An international dining experience awaits at Border Wine Room.
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Upstairs at 492 Dean Street where wide timber floorboards anchor the handsome dining space enveloped in decorative bottles of plonk, you know you’re in for something special.
English-born head chef Gary Brogdale, who has been plying his trade at the restaurant for 18 months, said the menu was based on French and European classical cookery with an infusion of Japanese techniques.
“We use French and European techniques with about a 10 per cent Japanese influence,” he said.
“Classical French food has been really good for centuries; it just never gets old.
“I love Japanese food too because it’s really simple – it actually just enhances good flavours.”
Having grown up in Oxfordshire, Brogdale was cooking at home by 10 and employed in the industry by 15.
He cooked in small fine dining guest houses in the English countryside and worked a stint on a dive boat off the coast of Normandy, France.
“The divers would come up with crabs and lobsters untied and they’d be running around on the boat until I could catch them,” he said.
Brogdale followed his Australian partner Trina to Melbourne before they moved to the Border.
Border Wine Room changes its menu monthly with the degustation events always popular.
A New Year’s Eve 12-course degustation, which has been titled Twelve Impressions, will reflect dishes from throughout 2015.
What's your favourite dish?
The spring lamb and oyster dish on the menu.
What are the staples in your pantry?
Soy, mirin, saikyo miso (light, sweet sauce).
What's the biggest product discovery you have made in cooking?
New chemical changes; everything from emulsifiers to agar.
What's your secret vice?
Cheese; I love French cheese.
What is your recipe standby?
Ponzu tuna
What's your favourite cooking utensil?
A roll mat, not only for sushi but to shape gnocchi.
What's in your toolkit?
Tweezers
What did you have for dinner last night?
Japanese pancakes.
What are you drinking?
Handmade American pale ale I brewed myself.
Details:
Border Wine Room,
Level 1, 492 Dean Street, Albury
Phone: (02) 6021 0900
Open: Tuesday-Saturday, pre-dinner drinks and nibbles 5pm, dinner 6-9pm.
