Polperro

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148-150 Red Hill Road, Red Hill, 5989 2471

My score: 4/5

Everything is ridiculously nice in Red Hill. Tidy fields slope gently to valleys. Bay snippets slot neatly under smudged horizons. There’s good wine and food at every turn. The only downer is that my holiday house hasn’t materialised. Until last year, this property was three separate businesses: villas, grapes and the restaurant Vines of Red Hill but new owner Sam Coverdale amalgamated them into three-pronged Polperro. The bistro – refitted with dark timbers and snuggly lambswool chair covers – opened in May. The view is a charming cliche: rows of vines, a promising produce garden and, at night, dramatically lit trees leering marvellously through the windows.

Chef Andrew Doughton has been at nearby Long Table for more than a decade. At Polperro, considered dishes and skilled cooking combine to create a pleasing contemporary dining experience, especially when excellent house wines are part of the equation. (A tasting room adjoins the restaurant if you want to dig deeper.) The menu is flexible: shared-table feasting is as easy to organise as more formal structured meals.

Paprika-dusted school prawns are served with miso mayo to create an umami-rich snack. The ‘parmesan churros’ might as well be called ‘fall in love this second’: nothing can go too wrong with cheesy pastry and hot oil. The wagyu bresaola is a sophisticated example of how charcuterie can go beyond sliced meat: dried beef is laid over cauliflower cream and dressed with beetroot vinaigrette and caperberries. Another winner is the bone-in chicken, poached in masterstock, panko-crumbed and fried: it’s moist and crisp-skinned. Gnocchi – always a good test – is sage-flecked, sturdy but not stodgy and served with sweet pumpkin, silverbeet from the garden and labne. For dessert, cinnamon doughnuts are popular but I liked caramelised apple strewn with relaxed walnutty crumble. Service was slightly stretched on a busy weekend but chipper and well-schooled. Red Hill was already nice; Polperro makes it achingly delightful.

See their website.

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First published in The Age, November 2, 2014.