The kind of restaurant where the farm-to-table ethos is evident before you even jump out of the car.
Pull into Glenarty Road, and Sasha and Ben McDonald have planted out the front with extensive vegetable gardens. Broad beans are in bloom, sugarloaf cabbage is pert, and behind the beds sheep roam the paddocks. Roll up for your booking early, and you might be directed to the counter right in the throng of the rustic shed dining room to taste the admirable and approachable Glenarty Road wines, often by someone with their own connection to the property.
It’s this spirit and energy that make eating here such a pleasure, with staff genuinely excited to share the exploits of the kitchen.
It’s this spirit and energy that make eating here such a pleasure, with staff genuinely excited to share the exploits of the kitchen, a casual tone that extends to the setting and diners who are happy to relax into the afternoon. Things might kick off with a lobe of fried bread piped with chicken-liver parfait before the farm plate lands, each cut of charcuterie – lamb sausage, perhaps, or black pudding with vibrant salsa verde – made in-house with their animals.
The main event is most often a plate of Glenarty lamb in elegant jus, but it’s the sides that bring it home – that cabbage with bacon in anchovy dressing, especially, rocks. Gingerbread and mandarin pudding, like the rest, is charming, well executed and certain to inspire return visits.
