Rae's Restaurant Balgownie Estate

1309 Melba Hwy 

Yarra Glen, VIC 3775

Rae's at Balgownie is the multi-purpose cellar door, bar and restaurant that offers stunning views across the Yarra Valley. Serving up breakfast, lunch and dinner it is non stop and as a guest staying at Balgownie Estate it is also a no-brainer to dine at Rae's since it avoids debate over who is going to act as designated driver.

The restaurant balances relaxed and casual quite well, no tableclothes but there is also no "no denim" policy like Eleanore's either. The fixed price menu for 2 and 3 courses has some interesting dishes.

For entree we started with the scallop, black pudding, hollandaise and pork crackle. The plump scallop was cooked perfectly and while it was only one, it was a very generous one. Combined with the black pudding and sauce the texture and flavour combinations were great.

For my main course I ordered the 18 hour lamb rump with mushroom ragout and rosemary jus. Flavour wise this was ok, but the lamb was not really cooked for 18 hours and wasn't anywhere near as tender as I expected. I guess this was made all the more worse when compared to my wife's steak dish which was cooked perfectly and looked a treat too.


The final course was also a bit dissapointing, the banana semi freddo came out and was frozen rather than semi-frozen and seemed a little bland. It wasn't bad, but wasn't really a must have dish like the scallops.

The wine list featured most of  Balgownie's current releases by the glass and overall the staff were friendly if not a little stretched at times.


Summary of Rae's, I wouldn't steer someone away from Rae's if set on dining there, especially as a guest, but there are also some better options in the Yarra Valley.



Safe, if not exciting