The Mill Restaurant - Hunter Valley

The restaurant is very elegant and beautiful, there is a touch of opulence to the interior  but not overdone. We opted to sit outside given the good weather. Unfortunately it had already become dark so we could not enjoy the beautiful views with the beautiful food that was to follow. (It was really dark and so the picture quality is not great.)

Starter: Ciabatta bread roll with French style butter

We started with the home made Ciabatta bread rolls with French style butter. The rolls were still warm and tasted wonderful with the homemade butter and sea salt. We then proceeded to mains directly as we were both not that hungry and wanted to save room for dessert. 

Main 1: Spiced polenta chips with red wine & tomato based ratatouille

Price $33

For mains I ordered crispy Polenta chips with a tomato Ratatouille. The Polenta was beautifully cooked, crispy and tasted wonderful with the tomato ratatouille. The tomato ratatouille was more like a tomato concasse and had a beautiful sweetness from the roasted tomatoes. The dish may look small but it was very filling and I absolutely adored the Italian flavours. 

Main 2 - Lamb Cutlets with Pea and Mint Puree

Price $36

I know I don't usually talk about meat dishes but I wanted to give a detailed description of our experience at the restaurant so its only fitting that I talk about hubby's dinner too. He ordered the lamb with a pea and mint  puree which was suggested by our lovely waitress. His lamb was cooked perfectly. The pea and mint puree gave it the freshness and looked beautiful and green on the plate. In his words it was finger licking good.  

Side- Potato Mash 

Price  $9.5

The potato mash was in one word BRILLIANT. One of the best we have ever had, and we have had a few. It was smooth, silky, buttery and had great flavour. They gave us a generous quantity enough for one more.

Dessert- Crystallized violet and rhubarb crumble, crème anglaise

Price $17

We were quite stuffed by the time we finished our mains, so we decided to split the dessert. We were confused between the crumble and brulee, and finally ordered the Crystallized violet and rhubarb crumble with crème anglaise, suggested by our lovely waitress (she came to our rescue again) The crème anglaise  was delicious, I could drink buckets of it everyday. It was just beautiful and creamy and full of vanilla and all that yummy stuff. The crumble was a little lackluster for me.  I wanted the crumble to be more toasted and crisper topping. The rhubarb was nicely cooked and added tartness to the crumble which was a good combination with the crème anglaise. I think my other issue was the way they served it in a jar, it was a little difficult to reach all the way inside to get everything together in one bite.  It was a good dish but not my favourite from the night.

The service was impeccable, the ladies working there definitely knew their stuff and were friendly and attentive without overdoing it. I liked the ambience it was sophisticated and romantic without being stuffy and unwelcoming. I liked the fact they kept little serves of cracked pepper and sea salt on the table. We payed around $70 for our dinner after using our food credit, we thought it was definitely worth every penny we spent.  We really enjoyed our dining experience at The Mill Restaurant.

Would I go back? Absolutely! 

Service 10/10

Food 9/10

Ambience 9/10

Breakfast at The Mill

Continental breakfast - $18

Hot breakfast -$20

After having a good night's sleep we were up and about and excited to go for the Winery tour. We first headed to The Mill Restaurant for our breakfast. I opted for the Continental breakfast and hubby opted for the hot breakfast. This was a good option as we got to use our food credits here.

The Continental breakfast included cereal, a variety of breads, muffins and danishes, a fruit platter, juice, tea and coffee. The hot breakfast included baked beans, eggs to order, grilled tomatoes, sausages, toast, tea, coffee and juice.What we loved the most was the view from our breakfast table. It was stunning. 

The view from breakfast

The spread was not too large, had enough variety and was tasty. My only complaint was the fruit platter, the fruits were sloppily cut and unpeeled and very tart. No love was shown there.

Breakfast at The Mill

The Mill Restaurant

Service 7/10

Food 7/10

Ambience 10/10 (for the view)

It was an enjoyable experience and value for money.