Grace Rutherglen restaurant review: Kara Monssen visits High Country hidden gem
The bread and butter may stop you in your tracks, but almost everything at this hidden regional gem is worth the commute.
Food
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You had me at bread and butter.
That salty, sweet and sour sensation. Stodgy chew. Rustic hunks carved off a crusty, hours-old loaf. The warm plate…to think we almost didn’t order it.
Our yeasty mate falls into a food critic’s infamous ‘never order’ pile, alongside oysters, olives, and fries and a few others. Well, sometimes we order fries.
I’m so glad we did, as the bread, like most things at Rutherglen’s Grace, would appear on the ‘you’d be crazy to miss it’ list.
And if you don’t get in before the month’s out, you may miss out altogether (except the bread, that’s here to stay!)
Chef Matthieu Miller (Provenance Beechworth, Patricia’s Table at Brown Brothers) shakes up the food offering every four weeks: thanks to the seasonal flux and having to keep it fresh for Grace’s fast-formed regulars, who’ve been visiting almost weekly for the past two years.
You’ll find the brick shopfront on the main drag, a space fitting comfortably into the historic wine town rhetoric.
Tan tiles and white walls, gaping with artistically exposed red brick, give off warehouse vibes — in Melbourne this place could equally play cafe, wine bar or neighbourhood bistro.
The bar stretches the length of the first room, leading into a quieter space for larger groups or families, and an open-air courtyard that may sport a new look come summer.
Wooden beaters and egg cups adorn the walls, all owned by Matt’s nanna Grace (which the venue is named after) supports the narrative that this place is a second home to many.
That homely feeling permeates through Matt’s cooking; elevated and peaking with flavour, yet made with the same love as a family meal.
Grace embraces country style hospitality with a ‘something for everyone’ sensibility without being superfluous.
Seemingly there’s a drink for every occasion. Classic negroni or a fortified shiraz take on the classic? You betcha. A wine list satisfying both oaky and austere chardonnay lovers to durif drinkers — and everywhere in between.
To interesting non-alch pours that go well beyond soda water and juice. The chilli syrup and hot ginger beer spiked ‘earth and spice’ a case in point.
The kangaroo tartare ($24) is a fine dice of mustardy, yolky and gamy goodness scooped into a Yorkshire pud (delicious) finished with a shine of olive oil made by Erica’s uncle.
Even something as innocuous as eggplant arancini ($4 each) bounces with enough turmeric, cumin and spice to keep things fun yet familiar.
Like Matt’s simple potato rosti ($24), laden with smoked salmon and horseradish cream is more brunchy than lunchy, but earns extra cred for being smoked in applewood and old wine barrel staves on-site.
More friendly flavours follow suit: Ginormous scallop-filled tortellini ($25 for two) wading in a creamy cauliflower velouté (French roux), brioche crumbs and sweet leek. Drool.
Those pillowy ricotta gnocchi nibs ($36) and textbook union of pumpkin, fried sage, brown butter are elevated by glossy macadamia cream and salty petals of Swiss cheese tete de moine.
The red gurnard ($40) boiled kipflers and red capsicum are sweet and sour with agrodolce goodness.
I admire the local connection Grace has to the community and suppliers.
That roo skips the river from nearby Paroo, the bread made from Woodstock wheat grown and milled an hour away.
Grace in name and nature, it’s a true definition of a hidden gem in a wine region just shy of a day trip.
But with this new-gen of foodies, there’s many reasons to head for High Country — starting with the bread and butter.
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