Fusion, profusion, confusion

Last weekend I had a very surreal food experience. So surreal I?m still wondering if it really happened.



A group of us were staying at Mercure?s Balgownie Estate Vineyard Resort in the Yarra Valley for the annual Opera in the Vineyards.



Friday night and it was time to dine. It was a long time since my modest fruit and yoghurt lunch and I was ready to enjoy a good meal at the resort?s restaurant, Rae?s.



The first item on the menu seemed a trifle strange ? cream of peas and Granny Smith apple with candied beetroot and a smoked paprika twist. Was that a soup? Maybe. But I fancied prawns anyway.



They were listed as pan-fried in spicy sumac with creamy coriander polenta and a drizzle of red capsicum and coconut. That fusion of Middle Eastern, Italian, tropical and Asian flavours going on round the prawns should have sounded warning bells. However, I didn?t think I could tackle crispy scallop ravioli with cream of spinach, walnut, thyme and parmesan oil or a parfait of chicken livers cooked in kiwifruit wine with pear chutney. And the idea of lillypilly Chantilly mixing with the limes, capers and parsley oil on the cured trout sounded similarly odd.



Hey, I thought they said their food was simple. In fact the starters all looked fairly complicated. I know menu descriptions can sometimes look overly complicated and a couple of green dots on a plate can turn out to be the ?broad bean puree? or the ?capsicum reduction? on what initially looked like a shopping list. We ordered.









I could have done with more of the prawns and a lot less of the polenta.







One friend wasn?t paying attention and missed the ?crispy? adjective in the ravioli and so was expecting regular ravioli, not fried ones.







Another?s air-dried wagyu fillet sat in infused orange and cracked pepper, crowned with witlof salad and hummus.







I?d chosen a ballottine of chicken breast for my main and was starting to get a bit nervous about the portobello mushroom and feta filling and the accompanying puree of cocoa beans and green tea. It arrived with additional garnishes not even mentioned on the menu. The sad thing was all this busyness was total overkill. The chicken itself was delightful but the other trimmings defeated me and confused my palate



The slow-cooked duck leg in pineapple next to me came on a bed of broad beans, onion jam and bergamot orange sauce. Too many things going on there spoiled what he said was a great piece of duck. And so on round the table ? a reduction of coffee milk fought it out with celeriac mash, chorizo, baby tomatoes and marinated chickpeas round the lamb. A caramel and wasabi sauce finished the seared tuna with its muesli crust, carrots and cumin. The lottery of flavours left what was generally agreed was nicely cooked meat or fish struggling to assert itself.



The food, which should have been a highlight of the weekend, was very disappointing. Obviously a lot of work had gone into it but there was just too much happening on the plate. Perhaps the tapas and degustation culture has made us lean more towards savouring one taste sensation at a time.



I believe the restaurant has its own newly established vegetable garden. Hopefully the produce will be allowed to speak for itself in the future.



[Sorry about the quality of the photos. The restaurant was dimly lit and I dislike using a flash at the table.]