Vasse Felix

Vasse Felix Restaurant is the gastronomic dining room of Vasse Felix, the founding Margaret River winery, established in 1967 by Tom Cullity (the Perth cardiologist whose Cabernet Sauvignon planting is credited with launching the entire regional wine industry), and is the longest-running winery restaurant in Australia. The restaurant occupies the converted original 1970s winery building with hand-carved jarrah-wood walls, original Australian-art collection on the walls, and ninety-six covers across two rooms.

Chef Brendan Pratt runs the seasonal modern-Western-Australian menu. The five-course tasting rotates seasonally; signatures include a hand-cut WA-coast yellowfin tuna tartare with finger lime; a slow-cooked WA Wagyu shoulder with native-pepper-leaf and Margaret River olive oil; a hand-rolled tagliolino with WA black truffle; a wood-fired WA-coast snapper with samphire and lemon confit; the famous 'Vasse Felix soufflé' for the dessert course.

The wine list is the deepest Margaret River cellar in any restaurant, 800 references with serious verticals of Vasse Felix Heytesbury (the estate's flagship Cabernet Sauvignon-Malbec-Petit Verdot blend, going back to 1986), Tom Cullity (the family's flagship Chardonnay), and a respectable comparative national-Australian section. Sommelier Gillian Bell runs the floor.

The dining room and outdoor courtyard together hold a hundred and twenty covers; the courtyard is the experience, with a 270-degree view of the Vasse Felix vineyards. Service is family-run, captains rotate from a year-round seasonal pool.

Vasse Felix is the impress-the-client room in Margaret River, the founding-winery institutional pedigree settles the credibility question, the deepest Margaret River cellar in the region closes any wine-led conversation, and the lunch-format programme is the Western Australian wine-country canon. Book the corner four-top in the courtyard.