Flutes Restaurant, Brookland Valley, Margaret River

I've always love going to restaurant in a winery, especially when i'm in the region. It's the best place to taste the best of everything in the region.

A while back, me and my family went down to Margaret River for a road trip (there were 14 of us and they were all travelled from Malaysia), I thought why not try lunch at one of the winery restaurant, it will be a great way to introduce the wine and the Modern Australian cuisine to them. And I suggested to try Flutes Restaurant at Brookland Valley, reason being that the restaurant is overlooking the lake and the vineyard, and of course the menu sounds good and not overly priced, plus I've got 10% discount using EatingWA VIP card.

I've made reservation for 14 of us on a Tuesday lunch, most restaurant would have asked if a big group like that to go for a set menu, instead they didn't mention anything about set menu on the phone and were fine with us having a la carte. That's what I wanted anyway, to sample everything on their a la carte menu, I know I'm a greedy person when it comes to food.

Upon arrival, we were greeted by the well-trained waitress, and were asked if we would like to sit at the verandah area or the inside area (they set up tables for us both verandah and inside area). We chose to sit outside, although the weather was abit on the warm-ish side, but we wouldn't want to miss out the chance to enjoy the nice scenery on offer.

Walking into the polished wooden floor board, white table linen, fine china and polished silverware on the tables, local artist's paintings hung on walls, fresh flower placed near the entrance, large see-through windows and sliding door all over the restaurant, overlooking the lake and the vineyard. The atmosphere is almost elegant but casual, a very relaxing place to have lunch at.

Their seasonal menu with a range cater for everyone, so vegetarian or people with special diet needs don't have to worry, they have a menu for you. One good thing about dining with a large group of people, is that you get to sample almost everything on the menu. Enough said, let's pictures do the speaking.

Fresh produce is what you will get for dining in the wine region, that's another good thing about it, I mean the meat could be from the next door farm and Pemberton marron are just 2 hrs drive away.

That being said, this Charcuterie Plate is one of the best I've yet tasted. For only $34, we sampled the best meat on offer in the region (from left to right): rare roasted venison loin with beetroot and horseradish labne, chicken liver parfait with honeyed apricots and quince glaze, duo of duck roulade and venison terrine with house pickled vegetables, and carpaccio of venison fillet with capers, parmesan and olives. It was also served with a basket of fresh baguette and turkish bread.

The roasted venison loin was oh-so-tender and juicy, I have never tasted venison loin cooked in this way, and this was really good. The chicken liver parfait was smooth and the strong offal taste of the liver were cut off by adding some liquer into it, spread it onto the toast provided to us and some quince puree - what a great way to start your lunch! I shared this entree with my parents, they were not quite used to the carpaccio here, it is way too rare for them, but I like them, the marbling texture was great! Highlight item of this dish have to be the chicken liver parfait and the roasted venison loin.

This was the entree that was shared between my aunts, it's the Seafood Taste Plate - $38. It consists of (start from left to right), salt and pepper whiting with preserved lime tartare, seared scallop with salsa verde on chinese ceramic spoon, beetroot cured salmon and avocado tian with roe, poached yabby tail with soba noodles and wakame salad.

I did get a chance to sample just 1/2 a mouthful of each item on the Seafood Taste Plate, and they were great, it was fresh and cooked to perfection, the highlight of this dish gotta be the scallop and the cured salmon on avocado.

After having such great entree, we can't wait for our mains to come. Due to the fact that there were 14 of us, I have to be really quick to grab a photo of each dish before they start eating them.

Amelia Park Lamb Loin, served with green beans, babaganoush, Flutes' dukkah and jus - $37 

This was ok, maybe my dad asked for medium-well, making it a not as great dish!

North West Prawn Linguini, tossed with chorizo, preserved lime, garlic, baby English spinach and olive oil - $34

I chose this dish mainly because I was craving for some prawns and I love chorizo myself, they are both one of my favourite thing to eat. The flavour was clean and it would have tasted even better with a glass of semillion.

Confit of Duck Leg, with chilli ginger pumpkin, bok choy, finished with a blood orange jus - $36

I tried one or two mouthful of it, what can go wrong with confit of duck leg right! Mouthful of crispy duck skin wrapped up some tender juicy duck meat accompanied by cooked to perfection chilli ginger pumpkin with a hint of zesty blood orange jus. Sensational!

Flutes Signature Trio, consist of Pemberton marron, Tasmanian salmon and wild Kimberley barramundi set on a goat's cheese macadamia crumble with citrus dressing - $39

Seafood lover gotta loves this dish, generous serving of salmon and barramundi and half a marron, great way to sample 3 best OZ seafood. We asked to ommit the goat's cheese macadamia crumble though, as we couldn't stand the strong smell from goat's cheese, but i can imagine the dish would have tasted even better with some nutty crumble on it!

MSA Harvey Beef Fillet, with royal blue potato, king mushroom, and wilted spinach finished with a wild mushroom jus - $38

O-M-G, this is definately the highlight of the main course. Both my brother and my uncle ordered this dish can't stop screaming on how good they were. The steaks was cooked to perfection - Medium rare, it was indeed a good piece of steak, it was so tender on the inside and the wild mushroom jus paired up with the earthy steak was like match-made in heaven. My uncle who has travelled around the world and tried steaks from many places said hands down this was one of the best steak he has ever had. Even until today, they were still raving about this dish.

We also ordered a serve of garden salad and their homemade potato wedges that comes with sour cream and sweet chilli sauce.

Lunch took us longer than we thought, because we were in a hurry to visit some other winery and brewery before they close at 4pm, so we don't get to stay for desserts, although some item on the desserts menu does appeal to me. I'd like to come back next time just for the food!

Nonetheless, there are some other winery restaurant that I would like to visit in the Margaret River region such as Xanadu and Voyager Estate also Must in Margaret River. Will try to organise another trip down south just to eat and of course drink! Life's good.

After lunch, you might want to take a stroll at their vineyard and herb garden, there are raspberries, olive tree, lemon tree and some other herbs too.


Food Quality: 4 Charcuterie outta 5
Service: 4 Charcuterie outta 5
Ambience: 4 Charcuterie outta 5
Will I be back: Yea sure why not as I do love their Charcuterie plate and the beef fillet.

Flutes Restaurant at Brookland Valley Winery
4070 Caves Road, Wilyabrup
Western Australia 6280
Phone (08) 9755 6250

email: flutes@flutes.com.au

Open 7 days from 11am

Will open for dinner for 10 or more