We visited the Yarra Valley on a nice summer’s day in December hoping to escape the confines of the city and do so at a winery for a catch-up and lunch with friends. Yering Station Winery has a wonderful park, water features and modern, upper-end décor. It’s the sort of place you want to visit to celebrate a special occasion, whether someone’s birthday, end of year function, or wedding.
The venue has plenty of locations to take some stunning photos. There is a small park with lots of tall trees/shade and picnic chairs plus arches and a nice pond in front of the restaurant. You can also capture the vastness of the property with its almost limitless horizon of green pastures.
When we arrived at our table, we were impressed with the modern décor within the restaurant and the top to bottom windows that allowed us to peer outside while enjoying our meal and company from time to time. With the weather being sunny and the humidity being okay, it was a very idyllic setting.
The menu consists of many Australian inspired dishes and obviously many wines (given that this is a winery).
You have to choose between 2 courses for $70 or 3 courses for $85, while kids have a $30 option which comes with chicken, chips, vegetable sticks, their own fruit juice/soft drink, and dessert.
We opted for the Octopus for entrée which came with freekeh, smoky baba ganoush and harissa. (I knew very little about these ingredients, but will eat them all the same.) The Octopus entrée had some nice vegetables but didn’t excite the taste pallet. We tried eating the octopus in different ways, for example with the other ingredients at the same time or just by itself with the sauce.
With the mains, we ordered the Pork Rack and Barramundi. The Pork Rack was delicious. I loved the tender pork meat, the potato mash, the crispy skin pork belly, and the puff pastry. It was topped with an excellent peppercorn sauce. The whole dish was a standout for me. The Barramundi, on the other hand, was okay. My wife had picked the Barramundi and truth be told, I think she really preferred my dish. For her, while the salad and fish was nice, the sauce and flavors were on the lower side.
A friend ordered the Black Angus Eye Fillet and having tasted a little bit, I thought that was a good dish as well.
As for sides, we ordered some chips for $10. It was a good serving in a bowl, but the chips were just shoe string fries. I was hoping for real chips like steak fries or at least the more thicker cut fries. (In Australia, the words chips and fries just alternate like the wind. Chips is from the British and fries from the Americans, and we just throw these words around and no seems to blink an eye when either is mentioned and most people understand it.)
After lunch, we explored the winery and soaked in the sun and took heaps of photos. It was a great venue for lunch. I think it also serves as an excellent venue for a wedding reception. Plus, you can purchase their wines and other farm produce as well.
The other notable thing was the parking lot was lined up with expensive cars. After a fairly long drive out from Melbourne to the Yarra Valley, you ought to be careful driving near these cars.
Yering Station Winery at 38 Melba Highway, Yering VIC 3770:
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