July 24, 2010: Lake House

Michael recently and very generously treated me to a weekend away in Daylesford, including a meal at Lake House.  This two-hatted restaurant takes pride in its seasonal menus that use local ingredients, and they impressed me as much again when I saw that their 'menu of small vegetarian tastes' is printed and presented to every diner alongside the omnivore's version.  (There's one vegetarian entree and one main on the a la carte menu too.)

We loved the atmosphere here - not overly formal and really buzzing on a Saturday night, without any need to yell across the table to be heard.  The featured paintings by Allan Wolf-Tasker (husband of Lake House's executive chef Alla), crowded with lusty folk on a night out, set the tone well.  The service was a funny mix - professional and distant in one instance, then warm yet inexperienced from others.

We started with an amuse bouche of mushroom veloute.  It was silky smooth, with nothing distracting from the earthy flavour of mushrooms.

Course number two kicked up the earthy factor, with a salad of heirloom beets.  Combining roasted beetroot with walnuts, greens and creme fraiche is nothing new, but it's always a winner.

The crisp crumbed poached egg, peppers, olives and capers were a little more novel.  Y'all know I don't care much for eggs at breakfast but if anything was ever going to get me there it'd have to be a crispy-crumbed shell.  And it did!  I loved the crunch, the richness, and the counteracting acidity of the tomato-based condiment underneath.

The mushrooms, in consommé and brioche, were more my style from the start.  The brioche was all buttery toast with a soft, warm centre.  In contrast to the creamy veloute, the consommé tasted deeper and sweeter, with flecks of herb (chives?) on top brightening it up.

It was most refreshing to see some inspiration from Asia when they brought out the Japanese custard, miso roasted eggplant and vegetable tempura.  I loved the variety of textures and the sudden shots of saltiness and ginger in different mouthfuls.

For me, the spinach ricotta tortellini with pumpkin and walnuts that followed felt unnecessary.  Not only was I getting quite full, but my taste buds were just not ready for these stodgy European flavours so soon after the salty soy.  The cheesy pasta, pumpkin and lentils didn't work together quite so well as I would have expected.  I suspect that Michael might disagree, but after the Japanese custard I was ready to wind down with something fresh and fruity.

More richness was to come!  The cheese course featured two styles of blue cheese accompanied by pinot poached pears and black pepper crisps.  Blue cheese is a pungent and pretty divisive delicacy; it's probably impossible to plate it in a way that's universally pleasing.  I was very happy to alternate between the firm white-ish cheese and a sweet fresh fruit but the daubs of darker cheese (hidden at the bottom of the pictured mounds) absolutely floored me.  It was strong stuff.

Finally, dessert; quince soup and honey icecream.  Separately these items were both exquisite.  The quince hadn't been interfered with too much, all soft and syrupy and fragrant.  And the icecream must've been churned with the highest quality bee regurgitation in all of Hepburn shire.  But together they were smack-in-the-mouth-sweet, a bit much even for this dessert fiend.  (If I'd had my pick of the dessert menu, I would have loved to try the Lake House 'gaytime', an Amaretto parfait with almonds, dates, apricots and curry.)

While few dishes here score major innovation points (Japanese custard and the elusive gaytime dessert excepted), Lake House puts on a rather lovely vegetarian show.  Given their loyalty to the seasons, I'd be most interested in returning in summer for a different set of flavours and a daylight-savings view over Lake Daylesford.  But Victoria boasts some mighty fine regional dining, and we might tempted elsewhere before then.

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You can also read about Lake House meals on blogs Crushed Guava, eat tori, Words and Flavours, Saucy Thyme, Food Rehab, Glampacker, tummy rumbles, doublecooked, The Gourmet Challenge, The New Epicurean and Winos and Foodies.

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Address: King St, Daylesford VIC

Ph: (03) 5348 3329

Fully licensed

Price: vegetarian tasting menu $115 per person, $70 for matching wines

Website: www.lakehouse.com.au

March 22, 2009: Himalaya Bakery and Cafe

Our post-banquet post-pub morning at The Conti was spent in various ways: I want for a wander through Hepburn Regional Park, a committed gang got up to endure a massive yoga session and everybody else waited around getting hungry. By the time everyone had saluted the sun sufficient times it was getting on towards 11 and the less flexible among the group were dying of hunger. Luckily, having rounded the whole gang up it was just a short drive to Daylesford and our breakfast date at Himalaya Bakery and Cafe.

They promise a wide range of vegetarian and vegan baked products, including pastries, cakes, muffins and breads, along with full breakfast and lunch menus. Everything is well-labelled, and there are plenty of vegan and gluten-free options both on the menus and in the bakery case. Everybody with prior Himalaya experience raved about the smoked tofu pies and the cherry danishes (more on these later), but we needed to start things off with something hot and delicious.

Cindy and I basically ordered the same thing: mushroom scrambled tofu ($11) - a deliciously herby mess of tofu and mushrooms fried up into a big gooey scramble. Cindy was smart enough to append a side order of herbed potatoes ($2.50), which I happily stole by the forkful. Outstanding.

I'd been pushing for either a smoked tofu pie or some sort of delightful dessert, but the load of breakfast was just too heavy. Instead, we packed up a delicious take home package for dinner: two smoked tofu pies and a cherry danish to share.

To be honest, the pies were a little disappointing - a bit on the dry side and a little short on the tofu. It was probably good for us that they were liberally packed with little vegie pieces, but I was looking for something a bit more rich and tofu-y.

Contrastingly, the danish really hit the spot - fruity and sugarry, with some of the tastiest vegan pastry you'll ever find. We probably should have swapped the order and dived into two of these and just one of the pies.

The Himalaya is a fine vego place - perfect for a late breakfast. The staff get a little overrun at busy times (to be fair, it's probably not often that a group of ten wanders in looking as ravenous as we did), but they're friendly and helpful and the food more than makes up for it.

Address: 73 Vincent Street, Daylesford
Ph: 5348 1267
Price: $5 - $13
Website: www.himalayabakery.com

March 21-22, 2009: Continental House

Continental House is a 'vegan life sanctuary' in Hepburn Springs. It offers modest accommodation as well as activities like yoga, massage courses, chanting and raw food workshops. They also have a vegan banquet on most Saturday nights. This is what drew a group of Vegan Potluckers to the Conti for a weekend road trip.

Most of the rooms fit two or three people, and they're pleasantly comfortable if not modern. There are shared toilets and showers around the corner, though Michael and I found ourselves in the one room with an en suite. This proved to be a bath room in the most literal sense, containing a nothing more than a bath and mirror! As well as numbers the rooms have nicknames (ours was 'Pixie'), after the murals painted on their walls.

There are also communal kitchen and lounge areas where you can rest and get to know the other visitors and residents. While making toast in the kitchen, Michael met a resident who'd been on a water-only fast for the past 60 hours. Why he was torturing himself by standing in the midst of food, I don't know.

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The banquet takes place in a lovely room below the guest bedrooms. There's plenty of room for everyone staying at the House, and the ten of us easily fitted around the largest of the tables.

The Conti is entirely alcohol free, but we were treated to freshly squeezed orange juice as well as non-alcoholic passionfruit, strawberry and ginger wines.

The first course was a sweet potato, tomato, lentil and basil soup served with corn chips. As we happily slurped and crunched and chatted our way through it, we didn't notice the empty serving tables (pictured above) being stacked generously with more food. It was an overwhelming array of salads, dips and bakes.

My plate includes:

• a pumpkin coconut curry with chickpeas, coriander and black mustard seeds,
• tabouleh,
• beetroot dip
• a spicy pickled cabbage salad with bitter green leaves,
• avocado,
  
• more corn chips,
• a salad of tofu, seaweed, carrot and shitake mushrooms,
• a spicy squash bake,
  
• lightly dressed kolrabi and Chinese greens,
• and the table favourite, an orange dip of eggplant, capsicum, garlic and olive oil.
  

There was plenty to go around, with Toby piling up his third plate with avocado just as I was finishing my first.

And of course there was dessert: fruit salad topped with banana icecream and ground cashews.

This kind of banquet is hardly competition for Melbourne's degustation greats. Rather, it's stuffed full of home-made hippy goodness, what you might expect to find at a Hare Krishna restaurant (though with less deep frying). The tranquil setting is enough to set anyone at ease. That is, if your visit doesn't coincide with a raucous Vegan Potluck road trip!

Address: 9 Lone Pine Ave, Hepburn Springs
Ph: 5348 2005
Alcohol free
Price: $70 per person, accommodation and vegan banquet
Website: www.continentalhouse.com.au