Anyone who has asked for a restaurant recommendation in the Hunter Valley will have heard the same answer: “Esca. You must go to Eska.” But is Bimbadgen’s award-winning restaurant worth all the attention?
As soon as you pass the stairs to the silver rows of Bimbadgen’s wine tanks and cranes, we are welcomed at the door Esca by a smiling maître d’.
The restaurant is busy tonight.
From young, dressed up couples on dates to old friends in flip flops relaxing with a meal and a bottle of Bimbadgen’s cellar doorthe range of meals adds to the atmosphere.
Light floods in from the windows that line two sides of the restaurant, but not for long. As the sun slowly sets and the Blue Hour sets, the glow of golden lights on each table brings more romance to the atmosphere.
Watch the short video of our signature experience:
Our table looks through the glass wall to the wide balcony, where more guests enjoy the evening air and the view from their front seat across the vineyards to the distant mountains.
In the courtyard below, the wood-fired pizza oven is fired up, the soft sounds of music and casual food falling upon us.
Esca Bimbadgen—great food in the Hunter Valley
Esca’s a la carte option is a three-course minimum situation where you can choose from different dishes in vegetable, seafood and meat sections (as well as a dessert and cheese menu).
You can then add drinks to your meal as and when. In fact, the estate wine is the same price as the cellar door on the ground floor, which is refreshing especially for a restaurant of this caliber.
The other dining alternative, the one we’re here for, is the Esca Signature Experience.
Esca Bimbadgen’s signature experience
The Signature Experience is a five-course dinner paired with six wines.
Things kick off with a glass of Bimbadgen’s Sparkling Cuvee served with slabs of pillowy focaccia and rich homemade butter. There is also a small container of pink salt, although the color comes from the infusion of Bimbadgen Shiraz rather than any trace element.
We would have been quite happy if there were only five courses of this, but instead the first course arrives.
Woody Peaches with Duet—a blend of mascarpone and gorgonzola cheese Binnorie Dairy to the Hunter. This light yet hearty dish pairs perfectly with an equally light and fruity Vermentino from Bimbadgen’s new Grower’s Range.
From here, it’s a delicious riot of food. Salmon gravlax with gribiche sauce, chicken confit with spicy sauce and roasted chickpeas and beef tenderloin, cooked rare, on a bed of delightfully chewy couscous pearls.
Bimbadgen’s Chardonnay, Semillon and Shiraz Viognier glasses add more depth to the food. And each course reciprocates, developing each wine beyond its glass.
We finish with a glass of Bimbadgen’s Late Harvest Semillon — a dessert wine to be sure, but its residual sugar, not too sweet, is tempered by the natural acidity of the grapes. A real flex from Richard!
With this wine comes a shallow bowl of summer stone fruit and brown butter in creamy yogurt, which in turn floats in a delicate mint emulsion.
It’s an elegant end to the meal, and even though we’ve had so much food and drink, we leave satiated rather than stuffed. Such is the skill of the open kitchen, which we can only as we leave.
Esca Bimbadgen, Pokolbin, Hunter Valley
Open: Lunch—Wed-Sat from 12pm, Dinner—Friday and Saturday from 6pm.
Almost all wineries offer food these days. From a handy cheese board to pair with your tasting to the full bells and whistles of a hatted fine dining dinner set apart from the winery.
Esca always seems to have at least one eye on the wine at all times. With all the dishes here, you get the impression that they are designed with the vineyards in mind.
And that’s what makes Esca. It’s a symbiosis with the winery that creates a wonderful depth to your Bimbadgen experience.
