Matt Skinner's inside guide to Mildura

 

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We’ve covered a lot of ground in this column over the past year. Having pounded the pavements of coveted food cities such as London, Paris, Rome, New York, San Francisco and Barcelona, it seems only both fair and logical that the next stop on our journey be Mildura. Yep, Mildura. And as you pick yourself up off the floor, you should know that there are two very good reasons why Mildura has got the nod for this issue.
 
The first is that after 18 months of global economic turmoil, consumer confidence – although slowly but surely on the up – is still far more conservative than it ever was before. In most cases we’ve managed to nip and tuck our lives back into some sort of responsible order. Gone are the extravagances for some – the fancy meals out, the impulse buys, the new cars, and the overseas holidays – instead you walk to work rather than driving, you make your morning coffee at home instead of buying it out, those shoes you’d planned to throw away you fix, and that overseas holiday you had dreamed of suddenly becomes a local one. The second and most important reason is that Australia is blessed with an abundance of brilliant regional food-and-wine hubs – cities and towns which, like Mildura, continue to mature and morph into world-class dining destinations – and that in itself is something worth celebrating.

Justification aside, here are the facts. With near enough to 50,000 inhabitants, Mildura is located in Victoria’s north-west corner 550 kilometres from Melbourne and 400 kilometres from Adelaide. Dubbed the fruit bowl of Australia, warm stable weather and an abundance of fertile land provide dreamy conditions in which to grow fruit and vegetables. Combine that with a broad ethnic mix – many of whom settled in the area after World War II – and you have the key pieces of the puzzle needed to create a gastronomic utopia. And while most of the region’s 2.5 million annual tourists come to take advantage of Mildura’s proximity to the mighty Murray River, an ever-increasing number are coming solely for the food and drink, me included. And so, with 48 hours up my sleeve and having successfully conned my best mate into driving us in his fancy double-income-no-kids car, up the Calder Highway and into the dark early morning we head.

The first thing I realize is that, best friend or not, six hours in a car is a long time, and so with both Qantas and Virgin now offering daily return flights from Melbourne, you might want to check with your local travel agent first. But still, a road trip is a liberating experience and by the time we reach Mildura we’re literally chomping at the bit to get stuck into the task at hand, and that means lunch.

Where the eating options of most country towns are defined by the local Chinese restaurant, the fish & chip shop – no matter how far you are from the sea, the two local pubs, the bakery, and the local roadhouse, Mildura is not, and much of that is owed to the hard work and vision of Stefano di Pieri. While most of us know di Pieri from his books and television appearances, he remains a fiercely passionate and visible spokesperson for his town, its past, its future and its people. The first and most casual of his two local eateries is Stefano’s Café Bakery (27 Deakin Ave, 03 5021 3627). This bright and breezy cafe is your pit stop for the best coffee in town, for amazing breakfasts, a mid-afternoon glass of wine, or simply a lazy lunch under the vine-covered curbside pergola. Ask nicely and the staff will happily pack you up a box full of tasty bits to takeaway – which paired with a bottle of 2009 Chalmers Vermentino from Stefano’s Cellar Door & Bar in Gallery 25 next door (which cleverly doubles as the Chalmers cellar door) makes for the perfect portable lunch.

In need of a stretch after our epic journey we make a beeline for Apex River Beach Holiday Park (Cureton Ave, 03 5023 6879), a beach and camping reserve, with lifesaving club included, on the banks of the Murray River. Doubling as one of the most popular local swimming spots during the warmer months, Apex Park combines the best of the beach and country, with enormous old river gums providing welcome relief from the park’s wide and sun-drenched expanse of sand. With our batteries recharged, we head back into town to check out where we’ll be laying our heads for the next two nights. And while it’s true that there is no shortage of good hotels, motels and bed & breakfasts in this town, we decide to go for accommodation with a difference.

Adventure Houseboats (Turner Marine Moorings, Buronga, 03 5023 4787) offers a range of luxuriously appointed houseboats that can’t help but add a whole new dimension to your stay in Mildura. Opting for one of the smaller boats in the fleet, our houseboat is set over two levels and decked out with every mod con you could want; huge flat-screen TV’s, a state-of-the-art kitchen, two double bedrooms, huge sun decks, and a completely rock-star six-person hot tub on the roof. While getting on the boat has been easy enough, the thought of having to get off again in less than 48 hours is proving a little bit harder for me to process. But the best thing about this 200-tonne floating palace is that it couldn’t be any easier to drive – all you need is a current driver’s licence. After a quick lesson from a host with a welcome reputation for dropping off a morning paper, fresh bread and milk, we ditch our bags, fire up the engine, and motor off up the river for a late afternoon cruise. And just like that our 5am start literally now feels like days ago.

After we tie up our houseboat for the night (you can pretty much moor it anywhere along the river), we head to the Mildura Bowls Club (Cureton Ave, 03 5023 1437). With the sun dropping slowly and an hour to kill before our restaurant booking for dinner, we decide that it would be rude not to indulge in a couple of games of barefoot bowls, which combined with a few cold beers, and some handy pointers from those who play a lot more than we do, proves the perfect precursor to a brilliant night out.

Plenty has been written about Stefano’s Restaurant (Quality Hotel Mildura Grand, Langtree Ave, 03 5023 0511), and with good reason. I’ve eaten here a number of times over the past decade, and the meal I had on this trip proves to be as good as any I have had before. The cooking is incredibly honest and beautifully balanced – tuna carpaccio, zucchini flowers stuffed with goat’s curd, sublime quail ravioli in sage and burnt butter sauce, and the most incredible suckling pig. Wine lovers are in safe hands too with an extensive, keenly priced and well thought-out list. For obvious reasons there is a strong Italian lean, and in an effort to stay true to our menu we do our best to drink our way from Friuli down to Sicily. And as the food and wine continue to arrive, my heart saying go, my stomach begging me to stop, we finally decide to call it a day.

After a well-earned sleep, we head across the bridge and into New South Wales making our way to the Sunraysia Farmers’ Market (Australian Inland Botanic Gardens, River Rd, Mourquong, 03 5025 2342). Apart from showcasing some of the region’s best produce, this is where you come for the legendary Sunraysia Farmers’ Market breakfast – a mountainous plate of food consisting of bacon, eggs, grilled zucchini slice, local sausages etc. Wash it down with a couple of strong coffees and you will be back in business. Held on the first and third Saturday of every month, this farmers’ market has done wonders for raising awareness to the abundance of roadside commerce that has long existed in and around the region. Provided your visit coincides with the right season, a short drive around the township will draw your attention to the many produce-laden carts that sit in front of peoples houses. Most locals have their favourites, with an increasing number of people now getting their fruit and vegetables from these producers rather than the supermarket.

Going a long way to proving that looks can be deceiving, Chateau Mildura (191 Belar Ave, Irympl, 03 5024 5901) is no ordinary wine museum. If you are even just a little bit interested in wine then you need to see this place. Having been in operation since 1910, and used by Mildara for maturing fortified wines until 1989, today Chateau Mildura houses a unique range of wine memorabilia ranging from the weird to the wonderful.

After a morning spent walking off our breakfast, we decide that it’s once again safe to eat and head to the picturesque riverside Trentham Estate (Sturt Highway, Trentham Cliffs, 03 5024 8888) for lunch. Trentham has built its reputation on a solid and consistent range of wines, a range – that like Chalmers – increasingly includes a number of sun-loving alternative varietals. Perched on the banks of the Murray, a bottle of the bone dry sangiovese rosé and a large antipasto platter makes for a brilliant combination.

The remainder of the afternoon is set aside for a well-deserved nana nap, after which we head for the Mildura Brewery (20 Langtree Ave, 03 5021 5399) for a few quiet ales. Housed within the shell of a beautiful art deco cinema, today the contemporary brewery produces a cracking range of local beers and some great food to match. We taste our way through a range that includes Honey Wheat, Storm, Sun Light, and the locally inspired Mallee Bull – before settling on the dangerously drinkable Desert Premium Lager.

A short walk from the brewery is The New Spanish Bar & Grill (Langtree Ave, 03 5021 2377). If meat is your thing, then this is your place. With a red-gum grill, The New Spanish Bar & Grill turns out mouthwatering cuts of kangaroo, beef, lamb and goat, while for the non-meat eaters, there is also plenty on offer. The wine list here is especially good with a drawcard being the huge range of the locally produced alternative varieties. It was a fitting way to wrap up our two-day tour of Mildura.

Very early the next morning, having pried ourselves off the 200-tonne floating palace, and with one last textbook-strong latte from Stefano’s Café Bakery, we point the car back towards Melbourne and off into the sunrise we head – a little bit fatter and a whole lot happier for the experience.

PHOTOGRAPHY ADVENTURE HOUSEBOATS

This article is from the June/July 2010 issue of Gourmet Traveller WINE.