Travelling in Mary Janes

I am, a huge lover of Wineries.

There is something oddly relaxing and wonderfully refreshing about taking the day off to drive around to different wineries and sample tastings. But going through an entire day of wine tastings means one does get hungry along the way. On my last wine tasting day trip, I booked my friends and I in for a treat at Yering Station for lunch.

The restaurant itself is minimalistic in its decor, giant ceiling to floor glass panels make up the walls, and you are able to enjoy your meal while overlooking the grandeur that is Yarra Valley. The service was fast and friendly, and they worked quickly to put you at ease so you can sit back and relax into a beautiful meal.

After the picks of the day were selected and our order sent along to the kitchen, a basket of fragrant smelling bread appeared on the table along with red capsicum pesto. I will be honest, it sounded really weird. But it tasted absolutely heavenly. The pesto is freshly made on-site and should you so wish, they will gladly whip you up a jar of it at the inexpensive price of $8.50 per jar. No preservatives, so you will have to be sure to finish it soon. However given how delicious it was, I doubt that would truly be a problem.

Here is what I ordered for the day. At first glance, one would think that I had just dished out $35 for not very much. However, when you sink your teeth into each and every morsel of the lamb, you get an incredible burst of flavour and every bite is juicy. Definitely one of the best lamb meals I’ve had. I do wish I had more of it, but then that might just be the greedy side of me talking.

I love eating out with friends. It means a larger variety of dishes on the table, and sometimes even the chance to sample them (and sometimes, you even end up wishing you had ordered their choice instead..). The picture above shows the day’s restaurant special: Kangaroo with curry potato mash and asparagus. This was so juicy and flavourful. Well cooked but not too chewy. Why can’t everybody cook roo meat like this?

The roasted salmon fillet was sweet and delightful, tho according to my friend whose dish this belong to: the scallop tortellini tasted of lemon and not scallop. It was rather large and very well cooked. Too bad about not quite tasting like what it should!

This was the best dish at the table, hands down. While every other dish has been delightful in their own right, the baby snapper just about sent me to heaven. The natural sweetness of the fish made every chew send a thrill through, and my only regret was that it wasn’t my dish to finish. Did I mention that I’m rather greedy?

There is no way we could walk out without sampling their desserts offering. Two of my friends shared this delightful little plateful of sugar:

While another friend and myself couldn’t quite decide what to get (it all sounded so so so good!) so we went for the ‘chef’s special’ which was really, every single dessert on the menu but in tiny portions. This way we got to sample everything!

Food haven? Oh yes.

If you are in the area, definitely try to book yourself a table for lunch! And after lunch, you can have a walk around the beautiful grounds; head to the cellar door and have some wine tastings while admiring the artworks in the gallery or for the non-wine savvy, they also have a fresh produce room that stocks absolutely delicious local fresh produce like chutneys and relishes as well.

Yering Station Restaurant
38 Melba Highway
Yarra Glen, VIC 3775

Tel: +61 3 9730 0100
Website: http://www.yering.com
Email: info@yering.com

Photo credit: All photos on this post were taken by Melissa Loh.