The Currant Shed – popping with appeal
THIS is a simple lunch shed, stylishly done. A cafe window wall frames our sunny view, past lush citrus gardens to Shottesbrooke vineyards.
THIS is a simple lunch shed, stylishly done. A café window wall frames our sunny view, past lush citrus gardens to Shottesbrooke vineyards.
Blond furniture lends a casual mood, but there’s no blokey shed feel at all. Vines all around us are the décor. There is a bloke in the kitchen, chef Wayne Leeson, who delivers dishes that are among the best on our food travels this year.
We graze his menu popping with appeal. You can have two or three courses, $60 or $75, or chef’s choice for $95, plus paired wines, $45. It’s excellent value for the standard of food and matching service to come.
Generosity begins with complimentary snacks, a plump oyster with pickled shallots, and a morsel of pork terrine and bitter marmalade, cleverly shifting our palates to party mode.
The shared-food parade continues with zingy kingfish ceviche with shaved fennel under pretty umbrellas of watermelon radish, above. Then, in one of many different takes, beef carpaccio that’s nicely chewy, perhaps lightly cured, tumbled with chickpeas, refreshing pomegranate and creamy labneh.
The vego risotto is one of sunflower seeds, some soft, some crunchy, in chestnut cream. Peri peri treatment is a bit overwhelming for chubby batons of flathead with cauli and walnuts, but we still scrape that plate. A pretty splay of kangaroo two ways, with beetroot, sauerkraut and smoked mash resists the usual sweetness you get with game meat. It’s delicious. And then, an unusual pinwheel of pork, juicy meat with crunchy edges, on a subtle mix of black pudding and barley. Yum.
After desserts, one of blue cheesy flavour foiled by tangy rhubarb, another a choc tart dressed with peanut cream, good popcorn and cherry ice cream, and one more kitchen gift of bitesize cappuccino tarts.