Millbrook Winery

As I'm not appreciative of wine, I haven't been to many wineries, but when I found out that alot of great restaurants are associated with wineries, I was keen to tag along in the next opportunity and just like that, an opportunity arrived on my doorstep like the arrival of my bf's relatives, what better way to show case W.A's fresh produce but through a winery that is Millbrook winery.

We took a 45 minute drive down south through the scenic countryside of Jarrahdale and as we turned the corner we were welcomed by a single building snuggled in the middle of green rolling hills beside a pristine man made lake and vineyards that seem to be vineless? We parked in what was a deserted carpark for which I thought.."oh god..this is when you kill me right?" turns out we were really early and the restaurant wasn't open for service yet.

Sheeps doing their thang

As service doesn't start till an hour, we happily walked around the area taking in the beautiful views, I loved the view of the sheeps in the far distance up the hills just doing their THANG..munching away on grass. We returned to the building and decided to try some wine tasting and as expected I couldn't tell between A to B and the supposedly claimed chocolate notes in wine A =-=.I just swirl my cup and pretend I know my thing.

We then went upstairs for our long awaited lunch and I was surprised to find alot of people dining in the restaurant especially for an isolated venue, the restaurant had views at all angles and had many awards displayed at the entrance, we were seated and greeted by our lovely and very professional waitress whom read out the specials for the day, as good as they all may sound we all opted for the items in the menu. We ordered the following:

Fremantle octopus, rasa's chorizo, pickled potato, smoked salmon

Baldivis rabbit, acciari butchers catechino, tomato sauce, handcut pasta

Market fresh fish of the day

foraged and farmed mushroom risotto, white truffle oil, parmesan

Free range pork loin, braised borlotti beans, local pancetta, caramelised shallots

dandaragan organic grass fed scotch fillet, chilli and anchovy braised brocollini, migas

Shortly after ordering, we were presented complimentary bread with butter and freshly made marmalade and pink salt. This was an odd combination to eat bread with and I was rather confused as to how to go about it. Nonetheless, there was nothing to complain about, it was complimentary after all.

Complimentary bread

I had the mushroom risotto, I was won over by the "white truffle oil" Love truffle! and LOve oil! This dish did not fail to impress, it was cooked perfectly, I've tried making risotto before and after two hours slaving over the stove constantly mixing and still having uncooked rice or rice thats just the wrong texture, I've become very appreciative of risottos and more willing to paying the $36 for what is really just rice and stock.

foraged and farmed mushroom risotto, white truffle oil, parmesan

I tried the pork loin and did not find much to rave about, flavours were rather subtle and very simple, I did notice that the caramelised shallots was done in wine as it had a rather sweet flavour to it. You might not want to take my word for it as I don't like/know wine but it did help with uplifting the flavours of the dish.

Free range pork loin, braised borlotti beans, local pancetta, caramelised shallots

I also tried the rabbit dish and initially, I was going to order this dish, but after realising it was just tossed in pasta, I opted out. The handcut pasta was cooked to perfection and the rabbit meat was lovely and tender enough to call it a good pasta dish.

Baldivis rabbit, acciari butchers catechino, tomato sauce, handcut pasta

Fish of the day

Everyone seemed to have enjoyed their meal, dishes were rather pricey but it is evident that the produce is fresh, I guess they didn't want to ruin the fresh produce with overwhelming flavours, keeping it simple and allowing the ingredients to speak for itself.