Mission Estate Winery

Rating: 4

We ate dinner here in March 2021.

House made loaf with olive oil, balsamic, and dukkha
Salt and pepper squid
Leek and cauliflower croquette
Wagyu beef brisket, miso custard, soba noodle and squid ink crisp
Creamed pumpkin tagliatelle
Duck breast with beetroot gratin and cumquat marmalade
Roast banana and caramel brûlée

Mission Estate is a beautiful historic venue, and as it was warm autumn evening we dined outside under the grapevines. We tried a lot of different dishes at The Mission, and they were almost all excellent. The weak links were the house made loaf, which was a bit dense and didn’t come with enough oil, and the tagliatelle which was just a tad bland. These were not bad dishes, it’s just that everything else was outstanding. Neither Business Andy nor the Fee-Rex is a big squid head, but we still knew good squid when we tried it. We are both big croquette heads however, and could appreciate that the leek and cauliflower croquette was top tier. It was delightfully creamy and crunchy, and had no stringy leek bits as can sometimes happen. The beef brisket was weird, but in the best way. The accompanying miso custard made us both reconsider our relationship with miso, which until now had been strained. The duck breast was so tender, so crispy, so flavourful, and so sweet, it might have been the best dish on the table the whole night. And the brûlée was a nice end to a special meal. We would be happy to return to The Mission any time.