Solo Exhibit

Phil Wood’s talents are front and centre at his new fine diner, Laura.

- Michael Harden

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The first course is called Land and Garden and it’s like unwrapping a present. A section of roasted onion sits on top of slices of carrot, next to a pool of beetroot sauce and topped with pink-tipped, finely julienned radish. Under the onion cap are delicate lion’s mane mushrooms braised in the style of teriyaki, mixed with shiitakes from Benton Rise. They taste like chicken and are teamed with steamed abalone to great textural effect. But wait. Like so much at Laura, it gets better as you go deeper.

There’s surprise and delight already – carrots revealing a hint of star anise, the beetroot sauce edged with sesame oil – but then, a few bites in, you find a magnificent curry emulsion. Somewhere between mousse and mayo in texture, it’s like a twist in the tale. Most dishes in restaurants present well and then get less interesting once you stick a fork in them. But at Laura, the plot thickens.

There’s plenty to get excited about at Pt Leo Estate. You’d hope so, given that $50 million has been spent building the sculpture park and its glass-fronted cellar door and restaurant building. The estate’s sea views, broken only by the occasional Cragg, Plensa, Halpern, King or Meadmore, are impressive. But the food offering is equally stirring. Big budgets can breed hubris in a restaurant but there’ve been no bad decisions here. The choice of Phil Wood as culinary director has proven decisive.

Over four, five or six courses, his food at Laura (the restaurant is named for the Jaume Plensa sculpture out front) balances precision cooking and artful plating with elements of surprise. The perception of what you’re eating can change from one bite to the next.