Woodland House

Woodland House

Over the last few years Kim and I have been to a few degustations, we have been to Nobu in the Crown Casino and in Hollywood, vue de monde,  Eau De' Vie  and a few others. It was our 2nd Year Anniversary on Saturday night and i wanted to do something special. Last year we did not celebrate because we went to America instead. This year we celebrated by going to Wood Land House.
As you walk up the stairs to this mansion you ring the bell and they open the door, well everyone else did i just opened it and the guy looked really confused. They took us to our seats.
We had a choice of a five course or a eight course. Degustations never really fill me up so i ordered the eight course.

As a starter they gave us Purple Congo Potato crisps. The crisp was very crunchy and light, a little bit salty but interesting at the same time.

The second course was Foie gras with kiwi and a hint of chilli. It was fried so as you ate it, it exploded in your mouth. I guess thats what i like about degustations you get to try different foods cooked different ways.

The next dish was Smoked oyster, abalone with compressed cucumber and samphire. Samphire  is a coastal species with white flowers that grow in the United Kingdom.

 We got given bread, they had two choices of fresh brown bread and a scroll. Over the evening i ended up eating four of each because i was really hungry.

The third dish was Tamarind glazed kingfish, wood ear and preserved grape. Wood ear is a edible fungus that is used commonly used in Asian cooking.

The fourth dish was Rock flathead with lemon verbena and mustard. Lemon verbena is a small shrub had adds a flavour of lemon when used in cooking. It was a nice twist to fish without adding actual lemon.

We had two  surprise dishes, the first one was spanner crab with coconut and bamboo salt. It was quite refreshing with the coconut. 

The second surprise dish was Wallaby with a special cracker, I have had kangaroo but never wallaby so it was a nice surprise.

The fifth was the standout and my absolute favourite dish, i took a photo of the menu but i did not read it so i was not expecting this. Quail, golden beetroot, duck tongue and purslane. Purslane is considered a weed in the United states but it added to food because it has a salty taste. The quail was cooked perfectly and so was the duck tongue. Duck tongue is hard to cook as it is small and can get rubbery very quickly. Most times i have had it, it is just fried so it is crispy. 

The sixth dish was Poached and roasted veal, asparagus and pickled kohlrabi. Kohlrabi is a type of cabbage.

The seventh dish was Venison, candied buddhas hand and juniper. I thought it was a carrot but i was mistaken because it tasted different. The venison was cooked well.

The eighth dish was Wood roasted corn with butter ice cream and chocolate.  It all worked together so well and tasted amazing.

We also had Yarra Valley berries wild fennel and a vanilla slice type thing.

The last treat was nuts covered in chocolate.

 It was a really nice evening and lovely way to spend our two year anniversary.

Kind E-Gards

Dale Stewart