Point Leo Estate Restaurant and Sculpture Park

As you saw from my post a few weeks back, I recently spent a wonderful afternoon at Point Leo Estate. This sculpture garden, restaurant and winery, has some interesting and fun wines: see post on tastings, so now is time for a review of the food.

I had been sceptical about eating here, as the menu seemed to have few vegetarian options. My friend (also vegetarian) had a great meal and convinced me otherwise.

The meal began with bread, a fennel and rosemary focaccia. It was light and warm and served with a soft, yellow butter and a bit of salt.

The cauliflower was battered and fried. This was served with an airy, whipped hollandaise and dill oil. Cauliflower seems to be the vegetable of the moment. This was served in a creative and tasty way.

A novel take on a crazed vegetable.

Mains could be served with tofu or tempeh instead of the usual meat. The tofu seared with chard, pureed and greenery. This was our least favourite, and perhaps the least interesting, but I did enjoy the earth healthiness of the greens.

The eggplant side was delicious. This was also battered and friend and served in a sauce that seemed to be flavoured with tamarind, tiny pieces of apple and stewed grapes. It was oily but totally delicious with all the sensations of sweet, tang, crunch, soft, sour and chili. This was a very rich dish – but somehow also moreish.

Eggplant is my favourite, but I had never had it like this!

Overall the meal was very rich, but an array of flavours. We also ate French fries which were slightly salted and cooked well, but made the meal seem very fried and fatty.

See here for our review on the wine.

Melbournians don’t just flock here for the food and wine, but for the art too.

The sculpture garden was really enjoyable. It is not as spacious as other outdoor exhibitions (like the Helen Lempriere exhibition that used to be at Werribee Mansion – the only other outdoor Victorian sculpture park to which I could compare) and this means that some beautiful things can be missed. Weightless could have been inspiring, if it had not been placed down low, just in front of the toilet block. The view of one piece of art was always interacting with the view of another.

Still, I loved so many of these pieces.

The park has been curated with an array of sculptures, some gravity defying, some reflective (both literally and spiritually), some grand and imposing, some challenging and many beautiful.

My favourite was To the Centre by Greg Johns. I loved how the perspective totally changed as you walked around it. I loved the optimism as you looked to the sky through the changing circle. I loved that it was imposing, whilst still engaging you.

Todd Stuart’s Shh… don’t tell the world made me laugh and debate its intention.  Peter Tilley’s Dreams of Ordinary People made me smile and reflect.

Of course, art, like wine is totally personal, and we all took different inspirations and emotions from each piece.

As with art of this genre, one starts to see everything as art and beautiful afterwards. The light through the trees, the layout of the vines…

Point Leo Estate

3649 Frankston - Flinders Rd
Merricks VIC 3916
03 5989 9011
www.ptleoestate.com.au