Review: Coldstream’s Coombe The Melba Estate pleases all ages

AT THE peak of her fame opera singer Dame Nellie Melba was a superstar. But no matter how far she roamed “Our Nellie” always called Coombe Cottage home.

Coombe The Melba Estate, Coldstream. Lunchers in main dining room. Picture: Lawrence Pinder

AT THE peak of her fame in the early 1900s, opera singer Dame Nellie Melba was a superstar — the Madonna of her day.

Critics swooned over Melba’s scintillating soprano. French chefs named dishes in her honour.

But no matter how far she roamed, “Our Nellie” always called Melbourne — or, to be more exact, Coombe Cottage at Coldstream — home.

This gracious Yarra Valley mansion, surrounded by high green hedges, now lies at the heart of Coombe — The Melba Estate, where visitors can inspect the French-style gardens, sample Coombe Farm wines and stay on for lunch — or high tea.

The restaurant is a destination in its own right, a conservatory-style dining room where menus devised by executive chef Tony Milton both honour the past and look to the future.

FOOD

Duck liver parfait with white Melba toasts. Picture: Lawrence Pinder

Melba toast, anyone?

Coombe’s snowy white triangles of crisp bread are firm enough to carry velvety duck liver parfait ($17.50) and light as air in the company of merlot-poached figs and sparking pinot jelly.

Grace notes of a different kind are struck by zucchini flowers, plump with ricotta and pine nuts ($19.50), and a handsome charcuterie plate ($25), which strings beautiful ingredients together (sugar-cured kangaroo, smoked duck, marinated olives) like beads on one of Melba’s jewelled necklaces.

“We make as much as we can ourselves,’’ Milton says. This dedication extends to the superior sourdough served with ricotta — both house made — and the “Coombe Farm Selection”, which showcases produce from the Melba Estate kitchen garden.

One of these dishes has cauliflower dumplings and lemon tahini cavorting with ancient grains ($27). Another unites summer pickled vegetables with roasted peppers, walnut pesto and (Holy Goat) fromage frais ($27).

It’s a cool combination, way more appealing than an earlier version featuring crusted silken tofu.

“The Main Event” list really lets Coombe’s brigade sing out loud. There’s black garlic hummus with lamb loin ($36), a wombok and red onion sour salad with Black Angus porterhouse ($39) and chimichurri (a blitz of herbs and spices) turbocharging free-range chicken ($37).

Tex-Mex flavours in the form of a chilli and shallot sauce also insinuate their way into blackened blue eye ($37). It’s a lively combo — sadly let down by leaden blocks of “lemon risotto cake” — and best enjoyed with a side of ripe tomatoes and basil ($9).

Coombe The Melba Estate’s edible flower garden desert. Picture: Lawrence Pinder

Coombe’s impressive slate of cheeses ($18.50) — Yarra Valley Dairy among them — are a bridge to “Something Sweet”. On offer is a citrus almond cake, dripping with lime syrup ($14.50), or an “Edible flower garden” (pictured, $16.50), where candied rose petals and chocolate sponge sprout in “dirt” crumble. Its theatricality may well have pleased Dame Nellie.

As for Coombe’s peach Melba ($19) ... well, it honours the famous dessert devised by Auguste Escoffier in 1892 by using peaches, raspberries and vanilla ice cream. But in re-imagining this classic dish for a 21st century audience, Milton’s team have concocted a carnival of colour — caramelised peaches here, raspberry coulis there — that lacks focus when presented on a flat plate.

DRINKS

Kaylene Lawrence pours a Coombe Estate wine for a diner. Picture: Lawrence Pinder

A toast to Melba calls for “pink fizz’’ and Coombe winemaker Nicole Esdaile has just the thing — a sparkling pinot noir (2014 Coombe Farm POLO) with a fresh, fruity finish.

Almost every dish at the restaurant comes with a recommended Coombe Farm wine match, which is a measure of just how far the estate’s small-volume vineyards in the valley have come since early pinot plantings in 2002.

The 2014 Tribute Series Evelyn Chardonnay — honouring Evie Armstrong, Dame Nellie’s daughter-in-law — is a real standout, refined and focused.

SERVICE

Melba loved to make an entrance. You don’t have
to. Coombe’s well-drilled staffers in grey shirts and aprons welcome diners with a wide smile and hit that perfect spot between informality and sharp-eyed professionalism.

Coombe The Melba Estate chef Tony Milton in the herb and vegetable garden. Picture: Lawrence Pinder

X-FACTOR

The restaurant occupies the restored motorhouse that once held Dame Nellie’s Rolls-Royce, but the room’s wraparound loft-style windows and undulating timber ceiling are decidedly modern. The views are pleasing, looking on to leafy avenues, wisteria-draped pergolas and Melba’s swimming pool — reputedly the first privately owned pool in Victoria. Inside, the mood is country-smart with sturdy tables, classy glassware and antique oddments.

BANG FOR YOUR BUCK

Dining at Coombe is like going to the theatre. You can go a la carte — the equivalent of sitting in the dress circle — and pay about $35 plus for main dishes and $15 desserts. Or you can get a good seat in the stalls by ordering the lunch special: two courses and espresso coffee for just $49 (three courses $59).

VERDICT

If you are looking to celebrate Australia Day by dining out, look no further than Coombe — The Melba Estate. Lunch or high tea in its elegant, well-managed restaurant will please all ages and have you reflecting on the life of a remarkable Australian. Encore.