Winos

June 25th, 2007
11 Rendall Close
Margaret River 6285
(08) 97 58 7155

Wino’s is a funky bar/restaurant on the main drag in Margaret River. The food is absolutely amazing - you can never order a dud; the service is attentive and relaxed; and the wine and drinks list is extensive.

I always love going to wino’s because it’s usually the first thing I do when I get down south and it marks the beginning of a great time down there.
On this occasion we jumped straight off the freeway after work, made it to gracetown at about 8pm and got to Wino’s by 830.

It’s good fun on a Friday night - a mix of about 50/50 locals and metros, many just catching up with friends in the bar.

The restaurant is a great big open space with the bar first thing as you walk in and the restaurant area raised a step. The bar faces out onto the street so you can see people coming and going.

We sat in the lounges between the restaurant and bar for a drink before our meal.
I had the Benaves shiraz from Coonawarra ($10) which was delicious. Dan had a crazy German beer. Mum had a Chandon, and then a Riesling from Ferngrove which was very nice.

After our drinks we sat and ordered our meals. The menu is a big blackboard at the back of the restaurant with all the dishes scribbled on it.
We ordered a pumpkin and chili dip to start. It was served with dry crostini dippers, and had a lovely nutmeg, cinnamon flavour.
We also had a dish of 4 scallops ($12), each done in a different style:
- bacon
- mango
- garlicy lemon creamy sauce
- thai with chilli, peanut, coriander, lime
They were delicious, but we all fought over the thai flavoured one.
There was a bit of a wait for our mains, so the waiter brought us some freshly baked bread with an anchovy oil - it was olive oil with anchovies at the bottom - absolutely delicious.

For mains we had:
- lamb rack with almond couscous, pumpkin, beans, mint and coriander dressing ($34.50). This dish had a beetrooty taste in dressing. The lamb was served as two large racks each about 120g (quite generous), and was cooked medium rare, perfect.
- scotch fillet with cream sauce
- duck confit with wild boar sausage served with (herb flavours – rosemary, oregano), white bean and parsnip puree, roasted beetroot and carrot. The sausage was flavoured with rosemary and oregano. The roasted beetroot leaked and flavoured the puree. The duck was perfectly cooked – crunchy skin, tender meat falling off the leg.

The service was incredible: our waiter was attentive, went over the meals with us, brought us food when the meals took to long…Things I would have liked to try, and will be back for:
o frangelico affrogato $9
o braised pork rib with fennel, red cabbage
o waygu beef with parmesan truffle oil mash $49.50

Wino’s is always a great experience, amazing food, this grublover will be back for sure.
8.5 out of 10