EXP. Restaurant

Precise tasting menu allows a bush-centric sensibility to rule.

November 11, 2024

1 / 6Australian fine dining cuisine at EXP. Restaurant, Pokolbin. Supplied

2 / 6Delicious small bites make up the menu at EXP Restaurant. supplied

5 / 6Binnie beef flank, Brussels sprouts, salt bush, onion jus, black garlic. Wolter Peeters

6 / 6Honey curd tart, sour cream, honeycomb.Wolter Peeters

15.5/20

Contemporary$$$

There are no views of hopping marsupials or rolling vineyards at this mood-lit 30-seater, yet owner-chef Frank Fawkner’s degustation-only restaurant taps into the essence of its hinterland surrounds and celebrates a bush rusticity city dwellers can’t resist.

A starter of pumpkin miso cream tart with pickled muntries, served on a banksia cone? Don’t mind if we do. For all of the rustic appeal, which extends to the rough-hewn wood tables and medieval-like cutlery and stoneware, the flavours are also well considered.

Slivers of charcoal-kissed bonito evoke gum trees and campfire, with garum, eucalyptus oil and smears of satiny macadamia-miso puree adding depth and power; a dessert of dark chocolate cream arrives with a covering of bone-white shiraz verjuice “snow” that dissolves on your tongue. Playful, precise and pure Hunter Valley.