Re’em

Handsome new winery restaurant shaking things up.

November 18, 2024

1 / 9Honey cake with bamboo-shoot ice-cream.Bonnie Savage

2 / 9Inside the winery development housing Re’em.Bonnie Savage

3 / 9Rice porridge, ginger, hazelnut mousse and grilled mandarin.Bonnie Savage

4 / 9Octopus with turnips and gochujang mayonnaise.Bonnie Savage

5 / 9Crisp eggplant in spicy fermented bean paste.Hugh Davison

6 / 9Duck with confit leg, wonton and shaved cucumber.Bonnie Savage

7 / 9Outside the Yarra Valley hotel and restaurant.Supplied

8 / 9Spicy Sichuan-style buckwheat dumplings.Supplied

9 / 9Cantonese-style buxton trout.Hugh Davison

15/20

Contemporary$$$

Part of the Helen and Joey Estate winery, Re’em is aptly named after the biblical word often translated as “unicorn”. Menus weave in elements honouring the Chinese heritage of owners Joey Zeng and Helen Xu, as well as head chef Abe Yang’s Korean background.

Buckwheat dumplings (the menu calls them “gnocchi”) are tossed in a mushroom ragu laced with doubanjiang, the spicy fermented bean paste. Those heady flavours nod to Zeng’s Sichuan heritage; the buckwheat to Xu’s farming family in eastern China. Lamb belly skewers are cumin-glazed and grilled until edges become crunchy.

Barbecued octopus doubles down on smoky flavours with a garnish of grilled turnips and mayonnaise lifted by gochujang, the Korean chilli paste. Layered honey cake incorporates lees, a yeasty byproduct of winemaking, contrasting with refreshing bamboo shoot ice-cream. In a sea of same-same winery restaurants, this is one of a kind.