In just a little over two hours drive from Sydney CBD, Hunter Valley is one of my top picks for a day trip or weekend away. The wine region is a hidden gem for some delicious dining. On a day trip with a friend, we stumbled upon Muse Kitchen. This one Chef-hatted restaurant offers a fantastic selection of food and wine for a very reasonable price. Here’s a look at the seasonal set menu we ate.
Where to find Muse Kitchen and how long to stay ?
Situated in Pokolbin, New South Wales, visitors can drive from Sydney to here in a little over two hours. Muse Kitchen can be found in Keith Tullock Wines courtyard, making it the ideal food stop to slot into a wine tour. I would recommend anywhere between 45 minutes to 2 hours to when planning for mealtime. We ordered the seasonal set menu which took a while to eat through.
The restaurant sits in a white and blue-grey, rustic french style setting. There are almost-down-to-floor windows shining light into an indoor space and an indoor veranda area. For visitors who can, I would highly recommend the veranda area.
I love it when restaurants use local and seasonal ingredients. This way, I can learn about the local region from a food point of view. A bonus is Muse Kitchen also offers a vegetarian menu on top of its standard seasonal menu. The wine list is full of bottles directly from their own Keith Tulloch vineyards. You can save time by doing the wine tasting off this list while eating. Just don’t drink and drive as there are random breath tests around!
Entree
Set menus are always my go-to choice in a restaurant. They are designed to showcase the best dishes the chef as to offer, and it saves thinking time. Muse Kitchen menu allows diners to choose how many courses they want. We were starving by the time we arrived, so we naturally went with the most extensive option. It was also the most worth-it option. Let’s say, the two of us did not expect such large portions!
Entree alone had six generous portions. Guests who are not hungry or light eaters this should be more than enough.
The most outstanding dish was wild kingfish with white almond gazpacho and green grapes (see pretty blue dish lower left)! I’m a little bias as a sashimi lover, but the sweet acidity of the grapes ties nicely with the light kingfish. Add in whatever magic is in the gazpacho, and it’s a winning dish.
Hummus lovers will love the freshly made hummus here. This delicious paste is served in two ways; one with fresh local seasonal vegetables and leaves (see forest-like dish above left) —the other with crunchy umami caviar and crispy pastry shards (see dolphin fin-like below right). I’ve been picky about my hummus ever since my venture to Jordan and Israel; this was a close match to the hummus I ate on that trip. If you do order both these hummus dishes, alternating bites between the two is the best way to eat them as the vegetable give a fresh kick to balance the saltiness of the caviar.
Pâté and liver parfaits are pretty divisive foods. I’ve got friends who love it and friends who can not stand the taste or texture. Personally, it depends on comes together with it that makes or breaks it for me. At Muse Kitchen, they served it with a style of small french cakes called Madeleines (See pretty shell-like cake dish below left). I liked the cross over of slightly sweet and salty, but if you are not a fan, then I would recommend skipping this.
The final entree dish was a delight (see below right). Clams cooked just right, mixed in with fennel and butter brought a light finish to lead into the main. By this point, we were starting to get full and was trying to work out how big the main dish was if the entrees were this generous.
Main
Let me start by saying this was an enormous lamb shoulder. It is to two people, but it can serve for four or five. It’s tender, juicy and simply delicious. During our meal, we connected with two lovely ladies sitting in the table next to us who were residents of Hunter Valley and ended up sharing this shoulder with them. We still ended up having to take away quite a bit of it. This main comes with deliciously spiced cauliflower and green beans to add a touch of freshness in between meaty bites. Would highly recommend this shoulder to anyone looking to feed a group of foodies.
Dessert
Desserts are my favourite part of any meal. Our set menu even had two! The cheesecake was out of this world with its smooth and not too sweet taste (see below left). It didn’t even need a dollop of cream that came with it. Then came a pretty pile of yoghurt with some local petals hiding some sorbet and jelly inside (see below right and video). It was fun to discover the different layers of this dessert and the sorbet added a tangy fresh finish to the meal. I would come back to order and sample the full dessert menu if I can. We left for our next destination with stuff-to-the-brim bellies!
Our bill was super reasonable for what we ate and the portion sizes. We worked out based on the prices of the different set menu size on offer, the more dishes in a set menu, the lower the individual plates. If visiting in a group of three or more order the more extensive set and you can’t go wrong.
For the most updated version of Muse Kitchen menus and wine lists you can find it here.
*Due to covid-19 the menu has been limited and there is only one set menu on offer. This will be adjusted as restrictions change.
