Lauded as the ultimate luxury destination on the Mornington Peninsula, the Jackalope hotel, restaurant and winery complex aims for a world-class experience at all levels.
Their flagship restaurant, Doot Doot Doot, combines a lavish setting with confident, design-focused food and expert service with an Australian approachability.
The generous dining room is a rich, striking modern cave of muted black tones juxtaposed by a bubbling gold chandelier of 10,000 globes that is more an art piece than a ceiling canopy. It twinkles and softly changes as you dine, quietly reminding you that you are somewhere special.
The Autumn 5 course menu with or without matched wines, makes the best of seasonal fruit, vegetables and flowers and builds up slowly from crisp textured bites to beautifully designed rich meats finishing with an elegant dessert.
A crisp goats cheese tart is crowned with figs and marigolds; plump mussels swim in an umami-rich dashi stock with a sweet/sour touch of pickled onion; the smoky sear on the whiting from the Japanese grill is refreshed with a lettuce veloute and tender calamari; there’s a waft of licorice as the quail arrives in Autumn colours with the contrast of sunchoke crisps; the just warm pork is balanced by a pink apple sauce, cipollini and crunchy crackling. The early courses matched beautifully with the Hure Freres champagne and the Ravensworth Barbera was a juicy partner for both the quail and pork.
A dessert starter of lemon verbena with raspberries and biscuit crumbs is a comforting spoonful and the subtlety of the pear dessert, aromatic and creamy with slightly salted shortbread and a crisp yuba wafer is a light, uplifting finish.
This is a place for celebration dining, for couples or small groups and for us it was a perfect destination to celebrate our anniversary.
Immerse yourself and be taken on a lovely journey of expressive tastes in a sophisticated but inviting setting.
