Ten Minutes By Tractor restaurant review 2023: Kara Monssen visits Mornington Peninsula gem

In this wildly expensive world, eating out is an occasional pleasure for many. But lunch at Ten Minutes By Tractor is a worthy investment.

Ten Minutes By Tractor is humming along nicely on the Mornington Peninsula after two decades.

For a Mornington Peninsula restaurant built on provenance, there’s one dish at Ten Minutes By Tractor that’s glaringly Kiwi.

And that’s the good ol’ fashioned pork boil-up.

Though I’m sure the creation by chef Hayden Ellis (Vue de monde, The Fat Duck) looks a little different to what was served around the family table.

On the ‘Ninch, fatty pork loin, a tender parcel of shoulder and leg meat and farm-grown swedes and puha (Maori for dandelion leaf) make friends in a bowl.

A robust consomme is then poured tableside from the poshest glass tea set you ever did see, finished with a twinkle of crispy pig skin and trotter crumble. And don’t forget those squishy sweet potato crumpets to end! They are pure joy.

The good ol’ pork boil up. Picture: Katherine Jamison.

Yep, Ten Minutes by Tractor’s star is still burning bright post the 2018 fire and Covid years, but there’s been a few changes.

Ellis has stepped up as head chef, replacing Adam Sanderson at the helm.

The eight-course offering has also been slashed to five ($195pp) with two supplementary add-ons for an extra charge. Though, you’d easily get by as is, unless you were longing for marron or short ribs.

Even three courses, at $140, won’t require a snack stop on the drive home — especially with the freebies thrown in.

There will be plenty of snacks.

The snapper tart was elite.

The light-drenched dining room is immaculate as ever and will forever be my future home-reno muse. Those dark timber floors, oatmeal linen-clothed tables and plush moss-bench seats are a modern marvel — just make sure you take a window-facing seat to watch the lorikeets playing vine peek-a-boo in the winter sun.

Is this the most delicious way to eat your greens?

The novel-length wine list remains a thing of beauty, crafted by sommelier Jamie Sprague and owner Martin Spedding. I’m sure you could blindly request any local, back-vintage or world wine — or other drink — and chances are they’ll have it. You’ll pay for the pleasure too ($41 for an estate grown pinot?) though the Chanel loafer crowds wouldn’t bat an eye-lid.

Food prices have also kicked up a gear since the 2019 rebirth, but you certainly get your money’s worth.

Almost all produce that ends up on the plate is locally sourced.

Free bread made from local pale ale, plastered thick in fluffy buttermilk and burnt butter, lead a procession of one-bite snacks (the snapper tart and chicken drumstick are elite). You’ll also get post-dessert sweets as well.

All sorts of crazy textures and temps run wild in the glorified garden salad: both hibachi-grilled and sorbet chilled beetroot, goat’s cheese foam, bouncy kombucha pearls and puffed grains — what a wonderful way to eat your greens.

It’s as glorious as the expertly grilled snapper, lolling about in a silky cider and butter sauce with roe, caviar and charred fat mussels. Exceptional.

Ten Minutes By Tractor’s dining room. Picture: Rory Gardiner

I do get giddy when I see venison on the menu in the cooler months, and the Tractor nails the brief, especially with a brick pastry cigar stuffed with delicious meaty offcuts that won’t help your waistline. Add the estate’s gruntier pinot noir, brooding with dark cherries, and you’re set. Since my visit they’ve swapped this for lamb, plus the dessert’s changed too: a lamington/snicker hybrid is subbed for apples and artichoke.

A celebration of provenance, produce and homegrown pleasures, I have no doubt Ten Minutes by Tractor will remain a jewel in the Peninsula’s crown for many years to come.