#gundaroo

[jordanleekspin]

[bonchjela]

Today last year, I had the pleasure of dining in a rustic restaurant, a hotel then. Established in 1865, The Royal Hotel is full of character - a working fireplace, stone walls splattered with paintings of nature, friendly waiters and the food... Oh. My. God. The quail, the ash dusted kangaroo loin, the dessert!!! Orgasmic! #australia #newsouthwales #southerntablelands #gundaroo #grazing #restaurant #travel #traveladdict #wanderlust #lelsincanberra (at Grazing)

[bonchjela]

Sunset in Gundaroo. #australia #newsouthwales #southerntablelands #gundaroo #sunset #nature #landscape #sky #travel #traveladdict #wanderlust #lelsincanberra

[littlemissthinksalot-blog]

Grazing Dinner with Mount Majura Wines

For ages and ages people have been saying "You should have a food blog" and I have been saying "What a great idea!" and then doing nothing about it.

So now I am going to sit down and write about my dinner even though I really want to watch Mad Men.

This is how we got to Grazing:

Last year, a friend of mine was saying how much he and his person like Grazing, but how it's such a pain because it's a longish drive and they both like to drink.  I like Grazing.  I don't really drink.  So I offered to drive, and as is always the way we took ages to lock in a time, but eventually we picked one and I booked for us and our people and it turned out there was a four course dinner with matched wines from the Mount Majura vineyard on the night that we wanted, and did we want to join in?  We said yes please.

Grazing is like a little cottage in a country town, except that its layout is a bit too intricate and interconnecting for that, and sometimes there are multiple fireplaces in one room, and they have a big kitchen off to the side and also a big bathroom for multiple guests.  So not really like a little cottage at all, I guess.

When we walked in, no one was around as yet, and we spotted the table notes.  We learned that an ACT politician would be attending, and that they had been allocated a nice table.  Due to a conversation I had had with a staff member earlier in the week, the notes next to my name were shorthand for 'psychologically allergic to mushrooms.'  This made us laugh a lot.  

Interestingly, our table was right next to the ACT politician's.

First up was the amuse bouche: steamed scallop with fennel, apple, radish and pickled ginger.

Around the table, it was thought that the scallop was very well-cooked, but my friend was a bit whiny that his was stuck to the shell.  Then we all had a brief moment of panic about whether or not we'd used the wrong knife and fork, but everyone else in the room had done what we had.  Has Titanic taught us nothing?

The amuse bouche was accompanied by Mount Majura's 'The Silurian' 2010 - Sparkling Chardonnay Pinot Noir.  I had a sip.  I thought it tasted like apples, but I don't know whether it was just the power of suggestion because I'd read that that's what the amuse bouche contained.

Next up was the first course: smoked rainbow trout croquette with artichoke, burnt leek and parsley picada.

I envisaged scales and this gave me the slightest of heeby-jeebies, but when it arrived I was very relieved to that a) they were nowhere to be seen, and b) truth be told it didn't even look that fishy.  I also really like croquettes, so that was another plus.

It was accompanied by the 2013 Mount Majura Riesling.  I had a sip.

I think at around this point in the dinner my friend started relating a scandalous family secret that had just come to light, and we all oohed and ahed and demanded to be kept in the loop.

Second course was ash rolled kangaroo with beetroot and cassoulet beans, venison 'sausage', fried enoki and braised cavolo nero.

It was served with the Mount Majura Touriga 2013 -- a big hit on our table -- and the Mount Majura TSG 2012.  The boys waxed lyrical about peppery notes and raspberries and things being on the nose.  I had a sip of each and thought they both tasted like red wine.

Despite the hilarious table notes, our mushroom hypochondriac still got fried enoki on his kangaroo, so my colleague claimed them and pronounced them delicious.  Which they were.  And look at that pretty beetroot smear.

Third course was shredded pork cheek braised in Shiraz with roast celeriac chip, candied red cabbage, parsnip and slow cooked pork belly.

I really enjoyed this dish, but the feeling around the table was that the skin wasn't crunchy enough, and that the red cabbage was not cutting through the fat of the pork belly as it should, because it had been soaked in butter.  I appreciated the commentary, because it gave me things to say in my food blog.

The third course was matched with the Mount Majura Shiraz 2011 and the Mount Majura Tempranillo 2012.  My person didn't want his Shiraz but felt obliged to drink it because he'd paid for it.  I said I'd have it and he raised objections because I was the designated driver.  I pointed out that all up I'd still only had five or six sips, and the table ruled it OK.

Around this point, we all remembered how much we love Grazing and enjoy the food there.  It's easy to forget because of the drive, but it's always worth it.

The last course was dessert: caramelised white chocolate and honey ice cream filled fig with warm hazelnut pudding and port reduction.

One of my dinner companions set himself to explaining that white chocolate isn't actually chocolate.  All expressed surprise that the fig was a deep-fried beignet, followed by delight and rapture over the hazelnut pudding.  So delicious and sauce-y.  Once I'd tasted it, the Tsharke 2007 Fortified Touriga it came with seemed a lot less sweet.  

One of us thought fig was a weird combo with hazelnut pudding.  Another thought the fig itself was fine, but the fact that it was fried made it strange.  A third disagreed with them both and loved all elements together.  I was just happy to eat dessert.

All in all, a great night!  Grazing delivered as always, as did Mount Majura Vineyard, a great small company with a big heart (or so they said, and they seemed sincere).  The designated driver drove back safely, and plans were made to go in on a box of Touriga.

'Til next time.

[finefunventure]

We had a free camping success last night at this little park in Gundaroo. Toilets, showers, shade and barbie all for a wee donation. Places like this are why travelling in Australia is so great. Thanks to Camps Australia Wide for this and many other recommendations.

[stephzuniga]

If you ever find yourself in Gundaroo....

  This weekend we were in Canberra for the Half Ironman.  Yes, The Runner went well, No, he did not come off his bike.  Thank goodness!

We had a lovely weekend exploring Canberra- well, that was really only Saturday and really, we spent most of it driving…

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