GOURMET TRAVELLER 51Clockwise, from
above: Flinders
mussels with
seaweed butter
and Peninsula
corn; chef Phil
Wood, sommelier
Andrew Murch
and restaurant
manager Ainslie
Lubbock; Dutch
cream potato
with caviar.Phil Wood’s talents are front and
centre at his new ine diner, Laura,
writesMICHAEL HARDEN.
Solo
exhibit
T
he first course is called
Land and Garden and
it’s like unwrapping a
present. A section of
roasted onion sits on top of slices
of carrot, next to a pool of beetroot
sauce and topped with pink-tipped,
finely julienned radish. Under
the onion cap are delicate lion’s
mane mushrooms braised in the
style of teriyaki, mixed with
shiitakes from Benton Rise. They
taste like chicken and are teamed
with steamed abalone to great
textural effect. But wait. Like
so much at Laura, it gets better
as you go deeper.
There’s surprise and delight
already – carrots revealing a hint of
star anise, the beetroot sauce edged
with sesame oil – but then, a few
bites in, you find a magnificent
curry emulsion. Somewhere
between mousse and mayo in
texture, it’s like a twist in the tale.
Most dishes in restaurants present
well and then get less interestingonce you stick a fork in them. But
at Laura, the plot thickens.
There’s plenty to get excited
about at Pt Leo Estate. You’d hope
so, given that $50 million has been
spent building the sculpture park
and its glass-fronted cellar door and
restaurant building. The estate’s sea
views, broken only by the occasional
Cragg, Plensa, Halpern, King or
Meadmore, are impressive. But
the food offering is equally stirring.
Big budgets can breed hubris in a
restaurant but there’ve been no bad
decisions here. The choice of Phil
Wood as culinary director has
proven decisive.
Over four, five or six courses,
his food at Laura (the restaurant
is named for the Jaume Plensa
sculpture out front) balances
precision cooking and artful plating
with elements of surprise. The
perception of what you’re eating can
change from one bite to the next.
Orchards, the dessert course,
is a wave-like ripple of meringue,its troughs filled with dried figs
cooked in estate pinot noir, mixed
with candied lemon rind and
topped with a delicate, foam-like
lemon cream. It’s a clever, delicate
combination. Then suddenly there’s
cumin ice-cream and candied
walnuts. As they emerge from
under the meringue, they seamlessly
add a more complex Christmas
pudding-like layer to the mix.
There’s less sleight-of-hand in
Livestock, but it’s still theatrical,
arriving sealed in a black crust of
salt and ash. Broken open at the
table, it reveals braised lamb brisket
and neck pressed with chicken
mousse and figs, wrapped in fig
leaves from Cape Schanck. It comes
with a decision: would you like the
hot-and-sour or Tuscan chicken-liver
sauce? With livers, pancetta,
rosemary and wine in the equation,
it’s the Tuscan by a nose.
The choices are all good in
this serene space. Separated by
glass from Pt Leo Estate’s busy
bistro and cellar door, Laura’s
dining room is light and tranquil.
The detailing is timber, the tables
PHOTOGRAPHER JULIAN KINGMA topped with leather. Earthenware➤
Melbourne review