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Last night, my fourth visit since Dan Hunters arrival at the Royal Mail Hotel was the best to date. Having been somewhat disheartened on the visit prior to last at the repetition of some dishes from an earlier visit, six months and two seasons earlier, last night only the signature calamari and black rice dish was repeated and Dan Hunter's new entries clearly show a sophisticated evolution in his food.
The first course started with one I was fortunate enough to be a guinea pig for on an earlier date, pacific oysters with dried sea weed and marine essence. The oysters were seared just enough in a hot pan so they retained the ocean flavour and texture of a natural one, but this application of a little heat wonderfully heightened their natural flavour and gently bound any cream. My three guest, all previously cautious even of a Killpatrick left me nothing to finish off. The dish with marine essence, fried buckwheat and dried seaweed captures the soul of cold spring oceans and was even likened at the table to being dunked by a killer wave.
A smoked tuna broth, splendid on my last visit, now appears as a slightly thickened sauce garnishing beautifully arranged fresh sardine fillets. Served with a palo cortado sherry, the previous marriage of the sherry’s nutty and wild flower aromas, the herbaceousness of the shoots and the thick Japanese mouth filling bonito now goes just a little further with the addition of the dark bloodiness of a sardine, suitably Japanese, and the rich acorn fattiness of jamon botego. It was superb. In fact so good Lok Thorton even smiled when we speaking about the dish afterwards!
Next vegetables were given their moment of fame. Reminising on a winter vegetable salad and a pine mushroom dish with bone marrow and smoked leeks tonight was simply a melange of freshly picked flowers and leaves. Again served with white truffle and hazelnuts, this dish was the prettiest thing I have ever eaten, almost as if La Luna’s fine porcelain framed a three dimension Monet. With the Cullen 1994 chardonnay the combination of the malo richness and slight oxidisation of the wine with the white truffle and floral chlorophly flavours were a combination destined to be created.
The calamari, black rice and ginger was next. Forgiving the fact this dish is so 2007, we had asked to have a look at an Austrian Riesling with one of the courses and alongside the calamari we were presented with a Franz Hirtzberger 2006 Smaragd Riesling. At $160 it is not cheap but the match was spot on and the phenolics of this wine leave you wondering why Australia Rieslings don’t follow suit. And the squid ink tuille is a much loved personal favourite.
The next two dishes were born from a necessary deconstruction of an earlier dish. The harpuka with pork, yabbie and fennel now relieves the harpuka of the pressure put on its delicate flavour by the pork and instead introduces a sea urchin cream, brocolini and aloe vera. The flavours are now dignified and subtle. This however did not work with the slightly more aggressive burgundy chosen for this course. The remaining elements from the earlier dish, the pork yabbie and fennel, were left alone to do their thing on the next course. The belly is soft and gelatinous, sweet with rich pork fat and salty but not over-seasoned. Dan Hunters european style heavy handed seasoning is a reassuring demonstration of his core abilities and the respect he has for his dinners palate, often overlooked when haute cuisine sets off in pursuit of the slightly mystical and sublime. The yabbie, or red claw, poached and sitting on the belly was outshone only by a piece of subtlety aniseed tempura like fennel.
The main course, if you had to call one part of this dining curve the main was a piece of young spring lamb loin left wearing the necessary amount of fat atop. Served with young garlic shoots, Grampians sheep milk yoghurt and liquorice sand this dish was another demonstration of the evolution of the food from a earlier visit. Pulled back from a cheese course, the sheep’s milk united the dish with the pungency of lamb fat, cut then by the grassy sulphurous garlic shoots, finished with the olfactory sensation of liquorice. Served with a glass of local Crawford River 03 cabernet merlot, the dish ticked all the boxes. Fresh, local and sophisticated. Perhaps another meat course or a slightly larger version of this dish would not have gone astray though, as it was not just my greedy self with still room for a little more.
The first course started with one I was fortunate enough to be a guinea pig for on an earlier date, pacific oysters with dried sea weed and marine essence. The oysters were seared just enough in a hot pan so they retained the ocean flavour and texture of a natural one, but this application of a little heat wonderfully heightened their natural flavour and gently bound any cream. My three guest, all previously cautious even of a Killpatrick left me nothing to finish off. The dish with marine essence, fried buckwheat and dried seaweed captures the soul of cold spring oceans and was even likened at the table to being dunked by a killer wave.
A smoked tuna broth, splendid on my last visit, now appears as a slightly thickened sauce garnishing beautifully arranged fresh sardine fillets. Served with a palo cortado sherry, the previous marriage of the sherry’s nutty and wild flower aromas, the herbaceousness of the shoots and the thick Japanese mouth filling bonito now goes just a little further with the addition of the dark bloodiness of a sardine, suitably Japanese, and the rich acorn fattiness of jamon botego. It was superb. In fact so good Lok Thorton even smiled when we speaking about the dish afterwards!
Next vegetables were given their moment of fame. Reminising on a winter vegetable salad and a pine mushroom dish with bone marrow and smoked leeks tonight was simply a melange of freshly picked flowers and leaves. Again served with white truffle and hazelnuts, this dish was the prettiest thing I have ever eaten, almost as if La Luna’s fine porcelain framed a three dimension Monet. With the Cullen 1994 chardonnay the combination of the malo richness and slight oxidisation of the wine with the white truffle and floral chlorophly flavours were a combination destined to be created.
The calamari, black rice and ginger was next. Forgiving the fact this dish is so 2007, we had asked to have a look at an Austrian Riesling with one of the courses and alongside the calamari we were presented with a Franz Hirtzberger 2006 Smaragd Riesling. At $160 it is not cheap but the match was spot on and the phenolics of this wine leave you wondering why Australia Rieslings don’t follow suit. And the squid ink tuille is a much loved personal favourite.
The next two dishes were born from a necessary deconstruction of an earlier dish. The harpuka with pork, yabbie and fennel now relieves the harpuka of the pressure put on its delicate flavour by the pork and instead introduces a sea urchin cream, brocolini and aloe vera. The flavours are now dignified and subtle. This however did not work with the slightly more aggressive burgundy chosen for this course. The remaining elements from the earlier dish, the pork yabbie and fennel, were left alone to do their thing on the next course. The belly is soft and gelatinous, sweet with rich pork fat and salty but not over-seasoned. Dan Hunters european style heavy handed seasoning is a reassuring demonstration of his core abilities and the respect he has for his dinners palate, often overlooked when haute cuisine sets off in pursuit of the slightly mystical and sublime. The yabbie, or red claw, poached and sitting on the belly was outshone only by a piece of subtlety aniseed tempura like fennel.
The main course, if you had to call one part of this dining curve the main was a piece of young spring lamb loin left wearing the necessary amount of fat atop. Served with young garlic shoots, Grampians sheep milk yoghurt and liquorice sand this dish was another demonstration of the evolution of the food from a earlier visit. Pulled back from a cheese course, the sheep’s milk united the dish with the pungency of lamb fat, cut then by the grassy sulphurous garlic shoots, finished with the olfactory sensation of liquorice. Served with a glass of local Crawford River 03 cabernet merlot, the dish ticked all the boxes. Fresh, local and sophisticated. Perhaps another meat course or a slightly larger version of this dish would not have gone astray though, as it was not just my greedy self with still room for a little more.
Cheese was next and unfortunately I was a bit disappointed. Don’t get me wrong. I love cheese, and especially gorgonzola. But regardless of how good the piece of cheese is, to me dinning at the royal mail is not about showing off the best ingredients available but rather what can be done with these ingredients. It was for this reason I found a lonely looking piece of gorgonzola accompanied by a flavoursome yet inadequate celery garnish a bit of a letdown. As a part of the whole degustation, the flavour of the blue cheese was a wonderful introduction to the desserts and followed nicely from the lamb, but I don’t want to eat just a piece of cheese, for that I will go to deli or a bistro. Here I want to see what this magician in the kitchen can turn a bit of cheese into or even have him make the cheese himself, why not, they could have imported butter but they chose to make that . I look forward to the evolution of the cheese.
The first glance at something sweet for the night came in the form of a compressed mandarin and arbequina olive oil. This dish was a suitably necessary cleanser of the powerful gorgonzola and a subtle introduction to the chocolate that followed. The mandarin was an absolute citrus bomb with just enough sugar to balance the citric acid of the fruit, although it would be perfect if the toughness of the pith could be totally removed. All of this then washed away with a flawless quenelle of creamy olive oil ice cream, made with one of the tools pulled from the magicians hat - the ‘Paco Jet’.
The final course, and alike previous visits, was the absolute highlight of the night. Pistachio, hazelnut, honeycomb and chocolate. Here we were served another treat from the Paco Jet, Belgium chocolate straws, honeycomb delicate enough there was nothing to be pulled from your teeth afterwards, and pistachio and hazelnut. This magnificent piece of architecture was a rich, sweet, earthen flavour explosion that when combined with the Jose Romante cream sherry made your soul feel good.
The final course, and alike previous visits, was the absolute highlight of the night. Pistachio, hazelnut, honeycomb and chocolate. Here we were served another treat from the Paco Jet, Belgium chocolate straws, honeycomb delicate enough there was nothing to be pulled from your teeth afterwards, and pistachio and hazelnut. This magnificent piece of architecture was a rich, sweet, earthen flavour explosion that when combined with the Jose Romante cream sherry made your soul feel good.
The dining room has begun a much needed transformation, ditching the empty wine racks and abandoning the piano. The replacements, including a dark sleek counter and sandy plaster walls are elegant but the room still has a reminiscent cheapness of the days when salt and pepper calamari and a trio of dips adorned the menu. Unless up lighting of Mount Sturgeon can be arranged there is still a little way to go to give the room more charm at night.
The service, if only a little sterile, is flawless. No small feat when considering staffing difficulties in regional areas. Lok Thornton is extremely knowledgeable and it is well worth racking his brain during dinner. He has gathered a few new additions to his team, all of whom were well informed and professionally pleasant.
Sitting here reminiscing and recollecting my thoughts on last’s nights dinner I am interrupted by the phone. On the other end of the line is one of my fellow dinners from last night. No formalities or pleasantries to start this conversation off, just the exclamations of jubilant novice having just been introduced to the dining experience at the Royal Mail Hotel. “How good was that!?”, he rhetorically acclaims. Absolutely sensational I unnecessarily answered.
The service, if only a little sterile, is flawless. No small feat when considering staffing difficulties in regional areas. Lok Thornton is extremely knowledgeable and it is well worth racking his brain during dinner. He has gathered a few new additions to his team, all of whom were well informed and professionally pleasant.
Sitting here reminiscing and recollecting my thoughts on last’s nights dinner I am interrupted by the phone. On the other end of the line is one of my fellow dinners from last night. No formalities or pleasantries to start this conversation off, just the exclamations of jubilant novice having just been introduced to the dining experience at the Royal Mail Hotel. “How good was that!?”, he rhetorically acclaims. Absolutely sensational I unnecessarily answered.
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