying Bridgitte Hafner’s cooking is stunning is true, but her food has been exceptional far earlier in her career than this latest venture, including at a pop-up which gave some indication of her future intentions back in 2015 at Avani Winery. The feeling in the dining room is not uncommon in country dining settings either. Certainly, the majority (if not everyone) in this room is here to have a wonderful long lunch in very capable hands.

It is fair to say there is no fussing in this entire dining room, and zero stuffiness, which naturally puts you at ease. It does mean to not expect incredibly attentive service, but you are not looking around for long, and requests are never met with any resistance. As an example, a few months ago when booking we passed on Catherine’s gluten intolerance. While the staff didn’t openly say they had it noted down, when Catherine mentioned it, they also didn’t make her feel uncomfortable. It was remembered throughout the service, including serving the seafood minus pasta because it sounded so great as a dish and she told our waitperson she didn’t want to miss out.

There is an extensive cellar and the wine knowledge of the waitstaff is impressive. Towards the end as I looked to pair a red with the suckling lamb course, although it was a little heavier on tannins, the fact I was interested in the Dolcetto d’Alba was encouraged by our waitperson. I liked this style where you are assisted to make a decision without feeling obliged to follow one person’s opinion, and actually guided to go with your gut. There was zero upselling.

As you are introduced to the restaurant there is a playful statement that acts partly as a warning, “lunch will last around three and a half hours”. The staff knowing we are staying the night surely helped, but no doubt you cannot finish lunch in less than two and a half hours and we went for four! So playful yes, but true, definitely. Even with our free flowing conversation we did sometimes pause and say “I wonder when the next course is” and it normally arrived momentarily, as if the staff were listening out (but I trust they were not). The utterly delicious bite of a “zeppola”, with the most incredibly pronounced anchovy encapsulated in the Italian deep fried pastry, is not followed immediately with the snacks course, so we enjoy sipping on our Diebolt-Vallois Blanc de Blancs Prestige NV. The champagne is impressive, and the first time we have tried this House.

After a leisurely wait, the snacks come out in all their glory. The Cypriot pita with pumpkin and cinnamon is my favourite for its depth of flavour, and delicate exterior, but everything is delicious with the focaccia really accentuating the various dips and sauces. While the carrots and artichokes straight out of the extensive restaurant garden are delightful, the grilled octopus wows with its perfect texture that is a pleasure to eat.

This is the kind of restaurant that you cannot help walk around and look at the art, and take a deep breath outside of the fresh Red Hill air. On our way outside earlier we caught more than a glimpse of the pasta (sorpresine) which look like tortellini but without any filling. This is served as our next course with king prawns and mussels in an elegant and flavoursome crustacean and romesco broth. What a revelation this dish is to me. Having grown up with loaded “spaghetti marinara” from South Terrace in Fremantle which had the elegance of a sledgehammer, this pasta and seafood from Tedesca is easily the best, and perfectly restrained version I have ever eaten. I openly told the waitstaff that I was thinking of licking the bowl but showed the same restraint the kitchen must to not overdo this dish.

As if knowing the follow up is as important as the star dish (in my opinion), the Bowen coral trout comes out looking like a starlet too. Oh my this is about as good as a little fillet of fish gets. The charred spring onion sauce and pickled shiitakes are terrific too, but nothing takes away the limelight from the trout. We are nearing the end of our Moorooduc Estate Robinson Chardonnay, which has turned out to be a nice selection from a nearby vineyard. It is a premium offering by Moorooduc which is a winery I’ve now had two outstanding bottles from in as many weeks (the other a Pinot Noir at Aru).

I’m now on to the Dolcetto d’Alba (E. Pira by Chaira Boschis) and while the waitperson was right that it is a touch tannic for the suckling lamb, I’m glad I tried it. The lamb is another excellent dish, but I cannot help but think the serving size is to accommodate far bigger eaters than Catherine and I. You don’t get tasty lamb with chickpeas and chorizo often, so we managed to finish every last mouthful in any case. The side salad is also completely finished, suggesting it is far better than average, with the orange really lifting it.

With Catherine’s fresh mint tea, and my coffee ordered, dessert arrived and whilst more petite than our final savoury course, the torte with a filling of rhubarb, strawberries, and fig leaf ice cream, was a tremendous finish to an utterly superb meal. We had nowhere to be except Glasshouse next door to relax for the evening (and enjoy our charcuterie platter we ordered too; post bath!) A long, leisurely, luxurious lunch left us with lasting memories, plans to come back with a group (perhaps in the private room for twelve), and a rather full belly. Monday has never been so good.

Tedesca Osteria (and Graceburn)
1175 Mornington Flinders Road, Red Hill
https://www.tedesca.com.au/
bookings@tedesca.com.au