13 October 2023
9 mins Read
Sitting at the southern tip of the Grampians (Gariwerd) National Park in Dunkeld, the Royal Mail Hotel menu and settings have long drawn discerning travellers seeking an authentic and enriching experience grounded in food, wine and nature. This is where you’ll discover one of Australia’s most awarded and respected gastronomical experiences.
Dining is more than just sustenance here, it’s a way of life. From the largest working kitchen garden in Australia and on-site farms to an award-winning wine cellar – every detail is meticulously considered, ensuring an unparalleled gastronomic experience.
“It’s stemmed from the passion of the owners,” explains executive chef Robin Wickens. “It’s always been a focus of what they wanted to do, and we challenge ourselves to see how far we can push it.”
The Royal Mail Hotel menu has a focus on growing and farming produce using organic and sustainable practices has allowed Wickens to curate a bold and creative medley of flavours in every dish.
“The beauty of the Royal Mail Hotel being so isolated is that we tend to not pay attention to [broader] food trends,” he explains. “We simply work towards giving guests the best dining experience we can, so we are constantly trying to improve and refine everything we do.”
Whether staying the night or indulging in a food-centric day trip, everything the Royal Mail Hotel offers invites guests and diners to experience a deep connection to land and place.
Ducks waddle their way around the sprawling kitchen garden, impervious to its scenic surrounds nestled within the historic Mt Sturgeon Station, as they perform their job of natural pest control. But there’s so much more to this garden than rambling beauty.
“The kitchen garden is a massive part of what we do in the restaurants,” says Wickens. “As that has grown and become more sustainable, it’s really developed this style of food that we do.”
“Our signature style is that intensity and range of flavours. It’s different from a city restaurant – we’re not limited [in our produce] so we can get our flavours super intense.”
Royal Mail Hotel grows or farms 80 per cent of its produce; everything from seasonal vegetables and herbs to lamb and beef are farmed on-site. The remaining 20 per cent is sourced from local suppliers who follow the same sustainable and organic principles.
“We have conservation teams, we use [proteins] farmed on the property, which is all quite unique to what we’re doing here,” continues Wickens.
Every detail down to homemade fish fertiliser and harnessing the compost of local farmers (and let’s not forget the pest-control ducks) is considered. The garden is closed-loop so that it can grow organically without the use of herbicides or pesticides, thanks to its own nutrients and organic matter being recycled back into the soil.
To help patrons really understand what informs and inspires the menus – and to provide meaning and connection to the meal they’ll later get to savour – Royal Mail Hotel runs hour-long, chef-led tours through the gardens three times a week.
“During the tour, we talk about the basic principles of the kitchen garden, plus how we work with our farms,” explains Wickens. “It very much relates to the dining experience, so pretty much everything we talk about will be featured on the menu.”
With 30,000 wines and around 4200 labels, there’s a reason the Royal Mail Hotel was awarded Best Long Wine List Worldwide in 2021 by the UK’s Fine Wine magazine, and it’s held a Grand Award from Wine Spectator since 2012.
The rows upon rows of wooden shelves housing these acclaimed vintages are presided over by Italian sommelier Leonardo Lupattelli. But if you ask him to choose his favourite bottle from the wine list, he baulks at the question.
“That’s like asking a parent to pick a favourite child!” he says. “Honestly, I love our beautifully diverse wine list. There are many different styles; [we have] the classics from France and Italy, but also Australia.”
“I always associate wines with people. Wines are unpredictable, they can vary from vintages, grape varietals, who makes them, where they grow and everything. There is not just one way to describe wines. You need to meet them, and then the palette is going to tell us whether it’s going to be our friend or not.”
The best part, according to Lupattelli, is that this friendship is different for everyone, and every dish.
“The food is also going to become part of it,” he says. “[You might not] like something, but the food is going to make the wine interesting, and maybe make you want to discover more. This is what I love about wine.”
To foster these new friendships, Lupattelli leads a wine tutorial and cellar viewing experience at Royal Mail Hotel. Walk among the largest private collection of Bordeaux and Burgundy wines in the southern hemisphere, and taste a variety from the wine list ahead of dinner.
“I love that every day is like a new day because I’m always discovering new things [about our wine].”
With a deep dive into the philosophy and practices behind Royal Mail Hotel’s restaurants done, it’s time to dine.
“Royal Mail Hotel is all geared towards the dining experience,” says Wickens. “Most people come for two nights and have their first night in Parker St Project. Then they’ll do the kitchen garden tour in the morning, the cellar tour in the afternoon and then have dinner at Wickens.”
“By the time they have dinner, they’ve seen everything that goes into it: all the different elements that we bring into that meal.”
Named in honour of its executive chef, the much-lauded Wickens is housed in a sleek and secluded purpose-built dining room with floor-to-ceiling views of the surrounding landscape, including the dramatic rocky peak of Mt Sturgeon/Wurgarri. As the sun starts to honey the landscape, the stage is set for the theatre that follows.
Select from the menu, or opt for the decadent five-course or eight-course degustation, paired with cellar-matched wines or non-alcoholic options. Then watch as Wickens and his team craft its existence in the open kitchen.
The sophisticated menu varies according to the kitchen garden, and each dish is presented with intricate, and often playful, detail: amuse bouche come served in a ceramic dish whose shape reflects the plot of the garden. A refined take on alphabet soup might serve as a whimsical warm-up to creative courses such as Mt. Sturgeon kangaroo, blackberry leaf, beetroot and licorice (matched, say, with a 2020 Zorah Karasi Areni Noir from Armenia). Jelly baby vegetables end the evening on a sweet note.
“Our menu is influenced by what we’re growing and what’s in season,” explains Wickens. “It’s also constantly changing.”
“For example, if we’re cooking with beetroots, as soon as we use all the beetroots we’ve grown we have to change the dish. So any dish could stay for a month or a week; it depends on the amount of the ingredients we have at the time.”
If you’re not staying at the hotel, prepare to wait nearly two months for the chance to taste the fabulous creations, but Royal Mail Hotel guests are given priority.
The less formal Parker St Project still features the unique food style and high-quality service of Wickens, with just a few changes.
“Parker St Project is more family orientated, you’ll find more kids – it’s just a little bit more casual service,” explains Wickens. “[The menu] probably changes a little bit less, but we change it seasonally.”
“We use similar produce and suppliers for both restaurants, but at Parker St Project the dishes are a little less intricate,” Wickens says. “But we use similar techniques and try to maintain a connection to the style of food we’re doing at Wickens.”
“One of the rules we still have to follow is that it has to be growing in the garden, but we can’t always keep up with the demand. So we might have to supplement from a [local] vegetable supplier.”
Discover a menu featuring dishes such as Royal Mail lamb, fermented carrot puree and smoked tomatoes, as well as yellowfin tuna, buckwheat, Tokyo turnips and cucumbers.
“We constantly have lamb on the menu,” says Wickens, “we use lambs from our farms. Then at the moment, we’re in autumn, so [we’re using] lots of Brussels sprouts, cabbages and things like that from the garden, on the menu. We also use a lot of acorns during autumn, they’re one of the more interesting ingredients we use quite a lot.”
Lovely