I love Mount Tamborine-there’s something very special about it, a kind of ’otherness’, palpable as soon So, today, wanting to escape from the football madness infecting the city, it seemed like the perfect destination and not too far for a leisurely drive.
While there are heaps of cafes, I’ve always been disappointed by the lunch options on offer. So I was pretty excited today to see a new place had opened, called DeliVino in North Tamborine. it’s a nice space, fresh and modern with red and black and white as the main focus.
In a an area renowned for picturesque picnic spots, it’s madness to think there’s never been a really good (to my knowledge anyway) deli on the mountain. So hurrah to the forward thinking owners who’ve created something much-needed here.
There are a couple of different parts to DeliVino. The deli section at the front has a great selection of cheese, charcuterie and dry goods, while out onto the verandah and through the door is a wine-bar and restaurant. Inside, at what the person doing the tastings told me was an old chemists table you can taste some of the local wines (mostly grown on Granite Belt then made here or cellar doors here).
We decided to head for the wine-bar/bistro for lunch. I’m kicking myself I didn’t check out the wine list, but we were in a hurry and my mind was on other things.
There’s a standard lunch menu, with some well priced options as well as a tapas menu. I’ve seen a few tapas menus in my time, and while this one didn’t purport to be Spanish, it was pretty appealing. Form a range of ten, we chose ‘Dukkah & Dips’ which was Turkish bread with “Australian bush dukkah’, lemon infused macadamia oil, hummus and beetroot.
(This was actually the BF’s choice, as I’ve had a dire ‘dips platter’ too many times to count.)
It actually exceeded my (admittedly low) expectations. The hummous (the most misappropriated dip in the dip spectrum usually) was excellent, although oddly it tasted more like artichokes than chickpeas. The dukkah was very fresh and tangy while the beetroot dip was enriched with goat cheese. The only thing I’d change is the crockery. The serves look nice, but the length of the toasted bread and the shallowness of the dish actually made it quite difficult to get the dips out once they got past the halfway mark.
Off the tapas special board, we chose the arancini, which were beautifully presented, with a little dob of a slightly lemony aioli (was there a teeny bit of dijon mustard?) garnished with a little cress. Inside, they were filled with a mushroom risotto, very moist, with perhaps a hint of truffle. Oil or salt or perhaps I’m completely off and it was a bit of porcini powder, I’m not sure, but there was definitely an extra earthiness.
Another special was pork and prawn wontons, again not usually something I’d order. These were great examples. The crisp bubbled wrappers weren’t oily, while inside they were generously stuffed and perfectly seasoned. They came with a little sauce; perhaps a plum sauce; the 12 year old reckoned it was sweet chilli, but it had no heat.
Roasted chorizo slices were served up with peas and spinach and gremolata- the sweetness of the peas and the slight tannic of the spinach a perfect foil for the rich chorizo.
Generously portioned too. Steamed mussels came in a bowl and had been cooked in white wine, tomatoes and garlic, none of the flavours overwhelming the other. I would have liked a little rustic bread to mop up those delicious juices though. Seemed such a waste to send back the bowl like that!
No time for desserts which included a steamed passionfruit pudding with clotted cream and lemon curd, but I think I will have to road-test them soon.
Verdict: The bill, for three of us came to $58, service was warm and professional and portions sizes generous.
A great addition to an area with amazing produce but not a lot of good dining options. It will be my default ‘head to’ when at Mt Tamborine whether to pick up picnic supplies or settle in for a casual lunch.
