Wickens at Royal Mail Hotel
Some things never get old. And the view from Wickens, the signature restaurant at Dunkeld’s Royal Mail Hotel, is as timeless as it is spectacular.
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98 Parker St, Dunkeld
(03) 5577 2241
Some things never get old. And the view from Wickens, the signature restaurant at Dunkeld’s Royal Mail Hotel, is as timeless as it is spectacular.
The rugged Australian bush and craggy faces of Mounts Abrupt and Sturgeon, framed by the elegant dining room, provide the perfect backdrop for a meal that makes the daily-changing most of the famed kitchen garden.
But it’s not just out the window that looks good. More rustic, less fussy than in the past, the food is better than ever.
It’s hard to fault, for instance, a plate of estate-farmed lamb, the perfectly treated meat simply served with carrot in puree and pickled form. Or a tranche of aged Great Ocean duck served with torched fresh figs or, indeed, just-set hapuka with sweet spaghetti squash and a fried oyster for crunch. It’s cooking at once clever and accessible.
Don’t fill up on the excellent house-baked breads, for dessert at the end is as memorable as beetroot teamed with bone marrow is to begin. See: a mille feuille piped with pear and acorn cream teamed with “rotten leaf” ice cream that tastes like a winter’s bushwalk.
Allow one of the best sommeliers in the state to lead you into one of its best cellars and, while four-figured burgundies remain a drawcard, Matthew Lance also has brilliant, exciting drinking at entry-level prices, with six pages of wines by the glass affording ample opportunity for exploration.
Coupled with the elegant, accessible bistro charms of the Parker Street Project, you have a weekend away that remains one of our most delicious.
Must eat dish: Great Ocean duck with figs
Cuisine: Contemporary
Chef: Robin Wickens
Price: $$$$
Bookings: Yes
Open: Dinner Wed-Sat; lunch Sat
BYO: No
Instagram: @royalmailhotel