A luxury lunch experience that goes beyond the predictable winery format.
If you have the good luck to travel around WA wine country, eating here and there, it’s true that the upscale winery luncheon can get a tad predictable: clever nibbles, something light, something meaty, dessert. Voyager Estate is a good place to visit if you want to break out of that predictability, not because it strays too far from the format but because there’s a real sense of collaboration between the kitchen and the sommelier, and because Travis Crane is doing some of the finest cooking in the region.
Lamb is accompanied by a mushroom tart so elegant it steals the limelight.
The room, with its high ceilings and candelabra-style chandeliers, is a tad dated; the menu is anything but. Crane is clever – he mixes raw venison with diced rhubarb, the colour and shape of the two almost identical, the contrast in flavours surprising and complementary. His Spanish mackerel fillet is cooked to a glorious medium-rare, its meatiness tempered by a delicate sauce made from caulini and feijoa. Lamb is accompanied by a mushroom tart so elegant it steals the limelight. Service is enthusiastic and professional, with a sense that everyone is working towards the same goal: your pleasure.