Enjoy an experience of the senses at Hardy’s Verandah Restaurant

The launch of Hardy’s Verandah Restaurant has easily been one of 2017’s most anticipated events, and when dining at the upper-class establishment it’s easy to see why.

Located in the historical Mt Lofty House, the classic charm of this estate brings you back a century to a time where sprawling staircases, sparkling chandeliers and attentive waitstaff where the norm for well-established families.

Walking through the giant double-doored entrance into the foyer, we were escorted through a door to our right and invited to enjoy a drink before dinner at the Arthur Waterhouse Bar. It was an intimate experience, with only enough seating at the bar and on stately leather armchairs for about 10-15 guests. Two armchairs were positioned to look through a large window onto panoramic views over Piccadilly Valley, easily the best seats in the house.

The table set-up at HVR

The table set-up at HVR

Next we were shown through to the dining room and to our seats and a long table overlooking the valley.  Glancing over the menu, we didn’t see a single combination of ingredients we had tried before, and become very excited for the first course to come out.

Head Chef Wayne Brown, who has previously worked at Quay in Sydney, Urbane in Brisbane and Guy Savouy in Singapore, focuses on a ‘valley to verandah’ ethos at HVR, using all locally-sourced ingredients that will change throughout the seasons.

Bite-sized morsels designed to tease the tastebuds came out first, in the form of chicken skin and southern squid. The crispy skin was the perfect balance of salty and sweet, while the southern skin was delicately diced and served atop a puffed black cracker, contrasting the textures of crunchy and soft.

Air-dried wagyu beef was topped with crème fraîche, caviar and served alongside a tiny bottle of fermented daikon juice, designed to be drunk after the wagyu to end the palette on a salty but strangely sweet note.

Kingfish, cultured cream and yuzu kosho

Kingfish, cultured cream and yuzu kosho

After these tiny tasters, we started with the seafood dishes. Delicate slices of raw kingfish were served with a tangy cultured cream and slivers of yuzu kosho, followed by a tender confit trout, cooked in buttermilk and served on a bed of blueberries and blueberry jam puree with pees. While serving blueberries with fish might sound daring, the blueberry aspect was more savoury than sweet and hints of garlic from the peas added to this. These dishes were interluded with fermented milk bread with jersey butter, a dish that Wayne Brown had been working on for three months to perfect. The end result was a brioche cooked in a Japanese style, tasting similar to a savoury donut.

The meat dishes started with an absolute standout, ox tongue smoked over binchotan with apple ginger and wild sesame soy. The tongue was cooked to perfection, tender and moist when chewed and sweetened up by the addition of the apple ginger. Sliced finely, the ox tongue was not at all heavy or gristly and even those at the table who had their apprehensions about eating a tongue with their tongue (tongueception) left not a scrap on their plate.

Ox tongue smoked over binchotan, apple ginger and wild sesame soy

Ox tongue smoked over binchotan, apple ginger and wild sesame soy

We finished the savoury on another high note, dry aged duck with foie gras, apricot marmalade and kinome. The duck was perfectly pink in the middle, the salty foie gras adding a smooth texture and the apricot marmalade adding sweetness.

Dessert was soured plum with custard crème and wizz fizz, a beautiful balance of sweet, sour and fresh. The dessert was presented to us at the table before a waiter came around with a smoking metal bowl and grandly dusted each individual bowl with the citrus wizz fizz.

Over coffee and tea we were served petit fours; little handmade truffles in flavours of seeded chocolate, nectarine pop, wattle seed crunch and passionfruit meringue pie. Over much debate, it was decided that the passionfruit meringue pie was the crowd favourite at the table, being a meringue filled with passionfruit sorbet that was sweet, sour, crunchy and soft all at once.

Petit fours: passionfruit meringue pie, seeded chocolate, nectarine pop, wattle seed crunch

Petit fours: passionfruit meringue pie, seeded chocolate, nectarine pop, wattle seed crunch

Each course was served with a paired wine, most being local favourites like the Longview ‘Fresco’ Nebbiolo from the Adelaide Hills, but some were also from overseas like the Bera Moscato d’Asti from Piedmont.

Not a single thing about this evening could be faulted, from the incredible decor and setting, to the delicious food, to the attentive service. Each time we would stand up someone would rush to push our chairs in or fold out napkins, and between courses if there was the slightest crumb on the table someone would brush it off with a gold dustpan.

The official launch of Hardy’s Verandah Restaurant is on Thursday the 23rd of February, and bookings can be made by emailing, calling or online through this link.

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