Not much but I like the place and food. Worth coming
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Some call this cafe restaurant at the Heronswood estate, Heronswood Restaurant. Others call it Fork to Fork. The latter name comes from the concept here. Organic veggies from very nearby on the estate itself. Garden fork to table fork and zero food miles.
This is a seriously stunning location half way up Arthur’s Seat with a great view of the bay. On a gorgeous warm, still sunny day like today, it was close to paradise. If you’re astute enough and you score the right weather, there’s a couple of tables here with magnificent views. They can be reserved.
After a wander through the excellent nursery and a visit to the shop, we found ourselves at the restaurant for lunch. There’s a good short menu here with ample to choose from. We shared the grazing plate and the pumpkin, leek and blue cheese tart and salad. The grazing plate features chicken roulade, goat cheese, carrot with aged cheddar, Heronswood egg, house relish, salad and bread. Both dishes were generously sized and very tasty. This is rustic, wholesome and really good food which we enjoyed thoroughly. The coffee to finish was very good too.
This was a very pleasant lunch. Service was lovely, polite and efficient throughout. Heronswood is such a lovely place. We will return soon.
I just love this place!
Something always tastes better when you know the food has either been grown on the grounds or sourced locally.
An ever changing menu that matches the season and a lot of attention and love goes into the food they produce.
I visit this place 4-5 times a year and have never been disappointed!
The menu features heirloom vegetables and fruits grown organically on site at Heronswood. I chose the ‘Pumpkin, carrot, kale and semolina tart, served with garden greens ($24.00)’.
It's true that the $10 entry fee is a surprise downer to kick things off, but the service is efficient and the food shows capable cooking with the fabulous ingredients they have access to. Cosy surroundings and worth a diversion for sure.
Bit of a bummer that you have to pay entry on top of meal prices. Having said that, it was an amazing meal, and the gardens are beautiful. The food all contains heirloom veggies and produce from the gardens, and wow. Delicious. I had a risotto, and my partner had a salad, both were delicious and beautifully presented. Service was laid back and lovely, and we had a gorgeous view of the gardens and Port Phillip Bay while we ate. 100% recommend.
What a delight! We sat outside on a warm Tuesday afternoon enjoying the garden view and listening to the kookaburra. The lunch menu had several tempting dishes but I settled for the Vegetable Plate ($24) and my wife chose the Goats Cheese Tart ($23). Both were great choices. My plate was covered in wonderful seasonal vegetables beautifully prepared and presented. The flavours were rich and perfectly balanced. With the Diggers Club garden on site it was completely natural to enjoy the bountiful harvest. The coffee also comes from a local roaster - Little Rebel - it was among the best I have had outside the Melbourne CBD. Service was friendly but a little casual - it really is a country location and focused towards Diggers Club members. I had the chance to have a brief chat with the chef and can't wait to try more from the garden on another visit.
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Brilliant setting but...needs improvement. We chose the restaurant and a day out at Heronswood for a special occasion birthday. With many plant-lovers in the family and several young kids, it seemed like a good outing for all. Our experience with the gardens was lovely and to be recommended. The restaurant, however, needs some work.
First things first, what we liked:
* We had good food that we enjoyed.
* The house in which the restaurant was housed was gorgeous and offered fabulous views.
* The service and wait-staff were friendly.
That said, these were the 2 key aspects that bugged us most:
* For the price of the food, one would expect professional and higher-level service. As mentioned, it was friendly enough, but felt a bit like they didn't really know the food or menu very well, or how to service a table (e.g. fill water glasses, offer dessert menus after main meal).
* We found the menu extremely limited for children so felt the "kid-friendly" aspect of the restaurant remained a bit of a mystery. When asked whether they had a children's menu, there was a straight-out 'no', then confusion, then the offer of a silverbeet mini-tart (?!), then the grudging offer of a ham, cheese and tomato roll (on a mini-roll). It's fine if a restaurant doesn't have a kids' menu but we were unsure why it felt it was 'kid-friendly' - the menu was definitely not priced or portioned for kids.
A wonderful experience. My husband and I ate at Fork to Fork a couple of weeks ago for lunch. The food was so fresh and delicious, the portion sizes were good and the service extremely friendly and pleasant. We then walked around the gardens and went to the wonderful shop where we were tempted to buy a few lovely gardening items . We thought the restaurant was so good that we are taking our entire family down there in a couple of weeks time, as they are very discerning about their food and we feel they will just love it there.
We had a very pleasant lunch in this rustic little cafe. The menu has loads of fresh produce that none of my party had ever experienced. Yakon, Rock Samphire & Ocas. Service is casual and friendly, not indicative at all of some other posts I have seen here. Not fancy, more earthy and basic. I will definately make the trip again.
Rustic cafe style dining in the restaurant. Had a 2 course meal.
Terrine as a starter was alright but nothing spectacular. Main course had crispy skin pork belly & slow cooked beef. Both were nice for the first 3 or 4 mouthfuls then got boring. I guess the taste was alright but uninspiring & one dimensional.
Sweet was tiramisu which tasted divine although the portion was tiny being served in a mini terracotta pot. Was it a case of trying to be sheek? Well it tasted nice.
All in all a normal cafe fare but one pays for the fact that the vegetable ingredients are all grown on site & organic
Stunning grounds & beautiful food. A group of 8 of us ate at Fork to Fork on Australia Day. What an amazing experience. Food is presented gorgeously and comes out pretty quickly considering the restaurant was booked out. And the food is so, so good. We had a plumb table out in the gorgeous courtyard complete with the birds and butterflies. Previous comments about the rude staff member may be about the waitress we had who wasn't actually rude to us but rather businesslike & very, very dry humoured. We loved her by the end of the meal. Very highly recommended.
Organic and Orgasmic!. I have lunched at Fork to Fork more times than I can remember and have not once been disappointed with the food. The quality, presentation and flavours of all the dishes are always fantastic. The wine list could do with a bit of a facelift... Although I respect the fact that they are trying to support local business etc, I do think that they may need to look at some other options for certain varietals to truly compliment the amazing food.
Stunning experience in service, food & wine. Love this place always enjoy it!
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Worth booking if you are heading that way. After looking at the other reviews here it seems Fort-to-fork must have multiple personalities. A friend and I thoroughly enjoyed a 3 course lunch there. The cafe is in a well maintained thatched cottage, including an outdoor area. The staff were friendly and accommodating, and the courses arrived promptly. The menu had the day's date on it so presumably changes depending on the produce available. At one point the chef was cutting herbs from the beds surrounding the cafe. I had a pork belly fennel & orange starter, Chicken with bulgur wheat and nasturtium infused butter and petals, and a berry semi-freddo. The meats were perfectly cooked, the dishes delightful, well presented and worth the money. It's a fixed price for either 2 or 3 courses. The wine selection includes many local Mornington Peninsula wineries, and beers from the Red Hill brewery. The only slight disappointment was that the grounds and nursery were smaller than we expected, though the latter is well stocked with seeds & seedlings for all kinds of edibles. Expect a walk around the garden to take less than an hour even at a slow pace. Mind you, Heronswood is worth the trip just for the food, so the garden is a nice bonus.
A secluded delight. Hidden in the back of the Heronswood gardens you might not expect this little restaurant to be very good. However it is a hidden gem, and a must see.
From start to finish the meal was delicious, featuring perfectly cooked morsels sourced primarily from their own gardens and organic local produce.
The service was exceptional with the staff catering to your needs without ever getting in your way. Initially we couldn't get a table as we had not booked, but the staff were very apologetic and even offered us free coffee. And that's not to be taken lightly as the coffee is good.
We were lucky in that someone had missed their booking so we slipped in, however don't make that mistake and book ahead. Currently they are only licensed to serve 20 people but are in the approval process to expand this to 70.
In short if you are going to the Mornington Peninsula, make sure you book a place to dine here. It might be a little pricey but it is entirely worth it.
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