Friday, February 02, 2007

Balgownie Retreat, Yarra Valley

This morning, I had a 3 course breakfast. Not just muesli. Not just eggs. Not just pastries. I had the whole lot: bircher muesli with berries; poached eggs and extras; and a couple of little baby croissants. You won't go hungry at the Balgownie Estate Vineyard Retreat and Spa, Melba Highway, Yarra Glen, Tel +61 3 9730 0700.

muesli

The Bircher was very good, with quite a nutty flavour. The poached eggs were close to perfect. The extras were... in a word... small: one little pork snag; a mini hash brown; a few mushrooms; a tiny serve of spinach; and half a roast tomato. The croissants were also small, but good. But with so many courses to get through, small serves are good serves.

croissants

The Balgownie Yarra Valley Retreat is an excellent spot for a love-in, which is exactly why we were there. Get away from the office, gaze up at the blue sky, then lock yourself in a room and talk about blue sky, business models, monetisation of eyeballs, and other such crazy talk. If the buzzword bingo gets out of control, make everyone watch Startup.com. We did. It's a cack.

Whether it's worth driving all the way here specifically for breakfast, I'm not so sure. It is good. But it's by no means cheap.

16/20 "bircher and berries"

score

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1 Comments:

Anonymous Anonymous said...

NOICE!

Balgownie does a few very drinkable wines too.

We went to Yarra Valley last weekend with spur of the moment tickets to see The Pretenders at 'A Day On The Green'(the geriatric version of 'The Big Day Out') at Rocheford Winery. We were not as lucky as you in terms of accommodation. The whole region was booked out and we settled on the significantly more down market Maroondah View Motel, featuring The Dam Restaurant!!

But in our curiously decorated room overlooking a flock of Ibis' pecking apart a vegie patch, we whipped up our own 5 star brekkie featuring to-die-for scrambles. We purchased local eggs, organic bread, goats cheese, fresh herbs, smoked trout, and extra creamy milk - absolute heaven.

More fresh local produce went into the picnic hamper for the concert. Then we followed it up the next day with 12 dishes of Greg Malouf's magnificent Middle Eastern fare spanning 4hours of decadence at Stones.

God we're lucky in Melbourne - great produce, great wine, great scenery, great venues. And decadence in even the most simple surrounds.

4/2/07 17:44  

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