Babae
Serene salon worshipping the seasons.
15/20
Contemporary$$$$
Cocooned in a gauzy dining room in a historic mansion, a handful of diners get the best of both worlds: a farmers’ market worth of produce, transformed into compositions as poised as the surrounds.
A small canoe-shaped rye tart is packed with smoked trout paste (from nearby Tuki farm) and beads of salmon roe. A cellophane-thin tube of pastry boasts a belly of mushroom parfait and a crown of perfumed pickled quince. Central Highlands corn-fed duck paddles in a preserved plum sauce sparked up with pickled rhubarb.
Dessert might star the season’s best fruit, like an ode to the Harcourt apple. Attentive service and a soothing ASMR soundtrack of chefs tending to sauces in the open kitchen complete this dreamy dining experience.
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Original URL: https://www.theage.com.au/goodfood/vic-good-food-guide/babae-20241115-p5kr29.html