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Fable Dining Room on the Yarra Valley fringe

Dani Valent
Dani Valent

Bianchet Winery restaurant Fable Dining Room features a fireplace.
Bianchet Winery restaurant Fable Dining Room features a fireplace.Luis Enrique Ascui

European$$

You've probably heard of nose-to-tail eating and the concept of honouring whole beasts, not just so-called prime cuts? It sounds sensible, right? But chefs need to deal with a little considered consequence of methodically working their way through a complete cow, pig or lamb. It's that bits get used up and when they're gone they're gone. You may have cutlets on a menu but when a beast has relinquished its last cutlet, you cannot pluck another from its rump. Instead, you need to be nimble.

Luckily some chefs enjoy that challenge, Fable's Paul Cooper among them. His menu at this city fringe winery restaurant often swerves mid-service, usually in a way that's imperceptible to the diner (the 6pm booking got porterhouse, your table is offered hanger steak). It brings an energy and authentic connection to produce that filters through the whole experience.

Cooper has recently returned to Victoria after six years in Sydney. We don't need to stir old rivalries but let's just say he's glad to be back. His last job in Melbourne was at venerable South Melbourne pub O'Connell's but Cooper was keen to head country for his homecoming. He's taken on the dining room at Bianchet Winery and has started showing a tired premises some love.

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Brisket wellington is somewhere between beef wellington and French pithivier.
Brisket wellington is somewhere between beef wellington and French pithivier.Luis Enrique Ascui

The restaurant is cosy enough, with a fireplace and curtains to keep out the valley's chill. The open kitchen is framed by cookbooks, signalling a seriousness of culinary intention. Service is willing and cheerful; Cooper delivers some dishes, sharing tales of dish development.

By summer, there'll be a pizzeria and wine bar too but the current focus is on building an audience. That shouldn't be too hard, not least because prices are extremely fair: $49 for three courses is a steal.

Of course, cheap is nothing if the product isn't good; Cooper's food is thoughtful and tasty. A sliver of salmon is poached in buttermilk, then dressed with pickled fennel and tiny vegetable shoots, maybe kale and kohlrabi, tasty wisps of purple and green. It's a beautiful dish with a lovely balance of sweet and acidic, soft and crunchy.

Lamb wrapped in spiralised potato strands.
Lamb wrapped in spiralised potato strands.Luis Enrique Ascui
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Cooper doesn't mind the occasional mind-bender: dehydrated yellow watermelon is scattered with preserved duck (salted, dried then grated like bonito). It's piquant and sweet but the melon is squidgy and odd: I file this one as interesting, not delightful. Perhaps that's another byproduct of the whole-beast thing: when you have odd bits to use, some dishes turn out wonderful, some lean towards weird.

The slow-braised meat items are firmly in the wonderful camp. Braised beef brisket is layered with curried spinach and wrapped in puff pastry. It's somewhere between beef Wellington and a French pithivier and is altogether fabulous.

Secondary lamb cuts – neck, shoulder, belly – are brined, braised, thickened with a lamb roux, rolled into sausages and wrapped in strands of spiralised potato. The whole package is then fried. It's the apogee of dressed up meat 'n' spud: fancy, succulent and delicious.

Chocolate marquis is a crowd-pleaser.
Chocolate marquis is a crowd-pleaser.Luis Enrique Ascui

Some chefs are bored with chocolate. The rest just give the people what they want. Cooper's star dessert is based on a nemesis, the love child of chocolate mousse and cake, garnished with local fruit and honey curd. It's a nicely rendered crowd-pleaser that also highlights Yarra Valley produce, and in that sense is emblematic of Fable Dining Room itself.

Rating: Three and a half stars (out of five)

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Dani ValentDani Valent is a food writer and restaurant reviewer.

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