Top-notch pasta pleases at Ballandean’s The Barrelroom
The husband-wife team behind this winery turned their backs on a seachange to come back to this place. It’s easy to see why.
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ITALIANS are synonymous with hospitality and a wine tasting at the family-owned and run Ballandean Estate Wines in the Granite Belt, is proof why the generality lives on.
Barely five minutes and a sniff, swirl and sip in and you already feel at home among the dark brick walls and archways, with visitors treated like lifelong friends, exchanging funny stories and entertaining anecdotes over a few glasses of vino.
It’s not hard to see why husband-and- wife cheffing team Matt and Bobbi Wells simply couldn’t stay away from this place.
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After a five-year stint running the winery’s restaurant, The Barrelroom, the pair decided a sea-change was in order, taking a three-year “working holiday” at North Stradbroke Island. But this time last year they returned to Ballandean and are again delivering their unique spin on Italian-Australian fare.
The restaurant sits just behind the tasting room in a converted shed and although some of the chairs are looking a little tired, there’s something deeply romantic about dining alongside 150-year-old oak barrels.
And just like at the cellar door, the hospitality is warm and generous. Service moves at that leisurely, long Italian lunch pace, where everything is timed so you can relax, settle in and enjoy the moment. And that moment is all about the food.
The a la carte menu, which uses produce sourced from within three hours’ drive, teases with starters like antipasto and housemade focaccia, before leading into a trifecta of entrees, three mains and three pastas.
Wild mushroom and truffle soup ($15) proves popular with other diners during our lunchtime visit, but it’s the crumbed calamari ($12) that has my guest raving, applauding its crisp herb and garlic breading and tender texture, especially when dipped into a pungently garlicky aioli.
The pastas, however, are The Barrelroom’s true forte. Generously sized gnocchi ($29) arrives pillowy soft bathing in a gorgeously nutty burnt butter sauce chunky with roasted pumpkin taken right to the edge to ensure maximum caramelisation and sweetness. Arguably just beaten for top spot by a handmade fettuccine ($32) tossed with prawns and scallops, delivering all the brightness and acid from great tomatoes, with a salty kick from anchovies.
For mains there’s the vegetarian-friendly roasted pumpkin with feta, candied walnuts and wilted spinach, or the carnivorous treat of a 250g sirloin with sweet potato puree, steamed greens, baby carrots and red wine jus. But we go with the confit duck ($38), the maryland cut delivering that textbook confit crisp skin and butter-soft meat, while the silken potato mash below is the perfect sponge for the berry-bright red wine jus that spills from the accompanying wilted red cabbage and al dente broccolini.
Dessert isn’t available during our lunchtime visit (luckily for our waistlines), but you can expect perhaps an affogato, passionfruit souffle or apple and custard crumble at dinner.
The wine list is exclusive to Ballandean Estate drops, running from their terrific, easy-drinking reserve sparkling, great with seafood, to their premium museum releases, including a 1998 shiraz. Bottles sell for just slightly over the cellar door price to cover the restaurant’s liquor licensing, wages and overheads (similar to a corkage fee), but it would be great to see a few more varieties by the glass.
There is also a small range of beers, cocktails and mocktails.
Visit The Barrelroom and you’re sure to see why the Wells simply couldn’t stay away.
The Barrelroom
354 Sundown Road, Ballandean
Ph 4684 1326
Open Lunch Thu-Mon, Dinner Fri-Sun
VERDICT
Food 4 out of 5
Service 3.5 out of 5
Ambience 3.5 out of 5
Value 3.5 out of 5