DINING:REVIEWS

Chef's Hat, The Age Good Food Guide 2011 (15.5/20)

"This sleek winery-restaurant balances elegance and egalitarianism with aplomb, using its mesmerising landscape to maximum effect.  Wander in via the rambunctious, alfresco pizzeria and cafe and you'll find the bustling glass-walled dining room of white-linen tables overlooking sculpture-dotted-dotted vineyards.  The daily menu is a model of modern Australian flavours and preference for local produce. Every dish is matched with house wines, perhaps tangy Pennon Hill semillon/sauvignon blanc with a vibrant, creamy Red Hill goats cheese tart and a sweet tomato and capsicum chutney.  Not everything's as light, as the lush open lasagne of scallops in a rich crayfish bisque, and a main of lip sticking honey-and-mustard-glazed pork trotters on Puy lentils so decadently demonstrate.  Chef Barry Davis consistently delivers the deftly harmonious flavours that other fine diners on the peninsula aspire to.  It's not cheap, yet there's value, and a mix of sharp service and easygoing charm.  For dessert, white peach and almond tart with pistachio ice cream is preparation for a post-prandial stroll across the rolling hills of this lovely vineyard."

Best Winery Restaurant in The Australian Travel & Tourism Awards

Montalto is proud to announce that it has won the award for Best Winery Restaurant in The Australian Travel & Tourism Awards coming in above some tough competition from around Australia. The Australian said of Montalto: "This dining experience offers outstanding food, much of it sourced from the estate's organic gardens and orchards". Thank you to all who voted for us, it is wonderful to know we have such support out there.

Chef's Hat, The Age Good Food Guide 2010 (15/20)

"Montalto is probably the peninsula’s top destination restaurant, and not without reason.  It combines art and culture and food and wine with truly special scenery.  The property is dotted with extraordinary sculptural pieces and visitors can stroll the wetlands boardwalk or have a private picnic table set up under the gums.  Popular?  Yes, and you will need to book, as the spacious dining room is usually full of diners creating a noisy, happy buzz.  The small menu focuses on local produce – really local, like herbs and vegetables harvested from the kitchen garden (finally chopped zucchini and its flowers in a creamy risotto with a buttery white wine base, for example).  Port Phillip Bay snapper might come topped with asparagus and finished with an intense but not overpowering seafood-based sauce fragrant with saffron, tomato and basil.  Desserts include old favourites such as panna cotta, but always with interesting yet complimentary flavours – one infused with orange blossom water and paired with refreshingly tart rhubarb sorbet.  Chef Barry Davis is much influenced by French cuisine and has an eye for detail, beautifully plating each dish – its all part of Montalto’s immense charm."

Chef's Hat, The Age Good Food Guide 2009 (15.5/20)

"For six years, this showpiece diner has been the Mornington Peninsula’s flagship restaurant, or close to it. Competition is heating up but as yet doesn’t represent a threat: everything about Montalto speaks of thought and investment, from the service (young and professional) to the handsome, light-drenched dining room and the abstract sculptures dotting the landscape. The owners’ smartest investment, though, was that made in chef Barry Davis, who combines local produce with French and Mediterranean ideas. A lively amuse-gueule of pea soup might be followed by a baby-beetroot salad set with marinated octopus, Red Hill feta and crisp-fried beetroot discs. Classics are handled with assurance: roast spatchcocked chicken with fennel, French peas and bacon is beautifully executed, and Davis’ crepes, served with lemon curd, Earl Grey tea syrup and vanilla-bean icecream, outpoint any crepes we’ve tried at French restaurants lately. You sense a certain pride in the manner in which Montalto’s team goes about its business; on recent showings, that pride is justified"

Chef's Hat, The Age Good Food Guide 2008 (15/20)

"It’s the little touches that lift Montalto a notch above most of Red Hill’s many ‘winery with restaurant’ options. There’s the obligatory gorgeous view of vine-clad hills, but this one also has sculptures dotted across the lawn leading the eye down to the wetlands and lake. Small bouquets of herbs, fresh from the large kitchen garden, adorn many dishes; and the waitstaff handle a packed weekend lunch crowd with calm professionalism. The interior is a clever blend of rustic (rammed earth walls, timber floors, bentwood chairs) and relaxed elegance (white-clothed tables, floor-to-ceiling windows). The Frenchish food completes this stylish package, taking its inspiration from regions beyond Paris and using local, seasonal produce where possible. A crisp-skinned snapper from nearby Port Phillip Bay, for example, is partnered by braised leeks and thick-cut chips, with a piquant tomato and basil fumet. A magret duck breast is moist but not fatty, beautifully supported by a shiitake mushroom ‘brandade’ and herb jus. Desserts might include a chocolate royal on hazelnut dacquoise, with sherry syrup and pistachio icecream."

Chef's Hat, The Age Good Food Guide 2005

"Everything good about eating and drinking on the Mornington Peninsula comes together here... Montalto understands the Peninsula's strengths and truly shines."

Chef's Hat, The Age Good Food Guide 2004

"Since opening two years ago, Montalto has rocketed to wine-dine status on the peninsula"

Chef's Hat, The Age Good Food Guide 2003

"This smart new restaurant and tasting room is the cornerstone of a working property and tourism venture of considerable class"

Australian Gourmet Traveller Restaurant Guide 2004 & 2005

 Rating

"One of Victoria's best vineyard restaurants."

The Foodies Guide 2005

"One of Victoria's best winery restaurants awaits you here, with its large modern space with huge glass windows. It has not only some of the best views over the Peninsula, but fantastic French-inspired menus. Local produce is used to the max, such as freshly caught bay fish, wild mushrooms and Red Hill cheeses."