A reason to celebrate Geelong fine dining

WITH CAM O’KEEFE

We are so blessed in Geelong for many culinary reasons. There’s a bounty of good food produce, quality wine and niche beverage craftsmen, and a growing number of artisan farmers/smallgoods makers.

During the past week, our local fine dining scene has experienced a celebration as one of the region’s brightest culinary stars reaffirmed its current trading status.

We were thrilled to hear that Tulip restaurant earnt its (much-deserved) Chef’s Hat back in last week.

Tulip has been a staple of our local dining scene for well over a decade now, having spent much of this time close to the top of the best tables to book in our region.

Congrats to the team there. If you haven’t been there in months or years, now is the time.

Heading coastal, and a dinner I enjoyed at Last One Inn was well worth the car ride, thanks to their new(-ish) kitchen recruit, Will Moyle.

He was last stationed at The Continental (Little Malop Street) where he was cooking some of the best food our CBD had tasted in a long time.

You can now find the man cooking an Otways produce-driven menu with a slight Latin/South American influence, particularly thanks to the kitchen’s open-air parrilla grill.

Think tostadas, crudo, local venison and Basque cake (you get the idea) with lots of choice and lots of variety – it’s a pretty convincing food menu while remaining fairly priced.

Closer to home, there’ll shortly be another, more sophisticated offering added to Highton’s somewhat dull eat-out options, with the team behind Vietnamese restaurant Anh Chi Em set to open their version of a French bistro just a few shopfronts away.

Judging by how busy ACE can get is any indication, this could indeed by a very welcome addition to the suburb’s dining scene.

Looking for a local wine bargain this winter? I was sceptical at first, but there’s a cleanskin – i.e., a wine with damaged (or no) label – from the Surf Coast worthy of your attention.

Cabernet Sauvignon isn’t a variety synonymous with the Geelong wine region, but when grown thoughtfully in the right micro climate, it can still work (and thrive).

And from this small Paraparap vineyard comes a lovely, medium-aged Cabernet priced about as good as you’ll ever get, at $15.

I’ve enjoyed a couple of bottles now, which shows ready-to-drink warming (yet fine) tannins, a fruit profile that’s starting to slightly fade, but also mixing with delightful tertiary spice/earthy notes.

The wine we’re discussing is a 2012 Cabernet from Wolseley Wines, and remember: it’s $15 a bottle.

Finally, how busy is the Petrel Hotel right now?! I spoke with one of the owners and apparently the place is booked most nights of the week. The residents of postcode 3218 should rejoice – what a great pub!

Coming up, the meat maestro himself, Adrian Richardson, will be hosting a sold-out dinner at his namesake restaurant in a couple of weeks: TGP will report back on this one, as rumour has it these dinners will be held monthly and are shaping up to be worth the curiosity.