While holidaying in Mollymook I took myself off to Cupitt's winery and restaurant on Wednesday lunch time. I've been before, always with friends, but as they are near the South Australian border learning moonlight photography, this was a solo venture.
The place really is a gem - from the restaurant, to the cellar door in The Buttery, to the cave where the wine is stored (you can also book to have a special meal served in there), to the friendly and attentive staff, and the scenery where you can see the vines growing and beyond to the lake, cows and hills etc.
When I arrived there were only two other people - by the time I left there were five tables enjoying themselves, the one closest chatting to one of the staff about the following Saturday dinner they had booked and how many were coming.
They also believed in "phone a friend" as one of them called and read out the menu asking the person on the other end of the phone what they would recommend. I really didn't understand that - surely the best thing is to try it for yourself?
When I selected the main course of the duck with celery and fennel, the waitress asked if I'd like something beforehand as it would take about 20 or so minutes for the chef to prepare my meal.
So being hopeless at being strong, especially with such a lovely selection, I ordered an entree of ham and rabbit terrine. Well I'm certainly pleased she made that suggestion - the entree was lovely, along with the warm bread and whipped butter.
Of course it does help that the Cupitts (owners Rosie and Griff) are very strong supporters of the slow food movement. Such a shame more don't get involved in it.
After a well-timed wait the duck arrived and as a person who loves to eat duck, a lot, this was as good as any I've had from any top restaurants in major cities. Skin and meat were cooked to perfection, as was the rest of the dish, although the flowers were "raw", of course.
I also ordered a glass of their brilliant Shiraz as I'd had that before and had found it one of the best - and it still is!
Rosie, who is the vintner, kept coming into the restaurant from cellar door where she was "on duty" to check and see it was all running smoothly. She needn't have worried - they have a new chef who did part of his training with Gordon Ramsay (but obviously didn't get the dramatics and/or language) and a very competent staff who were very good at being there, but not "in your face".
I found something interesting though - if you dine alone, you really do seem to taste the food a lot more than when dining with others. Perhaps the lack of being distracted by conversation, but the meal and wine were given my full attention (when not looking at the scenery as I was seated in the outside terrace rather than inside) and it seemed to last longer and that meant I could really taste the different characters of the two dishes - and the wine, of course.
So if you are in the area, I would definitely suggest the place: http://cupittwines.com.au/index.html