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Lunching on The Terrace cont.
I decided to try an entree from the specials menu, and even
though the soft shell crab was hardly regional and must have travelled a long
way, it arrived happily sitting on soft wide
 rice noodle in an agadashi broth with three perfect
smoky oysters. Beautifully balanced crunchiness from the tempura battered
crab and the delicate broth. Jan had the sweet and sour roasted pork cheek on a
cucumber and rocket salad. It was great as well.
For mains Jan's order of slow cooked Rutherglen suckling lamb, with eggplant and
nettles and a glowing saffron potato puree arrived in an earthen ware casserole.
had the Twice cooked duckling in hoi sin sauce that came with stir fried Asian
vegetables and the same rice noodle as my entree. Both meals were delicious, my
hoi sin glazed duck was crisp on the top and inside fell apart on the fork. The
only criticism was the overpowering hoi sin sauce that smothered the flavour of
the fresh greens. I happily left the puddle.
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For wine - we had, by the glass, a robust 2006 All Saints
Estate Chenin Blanc, the lighter 2006 St Leonards Semillon Sauvignon Blanc and I
had a
lovely peppery 2004 St Leonard's Pinot Noir which went well with the duck. There
were obviously some Sunday lunch regulars at the tables, and I recognised some local wine
makers eating with their families. There were a couple of (new baby boom) young babies
and prams, and it all felt family, country and right. Outside, groups strolled
around the old buildings, or picnicked on the lawns.
 Before
we left, we walked into The Indigo Cheese company (named from the region's shire
which is
Indigo). This is co-owned by Paula Jenkin who was an early innovator in artisan
cheeses with the Woodside Cheesewrights in South Australia. She was
originally from Wangaratta and has returned to the area to open an artisan
cheese factory.
(The Indigo Cheese Co
closed just two months later.)
The All Saints website lists events and has
an online purchasing facility.
FH Jan 07
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