Flutes Restaurant at the Brookland Valley Vineyard was the perfect place to spend our relaxed Easter Saturday lunch in Margaret River. The weather was beautiful! A soft cool breeze and a magical sunny blue sky made it the perfect day to be seated on the deck overlooking the water with views of the wild birds and swans. I was definitely impressed (and we had only just sat down) and thus knew that we would be in for a treat!
With 4 (self rated) coinesseurs of food and so many great choices, it was difficult to select just one entrée so we chose the tasting plate (Charcuterie Plate $24) consisting of venison and wild mushroom terrine, grilled chorizo, venison ham, sundried tomato, chicken liver pate with red wine jelly, marinated fetta and sour dough crisps. This dish was excellent value as there was more than enough for all four of us to chew over for some time.
Next we decided to share the Japanese Style Prawns and Soba Noodle Salad - $24.50, which consisted of poached tiger prawns, soba noodles, pickle ginger and radish, with seaweed tossed in a wasabi dressing. The flavours in this dish were quite simple. The prawns were succulent and perfectly cooked and I loved the addition of the pickled ginger as the whole dish imparted a delicate yet unobtrusive Japanese flavour. It really wet my appetite and left me anticipating my next dish, without leaving any overpowering and lingering flavours in my palette.
Upon hearing about this duck special from our lovely waiter I knew that this was definitely the main course for me. Wow is the only word I can describe for this magnificent dish. The duck literally fell off the bone and melted in my mouth! The rich and creamy wild mushroom risotto paired wonderfully with the flavours of the duck to make each and every mouthful a delight! I believe the rest of the table were cursed with ‘food envy’ upon tasting my duck, however this dish was quite rich so thankfully I was able to handle it! I was surprised that it was a rather substantial serving as it left me with almost no room at all for dessert (however after almost cleaning my plate from the deliciousness before me I did somehow manage!)
Rod was very impressed with the Asian influenced Char Siu Duck Magret - $36 which sat on stir-fried shitake mushrooms, coriander, ginger and pak choy with udon noodles. (I had a little taster and the duck meat was very tender and juicy. The fresh Asian flavours permeated the meat really nicely).
Both Scott and Carol went for the Amelia park Lamb Rack – $36 which rested on polenta with blistered tomatoes, caper, olive, spinach and confit garlic. Lucky me also had a little taster of this dish, which I can only describe as a great example for perfectly cooked and juicy tender lamb, marrying nicely with the rich garlic, tomato and olive flavours. Quite notably the polenta was cooked just right (which can at times be tricky for some).
On the side we chose the Crisp fried pumpkin salad with coconut dressing, pear and pistachios - $15, the Rocket, apple, brie and walnut salad - $12.5 and the Homemade potato wedges with preserved lime aioli - $8. The salads were lovely and fresh with good quality ingredients. The wedges were delicious! Probably the best I have ever tasted. So much so, that I had to ask what potatoes they had used (and yes my assumptions were correct – they had used Royal Blue potatoes which I find to be the tastiest potatoes I have cooked with to date). The wedges tasted almost as though they were flavoured by some kind of meat dripping. However I was assured they were cooked in normal fresh cooking oil – it was just the quality of the potatoes that made these wedges really stand out! They were so good, so tasty and so nice and crunchy – I was raving about them even after we got home and would even go back to Flutes just for the wedges! (I am not even really that partial to wedges which is strange)!
Pecan and Macadamia nut Pie, Chocolate anglaise and vanilla ice cream $13
Again we chose to share our desserts. By this time we really didn’t even need anything further, it was merely our basic greedy instincts which drove us to our desserts. Firstly we shared the Pecan and Macadamia nut Pie, Chocolate anglaise and vanilla ice cream $13. The pie had lovely maple and pecan flavours in a sweet short crust pastry, indulgently dressed with dollops of whipped cream, strawberries and a drizzle of chocolate anglaise. Yummo.
Finally we had the tasting dessert plate (Gourmandise $15) (a great touch and such a good idea to share desserts) which consisted of mango brulee, apple crumble and tiramisu. The standout here was the yummy apple crumble, but overall for desserts I would say the pecan tart was the most delicious!
The bill was very reasonable for a table of four, especially considering we didn’t hold back on anything and also consumed a bottle of sparkling and two bottles of wine, with digestives after our meal. I was even able to whip out our shiny new EatingWA VIP Card to receive 25% discount!
Overall we enjoyed some fantastic food in an extremely relaxed atmosphere whilst being attentively served by knowledgeable and friendly staff. The perfect day out for me and I would certainly love to do it again sometime soon! Thanks to Executive Chef Francois Morvan and Craig at Flutes for looking after us so well!
