Type of Venue: Restaurant, Winery, Wine Cellar
Cuisine: Modern Australian
Highly Recommended: Sourdough with olive oil butter, Pork Jowl, House made Mortadella, Pine Mushroom, Jerusalem Artichoke, Lamb Rump, Beef Brisket, Poached Apple, Montalto Pennon Hill and Estate wines
Their reputation precedes them, with 14 Chef’s Hats awarded to them by The Age Good Food Guide since they opened their doors in 2002. Following a redesign and concept refocus in late 2017, Montalto has elevated its popularity status even further. Owners John and Wendy Mitchell, along with an exceptionally creative and dedicated team, have introduced a unique concept to the Mornington Peninsula region. Wanting to be more than a dining destination, Montalto provides an unforgettable experience through its breathtakingly scenic views, relaxed ambience and interactive style.
Upon entering the Montalto restaurant, guests are exposed to an uninterrupted view of the estate’s hillside vines, visible from anywhere within the restaurant through the floor-to-ceiling windows. Specially-crafted chestnut tables and chairs fill the spaciously elegant dining room, whilst a stack of firewood and the noticeable absence of tablecloths pare the atmosphere back to a more relaxed and comfortable setting. The adjacent Piazza Cafe offers a slightly more casual experience, with both indoor and outdoor tables ideal for small and large groups, and retractable windows providing an immersive backdrop. On a sunny Autumn Sunday, couples, friends and families with young kids soak in the outdoor experience, wandering through the artistic sculpture-laden garden or perching themselves on the wooden terrace with a glass of wine in hand.
Back in the restaurant, Head Chef Gerard Phelan and his team are busy preparing and plating up dishes that justifiably belong in this fine dining restaurant with a difference. Separating themselves from other finer dining restaurant wineries in the area, the menu at Montalto doesn’t follow the traditional flow of entree, main and dessert. Instead, their intended focus is on a more relaxed style of dining, whereby guests are free to choose dishes that range from small to larger portions, all designed to be shared. This communal style encourages people to focus on the present, to forget about technology for a day, and to enjoy the experience of dining and interacting with others.
Passionate about promoting environmental sustainability, all of the woods, timbers and resources used to construct the Montalto venue comes from recycled materials. The kitchens at both Montalto and their adjoining venue, Tuck’s Ridge, do not use gas for cooking, instead relying on a fire-centred Asado Grill for Montalto, and an open rotisserie for Tuck’s Ridge. In addition, all of the land-grown produce is organically nurtured on-site, and foraged by the staff to help educate them about where the food comes from, and to involve them in the paddock-to-plate process. Staff training is very highly regarded at Montalto, with all staff required to spend time observing in the kitchen prior to working on the floor, thus ensuring that their working knowledge extends beyond the dining room.
Given Montalto is also a winery, it would be remiss not to enjoy a glass of wine with lunch. A fixture at Montalto, winemaker Simon Black successfully showcases the region’s uniquely flavoursome grapes through a wine list that focuses on the Mornington Pensinula, with Montalto Estate and Montalto Pennon Hill varieties offered. His dedication to his craft ensures that everyone can enjoy a glass of wine, no matter what their taste preference or wine-drinking experience level. Their current wine-making facility is in Main Ridge, but potential future plans may involve bringing this facility on-site, to complete the Montalto picture.
2016 Pennon Hill Pinot Noir ($13.00/glass)
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2017 Pennon Hill Tempranillo ($13.00/glass)
To start off the a la carte menu, a carefully curated selection of individually-portioned items show off the current seasonal produce. Oyster is simply served with a cucumber granita, whilst a Pork Jowl is topped and tailed with pickled rhubarb and a mustard leaf, respectively. The pork jowl is delicately cooked to retain a tender, juicy protein, purposefully topped with a gelatinous layer of fat for moisture and flavour. The subtle sweetness of the pickled rhubarb balances the richness of the pork, with customers encouraged to order one serving each to fully enjoy the taste experience.
Pork Jowl, pickled rhubarb, mustard leaf ($6.00)
Sourdough is made in-house, resembling a rye-based wheat that satisfyingly delivers a crusty exterior and fluffy centre. Although you must order these per individual serving (at an uncommonly seen price for bread), the simplistic experience of buttering the salt-sprinkled olive oil butter onto the bread is what customers should come to expect when dining at a higher-class restaurant. If you decide to order the House Made Mortadella as an additional dish, I’d recommend layering these thin slices atop the sourdough as well.
Sourdough, olive oil butter ($3.00)
House Made Mortadella (40g) ($9.00)
Moving onto the smaller sharing dishes, Pine Mushrooms are cooked to a delicately firm texture, retaining woody and earthy tones that denote their freshly-picked status that morning. Served with rapini (Mediterranean variety of turnip), gruyere and tarragon, the complexity of seasoned flavours in this vegetarian dish mostly balances except for a slight tendency towards salt-loving palates (safe to say, I have one of those).
Pine Mushroom, rapini, gruyere, tarragon ($16.00)
Jerusalem Artichoke is another estate-foraged dish that impresses, with the artichoke presented both as crisps and as a puree piped onto the plate. Pairing this vegetable with broccolini and goats curd delivers a light, fresh and earthy qualities that kept me going back for more.
Jerusalem Artichoke, broccolini, goat curd ($16.00)
An array of larger sharing dishes comes next. Proving the compatibility of locally sourced proteins (NB: all meat, fish and fowl are sourced from small businesses in the local area) with open fire, Lamb Rump is cooked to a perfectly pink consistency, served alongside a quenelle of green olives, macadamia and apple, chopped into tiny pieces to retain a crunchy texture. A clever twist on the classic pairing of sweet apple with a gamey protein.
Lamb Rump, green nolive, macadamia, apple ($38.00)
The elegantly rustic nature of cooking proteins over an Asado Grill remains consistent with the Beef Brisket, whose tender strands of rich meat almost fall apart when prodded with a knife and fork. Adding an unforeseen Asian-inspired component, house made XO sauce tops the pieces of brisket, made from a variety of seafood that has been cooked down for three days, then ground together to deliver a taste sensation with a chilli kick, finely marrying flavours of the sea and land into a single dish.
Beef Brisket, X.O., lemon ($36.00)
The Market Fish is a John Dory on the day of our visit, presented as a delicate fillet whose accompaniments of pippies, cos and burnt butter enhance this dish for those who are more inclined to seafood.
Market Fish, pippies, cos, burnt butter ($40.00)
To finish on a sweet note, Poached Apple with creme fraiche, bay leaf and a hazelnut crumb strikes the perfect balance between sweet and salty, with the former presiding just ahead, as most dessert dishes should.
Poached Apple, creme fraiche, bay leaf, hazelnut ($16.00)
For such a diverse venue as Montalto, each of their components merge to produce a cohesive product that enables guests to feel like they are at a single destination, yet are free to choose the type of experience that they desire. Accompanying the Montalto Restaurant and Piazza Cafe, Tuck’s Ridge is a recent addition to the Montalto family, with late 2017 seeing their redevelopment into a neighbouring venue whose contemporary style is made up of a laid back sharing food and drinks menu, an outdoor environment overlooking the Montalto estate, and a live music atmosphere on weekends. Although ridden with wineries and restaurants, the peninsula region has not seen such a passionate and soulful venue as Montalto.
Note: I dined at Montalto courtesy of Montalto. Thank you to all of the staff and management, in particular Blaz and staff Olivia, for their generous hospitality throughout our experience.
Montalto
33 Shoreham Road
Red Hill South, VIC 3937
Ph: +61 3 5989 8412
Hours: Restaurant – lunch Friday-Tuesday, dinner Friday-Saturday; Piazza & Cellar Door – 11am-5pm daily.
A multifunctional, chef-hatted restaurant and winery: Montalto, Red Hill. Type of Venue: Restaurant, Winery, Wine Cellar Cuisine: Modern Australian Highly Recommended: Sourdough with olive oil butter, Pork Jowl, House made Mortadella, Pine Mushroom, Jerusalem Artichoke, Lamb Rump, Beef Brisket, Poached Apple, Montalto Pennon Hill and Estate wines