Oakdene Vineyards

My family and I enjoyed yet another great meal at Oakdene last Sunday for their special Christmas in July celebration. Marty Chichester the Executive Chef and Manager at Oakdene is a Welshman and this showed in the Christmas lunch we were presented with. I must also say that my Grandparents, Hazel and Austin and grandmas sister Audrey looked very English countryside in their tailored jackets and pearls.

We started the lunch with the N.V. Oakdene Sparkling $39 which is a really (I mean really) easy to drink sparkling wine with a nice crisp finish and a perfect amount of bubbles, at that price, who needs champagne!

The staff at Oakdene are always fantastic. They are competent, well dressed, polite and give you the perfect amount of attention. Whilst we were deciding from our 3 course Christmas menu we were presented with the usual homemade warm ciabatta roll and Oakdene olive oil which is delicious and I forgot to take some home again.

Seeing as we were doing the whole English Christmas thing, I chose to eat the prawn and avocado salad to start, followed by the roast Otway prime beef with Yorkshire pudding and gravy and big bowls of roasted vegetables down the middle of the table. For desert I had the cheese plate because as you will soon find out I am not a massive dessert fan and cheese is my biggest weakness. If you really wanted to torture me you would tie my hands behind my back and put a piece of Camembert de Normandie in front of my face, but out of reach!

Of course being that I was at lunch with family, I had no qualms about sticking my fork into everybody else’s food so I got to taste everything including a really good chicken, pork and duck terrine entrée and a lovely moist serving of the roast turkey with chipolatas (it’s an English thing!).

With lunch we drank a bottle of the 2007 Oakdene Shiraz, $45 which accompanied the meats and rich gravy perfectly. Following the Shiraz we returned to the sparkling for dessert.

I got married at Oakdene. We had a cocktail reception with canapés in the beautiful gardens with fantastic music and the most amazing macadamia crusted lamb cutlets (Marty I still want the recipe!). We are very fond of Marty and his staff and I always look forward to spending a long lunch or dinner eating his creative, regional dishes and drinking plenty of good wine.

Website: http://www.oakdene.com.au/

Address: 255 Grubb Road Wallington, Ocean Grove, Victoria 3221

Bookings: Yes

Phone Restaurant: 03 5255 1255