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.