November 2018
The Brae Restaurant in the small town of Birregurra in the Australian state of Victoria is the 44th best restaurant in the world according to the San Pellegrino Restaurant List 2017. Since the restaurant is only open for dinner on Thursday and Saturday evenings, I was not sure whether these opening hours were compatible with my trip.
It was not until the evening before that I decided to take the detour to the small village of Birregurra, where the number of sheep exceeds that of the inhabitants. The chef Dan Hunter completed his apprenticeship in one of the world’s best restaurants, the Basque restaurant Mugaritz. In just a few years, he was promoted to Chef de Cuisine.
Sea lettuce and southern rock lobster with all the spring flowers
Prawn head and kohlrabi taco, scampi roe and Australian citrus
Smoked eel doughnut, barbecued beetroot seasoned with Brae farm honey and rainbow trout roe
My favorite! Next to the stones you will find the iced oyster on the lower right: An oyster ice cream with powdered sea salad. Simply brilliant!
Tear drop peas grilled with beef fat, green almonds washed with celeriac pickle
Hapuku fish and winter onions, broad beans from this season and last
Sommerlad chicken ‘nose to tail’
Strawberry gum ice cream and frozen passion fruit
Left the baked meringue and macadamia with ridiculously good cream, then rhubarb and pistachio, blood and preserved blackberry and on the right side Brae farm strawberries
The price for the menu and the wine pairing was AUD 450 (USD 329, EUR 289). A reasonable price for this great performance!
The description of my one month trip from Sydney to Hunter Valley, then to Wilsons Promotory, via Great Ocean Road with the 12 Apostles to the wine regions Coonawarra, McLaren Vale, Barossa Valley and to Melbourne can be found on this website.
This text is an automatic English translation from the German original by deepl.com