Tansy’s

Classic cooking brims with country charm.

November 18, 2024

1 / 4Bread and butter pudding with vanilla ice cream.Meredith O'Shea

2 / 4Seafood and vegetables a la grecque.Meredith O'Shea

3 / 4Inside Tansy’s restaurant in Kyneton. Meredith O'Shea

4 / 4Salmon gravlax, creme fraiche and pickled cucumber.Meredith O'Shea

15/20

European$$

Chef Tansy Good is revered by chefs and food cognoscenti for her elegant dishes and on-point saucing. They (and other long-time fans) vye for one of 14 seats in this humble cottage, which is filled with just-picked flowers and lined with oil paintings, photos and Turkish tiles.

The small menu contrasts with dishes generous in both size and technique. Decadent cheese souffle – twice-cooked, triple-cheesed – is a righteous mainstay. Gorgeously pink sardine fillets sit beside vibrant red romesco and smoky eggplant puree. Seafood often stars in main courses, perhaps plump mussels atop seared snapper fillets bathing in saffron-infused cream sauce.

Jewels of amber quince lay next to pillows of baked chocolate mousse and a quenelle of cinnamon ice-cream. Precious skills like Good’s and an excellent choice of half-bottles on the compact wine list defy the tyranny of distance.