It’s Saturday afternoon, and the warm autumn afternoon light is pouring through the windows. The room buzzes with couples and small groups drinking, laughing, and enjoying the Peninsula’s newest wine bar. Banksia Wine Room is a collaboration between legendary hospitality troopers chef Bernard McCarthy and his partner Georgie Linton who have teamed up with Ang Strickland and Chantelle Chiron from Rye Independent Wine Store. This food and wine alliance doesn’t just work. It works brilliantly.
Bernard has taken his experience cooking award-winning fine dining and simplified his style to come up with a compact menu of produce-driven snack-size dishes to complement the wines. There could be some deep-fried snapper croquettes with a silky interior inside a crunchy golden crust, topped with an olive wrapped in a white anchovy. Try a sliver of crisp filo topped with creamy goat’s cheese, some sweet honey-roasted cherry tomatoes, and some mouth-popping pearls of salmon caviar. Then there are classic wine-friendly dishes to share, like a pot of smooth duck liver parfait with a disk of earthy beetroot gel and a gently spiced relish of Dromana rhubarb. There is enough complexity and substance on the menu to put together a meal, but that is not the point of Banksia. This is the place to come together, drink some exceptional but accessible wine, have a few plates, and loads of fun.
The wines-by-the-glass drinks list is small but diverse with nine offers. There’s a French sparkling from Burgundy for $18, an Austrian Gruner Veltliner for $13 and a Heathcote shiraz for $13. These are good prices in an industry where the money diners are expected to pay for wine is soaring. Don’t expect to see a cavalcade of the Peninsula’s cool-climate favourites. Instead, look forward to ordering wines from small family-owned producers across Australia, France and Italy.
The action takes place in a historical store on Point Nepean Rd that was until last year Kobi Jack’s. The brick walls have been painted white and olive green to match the banquettes. Bare blonde wood tables are set with fine stemware – you can’t drink this quality wine out of anything else – and there are tables outside and seats at the bar. The open kitchen out back gives a sneak into the workings of Bernard and his team. The front-of-house crew comprises seasoned professionals with gigs at Movida in Melbourne and Donna Maria in Flinders under their belts.
Banksia Wine Room is an excellent example of where modern dining is heading – more casual and less stuffy. More straightforward food with a focus on local and seasonal. Dishes with fewer elements but great quality ingredients. A less structured menu with the expectation that you’re here to graze, not to dine. The overall offer allows diners to have a brief encounter with a plate or two and a glass of wine, or stay longer and dig deeper into the wine list and parade of delicious little dishes. Banksia nails the wine bar concept and makes a welcome addition to the Peninsula’s already thriving food and wine space.
RICHARD CORNISH
Richard Cornish is a freelance food writer filing regular food news stories for newspapers and magazines across Australia, including Eat.Drink Mornington Peninsula and each month in Mornington Peninsula Magazine.
Recent Comments