Union Food & Wine {Review}

I have never understood those people who can nonchalantly say "Oh, I always forget to eat lunch". How can one forget to eat? My life revolves around food, quite frequently the Bookworm scolds me for planning my next meal or even a meal in the distant future whilst I'm eating the one in front of me. So I surprised myself when at 3:30pm today I realised I had forgotten to eat lunch. I blame Wordpress for being overtly complicated. I was trying to help out a bud update his website but Wordpress is a time-sucking devil. Too harsh? I am a happy little Google Blogger, much like a happy little Vegemite but less salty. Anyhow my busyness and lack of lunch was a blessing in disguise because I had more room for my delicious dinner.

My bro and sister-in-law (SIL) are in Melbourne this week and wanted to take me for a belated birthday dinner. I immediately booked a tablet at Union Food & Wine- I had read a foodie column about it a few months ago and have been dying to try it out ever since.

I little red-riding-hooded it up and headed out into the (suddenly) wintery night. More on this cute hood to come in a later post.

I perhaps subliminally chose the red hood because Union Food & Wine is red-hooded too.

Inside, the restaurant is delightfully warm and welcoming

   

 

A succinct and well-chosen wine list with a good range of varieties and styles.

 

We chose the 2011 Val de Sil 'Montenovo' Godello. Godello is a Spanish grape variety that results in dry white wines that are fresh and richly textured (more about Godello here). The wine had some subtle floral and citrus notes on the nose with a touch of white nectarine and grapefruit pith on the palate and beautiful fresh minerality. 

To the food

SIL had slow cooked grassfed beef shortrib, potato puree, baby leeks, red wine onion

I stole a small taste of the beef which was lovely and rich and superbly tender. Comfort food to the max.

The Bookworm had wild barramundi with parsnip puree, baby brussel sprouts and almonds

The fish was exquisitely moist and tender and I am a new fan of parsnip mash.

Bro and I both went with duck. To be fair, when there is duck on the menu I stop looking. It is the only time I can make a swift dining decision and this did not disappoint.

Free range duck breast, toasted buckwheat, quince, walnut and chicory

A mélange of textures and flavours- crunchy nuts and grains, sweet fruit and tender duck.

From the specials board we got a couple of salads

And after we saw chips being delivered to another table (not listed on the menu) we asked very nicely for some too.

Thanks to skipping lunch I still had a tiny bit of room for dessert

Soft chocolate with spiced quince, honeycomb and gingerbread

Coconut tapioca with passionfruit sorbet, lime, ginger and sesame

Rhubarb trifle with pomegranate and rosewater- my favourite, Tangy and creamy with chucks of rosewater-flavoured jelly (essentially turkish delight chunks- yum!).

Union Food & Wine is a great little place with fantastic food, reasonable prices and a relaxed vibe. The service was lovely and attentive and the staff warm and endearing. When I was selecting the wine I asked our waitress if she had tried the godello. She replied that she had a while ago but couldn't really remember it clearly enough to describe it (fair enough, she isn't a sommelier) but then delighted me by offering to see if she could access her notes on it. She returned with a very good description. It's the little things that really make a place.

Please note: This was not a sponsored post. I chose the restaurant and paid my bill (well my bro paid actually :)