Provenance 'How Mushroom is too Mushroom'

I managed to drag myself out of the dark depths of a hangover to get to our pre-booked dinner at Provenance on Smith St in Collingwood on Saturday night and I am very glad I did!

Dave Hynes is the young gun chef and proprietor of Provenance. Saturday was my first visit to the restaurant and I will be going back there very soon because the passion of the young team was brilliant and you know that they take great pride in delivering quality produce cooked to enhance the flavours of the star ingredient 'mushrooms on this occasion'. So many restaurants lose the passion and chase the money but not Provenance. Our 4 course meal matched with wine and a cheese course to finish was excellent value at $75 per person.

I haven't written a review on a degustation evening before so I figured the clearest way would be to write the menu below with my comments in red. Let me know if you like this format!

The menu for the evening:

An amuse assiette of parmesan, pumpkin, chanterelle and black truffle martini.

Red Hill - Blanc de Blanc

This dish was beautifully presented with a shot of martini a swirl of pumpkin puree and a crisp parmesan chip. The martini had a subtle hint of truffle and wasn’t too intense. The parmesan crisp probably could have been a little finer, though I am never one to complain about too much cheese!

The sparkling wine made from 100% chardonnay grapes tasted like sparkling wine and wasn’t too sharp. A good value sparkling to take along to a friend’s summer barbeque!

Black truffle oil linguine

Red Hill - Reserve Chardonnay

The home-made linguine was cooked perfectly. The linguine was kept simple with mushrooms, truffle oil and truffle salt the 3 main ingredients. Initially I thought it was a bit too salty but this was quickly fixed by stirring the pasta. I love simple pasta dishes and would go back to Provenance just to eat this linguine.

Usually I would have gone for a Pinot Noir with this dish but the oak flavours of the chardonnay complimented the mushrooms beautifully and made me think of the woods in which the mushrooms came from.

Black trumpet and hedgehog tart with cabalo nero and chevre

Red Hill – Shiraz

A pastry shell topped with sautéed wild mushroom with a spattering of goat cheese. This dish was again all about the mushrooms and was a nice dish once I picked out the goat cheese, luckily there was only a little bit! My only qualm with this dish was the pastry could have been crispier. This probably had something to do with being pre-prepared.

The Shiraz was rich and full bodied with hint of blackberries and I enjoyed the feeling the tannins left in my mouth.

Mushroom and chocolate mousse, blood orange and walnut

Red Hill - Rutherglen Muscat

I was so intrigued by this dish when I read it on the menu and when it came out it certainly looked intriguing and my god it was tasty. The presentation left a bit to be desired, I think maybe the mousse didn’t set properly but the flavours of the chocolate and mushroom with the chilled blood orange with the walnuts worked amazingly well together. I am going to have to try and make this.

I couldn’t try the Muscat as I didn’t want any more sweet wine and was still happily drinking my Shiraz but Nick drank mine as well as his and said it tasted syrupy (which he likes).

Delice De Bourgogne, triple cream

For some reason the cheese tasted like soap but was really well presented with a reconnaissance to the theme of the previous two tasting evenings of quince and fig which I thought was a gorgeous way to finish.

Address: 288 Smith Street, Collingwood, VIC 3066

Phone: (03) 8515 0700

Bookings: Yes

Fully licensed