So I’ve decided that it’s about time that I start writing a little more. I enjoy it so much, but don’t seem to make the time to give my blog the love it deserves. I enjoy writing so much when I do get stuck into it, so I made a pact to myself, now that I am 25, that I should really start doing more of what I love. After all, thanks to my Instagram, I have been able to explore food in new ways, not just through cooking! So why not bring a little bit of that to the blog?

I decided it was worth starting to write a bit about what I’m doing when I’m not cooking, which is exploring my love of food. Why not impart some wisdom on you my readers, so that you can get excited too? And maybe when you do start exploring these areas for yourself, you can use my recommendations for places to try! So I really hope you love the Ella Explores section of my blog as much as I’ve enjoyed researching and writing it for you!

For my birthday last weekend I was lucky enough to go to the Mornington Peninsula. I’ve never been there before, and I’d heard great things about the wine and food, so when it came to choosing where to go for my birthday around Melbourne, it was at the top of my list.

The first tip I would give is not food related, but will make all the difference to your trip down. If you have the time, you should take the coastal road that goes through St Kilda, Brighton and then all the small towns along the way. It’s so pretty and much nicer than just travelling on a highway.

We spent most of our time in Red Hill, which is the winery area of Mornington Peninsula, so this post will focus on the food and wine we enjoyed while we stayed there. We fit a lot of other things in too, so I’d highly recommend the Peninsula for anyone who wants plenty of activities while they are staying there. It was also so picturesque, particularly in autumn with all the leaves falling off the trees. Plus it was cold enough to use the fireplace at night, which meant that we could make S’mores (one of my favourite things!), but not so cold that you were freezing all day. I couldn’t have asked for better weather for the whole weekend, it was so perfect!

So here are some of my top picks for you, I hope you enjoy them!

The Rocks Restaurant Mornington

For breakfast on the day we drove down, we wanted to find something with a beautiful view and delicious food, which meant we were being quite picky. We were going to find something along the way but by the time we found an area we liked, we were in Mornington itself. But this was fine because I’d done my research and found the Rocks Restaurant, which is right on the water.

Foods aside, the views alone are enough to take your breath away: you can have a table overlooking the water, the cliffs of Mornington, the beach houses and Melbourne on a clear day. It was absolutely beautiful being right on the water, and their deck setting for breakfast was the perfect place to enjoy it!

Another awesome thing about this restaurant is that they serve delicious bellinis at breakfast, which was perfect for a birthday! They came beautifully presented and were absolutely delicious. The coffee was also awesome, which is always a bonus!

For breakfast, we shared the banana bread, which was out of this world. It was packed full of flavour, and came with a delicious butter and fresh fruit. What more could you want? The banana bread lasted for only a couple of minutes around us, it was so delicious! Lucky I was hungry enough to eat more!

The breakfast menu itself is not extensive, but both the dishes we ordered were absolutely amazing. It was little things, such as the ham on my eggs benedict being fresh and full of flavour, that really set this restaurant apart.

Not the cheapest choice, but the view and the food are well worth it!

Main Ridge Dairy

We popped in to Main Ridge Dairy to try some of their cheeses, and only realised when we got there that they are a goat’s cheese dairy farm. You can even go and pat the goats while you wait! My partner isn’t a huge fan of goats’ cheese, and so was a little hesitant to try the cheese, but we ordered a small tasting platter for $10. It was such good value, for only $10 you got so many cheeses to try, along with a little booklet explaining the cheeses. I didn’t even realise that there were so many goats’ cheeses available, and all of them were absolutely delicious. I would highly recommend going to Main Ridge Dairy and stocking up.

Paringa Estate

For my birthday dinner, I was lucky enough to be taken to Paringa estate, which is absolutely amazing for food. Their dining room overlooks the vines, which are all lit up for night time and make for a stunning view!

Do yourself a favour and order the degustation with matched wines. It was well worth the money with five unbelievable courses, all matched with the perfect wine. If you don’t want to eat this much though, the great thing about their menu is that they have matched each dish to the perfect wine for you, which takes the guess work out of it!

I don’t even really eat seafood, but I did here because it was so good! The crab risotto was unbelievable, and even had its own caramel sauce. But the stand out for me had to be the beetroot entrée that had its own beetroot gelato! The wines were beautiful as well, and it made for a truly beautiful evening. They even gave me a candle in my dessert!

Cellar and Pantry

If you are looking for local produce and supplies for your cottage over your weekend, look no further than cellar and pantry. They have beautiful cheese and meats, as well as ready to make meals. Their wine selection is also amazing, and mostly from the region, which means that if you’ve missed the cellar door hours, you can still enjoy beautiful wines from Mornington with your cheese! We bought some beautiful jamon serano ham from here to enjoy with our cheese, along with two bottles of wine and some delicious sticky date and ginger biscuits!

Foxeys Hangout

On the day of our winery tour, we ended up not eating until late because it was so busy everywhere we went. After all, it was a beautiful day! I probably wouldn’t recommend this strategy for stamina purposes, as I was in a bad way after visiting so many wineries on such a late lunch!

But regardless, we had heard good things about Foxeys Hangout, and so were adamant about eating there. When we got there it was still packed, but we were able to get a table inside. If you have the time though I would recommend waiting for a table outside, because the view over their vineyard is absolutely breathtaking!

On to the food! Come hungry, because they specialise in share plates and you can try all of them for $38 a person, which is well worth it when you get as much food as we did! All the food was really fresh and seasonal, and absolutely delicious! The standout for me was the mushroom sausage rolls and the figs wrapped in prosciutto. It was such an amazing lunch, and the wines here are absolutely delicious, so make sure you leave room for a tasting afterwards!

The Corner Café

On Monday, which was Anzac Day, we had a lot of trouble finding something that was open! A lot of the restaurants on Red Hill were closed, and so we had to go back down to the water to try and find somewhere. Even then we had a lot of trouble, which was surprising! But we headed to Rosebud as we had heard of a lot of delicious sounding restaurants there.

We stumbled across the Corner Café, which was absolutely packed because it was one of the only cafes open by the looks of it. There was a huge line to order, but the food came out really quickly! They have amazing scones and made a mean hot chocolate. The breakfast menu was full of options, and I had a lot of trouble deciding!

I ended up going with an omelette that was packed with flavours of spinach, feta, sundried tomato and delicious, fresh prosciutto on top. It was absolutely amazing, thanks to the freshness of the ingredients. It was so well priced for what you got, and an absolutely delicious start to the day!

Red Hill Brewery

The last place we visited in Mornington was the Red Hill Brewery. We’d heard a lot of people talk about the food, as on weekends and public holidays they do American barbeque food along with the beers. I have to say firstly, that I don’t normally drink beer, but when I tried the Red Hill beers, I was pleasantly surprised. They were all really delicious, so I’d recommend going here just for a drink!

But now I need to talk about the food! Although it took almost an hour for our food to come out, it was well worth the wait. We ordered the brisket and pulled pork, which were both absolutely delicious. The brisket was so smokey and full of flavour, and the pulled pork fell apart in your mouth. But the true standout was the corn bread: it was so delicious and sweet!

If you have the time to wait, I’d highly recommend heading here with an empty stomach and trying a bit of everything – all the food looked absolutely delicious and was really decently priced!

Wineries

So as I mentioned earlier, we did go to a lot of wineries while we were there. Rather than explaining them all, I thought it might be more valuable to compare them on a few factors for you, so you can start to work out where you’d want to visit based on what’s important to you.

So I’ve scored them 1-10, 1 being the worst, 10 being the best. This is just based on my experience, so I’m sure others will think differently!

Winery	Cellar Door Atmosphere	Architecture	Views	Staff at Cellar Door	Choice in Tasting	Price	Wines
Montalto	4	7	7	4	5	$$	5
Tuck’s Ridge	8	4	6	9	7	$$	8
Ocean Eight	4	8	3	3	3	$$$$	6
Port Phillip Estate	8	10	10	3	4	$$$	4
Red Hill Estate	8	7	9	9	10	$$	8
Foxey’s Hangout	7	8	8	4	4	$$	7
Polperro	4	7	7	4	1	$$	4
Panton	6	7	8	7	3	$$	6

 

Special note that Polperro had closed its Cellar Door when we got there, so we could only buy glasses of wines, most of which weren’t from their company. However, we got to drink them overlooking the vineyard, which was really beautiful.

So there you have it! My guide to Mornington Peninsula’s food and wine! Obviously there is a lot more to explore, and this just scratches the surface. All I know is that now my apartment is full of delicious wine, so it was a weekend well spent! I can’t wait to go back, it was such a beautiful place! And you can’t really go wrong when picking where to eat: everywhere had delicious food and amazing wine.

Until next time, happy eating!

Ella xx