By
Tom Neal Tacker
The
Thredbo Alpine Hotel houses a couple of restaurants and a very busy bar.
Situated at the base of the Valley Terminal, (it’s chairlift central here) it
occupies a premium location. In a nearly ski in-ski out position; this is real
estate gold in terms of access to the slopes and equal access to a warming
drink after you’ve schussed yourself to a state of dehydration and/or
exhaustion avoiding adolescent snowboarders on L plates.
The
hotel’s fine dining room is called ‘Segreto’. Evidently this means secret in
Italian. It applies here not because it has a secret location but because of
its intimate nature. 45 seats in a room decorated warmly in Australian Jarrah
wood with soft lighting, soft carpet and subdued art has resulted in a space
where no secrets could be kept easily. Like a lounge room shared with an
extended family, whispers have a tendency to reverberate and secrets really
aren’t kept for long. I was there for a very special occasion, an ‘Aussie Icons
Winemakers Dinner’. No secrets on this night.
Segreto
has been hosting a series of these dinners for a few years. They are booked out
weeks in advance and wisely it appears. If the one I attended was as good as
the preceding dinners, then they all are well worth attending.
Though
the restaurant has an Italian name, the chef is French and he has a
well-trained brigade working with him. Borrowing from his regular menu, this
table d’hote extravaganza showed a chef working at the top of his form. It
isn’t easy serving 45 diners simultaneously. Ski caps off to the admirably
proficient floor staff as the five courses were served with nary a mistake; all
plates were either as hot as they needed to be or as cool, depending upon the
course. Glasses of Shaw & Smith 2004 Sauvignon Blanc provided refreshing
aperitifs as we all settled into our nicely cushioned seats. An important note
when the bruises and soreness of the day have made their evening’s impact fully
felt.
So,
what to expect from a meal at the not so Secret? A ‘Roulade of sea trout and
scallops’ accompanied by the 2003 Grosset Polish Hill Riesling was moist and
gently giving. The fish enveloped a nicely squidgy scallop mousse just keeping
afloat in a really lovely fish and scallop mousseline sauce with a few strands of
chives chopped into it. This was an effective and refreshing start
to
a long meal.
Next
up came a cool ‘Jellied terrine of rabbit cassoulet’ served with the 1999
Leeuwin Estate Art Series Chardonnay. Wow! The slice of terrine was wrapped in
just a lash of roasted red capsicum; the rabbit’s liver was turned into a scoop
of unctuous parfait sitting on the slice of terrine. Wispy slices of sourdough
toast made the whole dish a real joy. The beans retained a bit of crunch but
this worked in the terrine presentation. The Leeuwin Chardonnay sent the whole
dish into upper altitude.
Trust
a Frenchman to come up with the next course, ‘Braised duck in red wine’. A
little Maryland of duck, flesh falling off the bone, sticky red wine glaze
working its way into the tender meat, a creamy buttery mash of potato and
voila! I stacked. (Actually I stacked a lot but mostly on the slopes and not
usually in a dining room.) The partnered wine a 2000 Bass Phillip Pinot Noir is
one funky number of a wine. Most of the Pinotphiles were rapt. The anti Pinot
members in the group were mostly hanging out for the next course. Braised duck
and bold Pinot is a match made in heaven in my record keeping books. This will
be remembered with a special notation.
Finally
a Thredbo cheese selection that grabbed my attention appeared next: A mature
Ossau-Iraty, a sweetly smelly Milawa Gold and a perfectly ripe King Island
Camembert. Our host Michael Hill-Smith (I didn’t mention him before, hence the
pretty fabulous wine selection) had chosen the 2002 Cullens Cabernet Merlot and
the 1996 Penfolds’ Grange to round out the cheeses as it were. Michael said,
“The Cullens is a baby.” The Grange wasn’t so impressive but may have suffered
from the same infanticide effect. Despite that, they both tasted lovely with
the cheeses.
Our
dessert ‘Apple Tart Tatin’ was the only slight let down of the meal for me. The
pastry was just a bit over-cooked and the apples were too caramelised for this
tatin tart. The house made vanilla ice cream was quite lovely however. Funnily
enough, the De Bortoli 2002 Noble One served with the very sticky tart really
worked as a complement so perhaps the chef intended the over-caramelisation.
Personally I would rather have had more apple slices and less caramel but the
wine coped well with the tooth aching sweetness of the caramel.
Segreto
knows how to make a proper macchiato. Nuff said.
Though
this Winemakers Winter feast was a special night, I’d like to return sometime
to the not so secret Segreto and sequester myself into a corner banquette for
an evening of Thredbo luxe a deux and leave the other diners to their own
stories.
Value
for money for the Winemakers Dinner is unbelievably good but then these special
wine dinners usually are. Nevertheless, the normal a la carte menu represents
good value for Thredbo.
Score:
7.5/10
Segreto
bookings are made through the Thredbo Alpine Hotel
1
800 026 333
02
6459 4200