Emirates Wolgan Valley Resort and Spa

I recently had the privilege of staying at Emirates Wolgan Valley Resort and Spa as a birthday surprise. Go and check out the site because I really can't add enough photos to convey how beautiful and stunning it is. It's not hard to see why Michael Clarke and Kyly Boldy hired out the place for their private wedding a couple of years ago. Housing a maximum of 90 guests in 40 luxury villas, each with its own heated swimming pool, and allowing no outside visitors apart from guests, this is definitely the place to escape the world. With about 90 staff on hand to cater to every whim, a luxury spa and various activities, it's hard not to yearn for the place once you leave.

Being a food blogger and a foodie at heart, I have to say the food at Wolgan Valley is absolutely amazing! Every mouthful is a revelation of ingredients and flavours and each dish has a complex mix of elements. I can't even begin to describe how good the food was, so I will just have to show you in pictures. I was trying to be discreet and took most of these photos using my phone, some in the dimly lit evening dining room. As such, I don't think they do justice to the food. Hopefully, though, they give you a sense of what a six star resort serves. The Wolgan Valley Resort food philosophy is based on seasonal, regional and where possible, organic produce. This is stunningly obvious in every dish. Following is a small selection of what we ate.

Breakfast:

Freshly squeezed orange juice and passionfruit yoghurt.

Fresh fruit.

Eggs Borrodell - Scrambled 'Canobolas' eggs, Borrodell truffle, king brown mushrooms & garlic sourdough.

Sides of Thyme roast field mushrooms & Trunkey Creek smoked bacon.

The Valley Breakfast - free range eggs, Trunkey Creek bacon, truss tomato, basil, spinach & grilled sourdough.

Capertee Sweet Corn Fritter - Cured ocean trout, poached egg, mild chorizo, saffron and coriander.

Lunch:

The Valley Burger - Shogun Wagyu patty, truss tomato, Princess Pantry relish & Braidwood aioli.
Wolgan Caesar Salad - Quattro Stelle prosciutto, baby cos, sourdough crisp & classic dressing.

Tarwin Blue Cheese Gnocchi with chilli, broccoli, almonds and fine herbs.

Dinner:

For dinner, we had the choice of ordering from the a la carte menu or from the daily changing degustation menu, and dishes could be interchanged from each menu. Theses dishes were difficult to photograph because we ate in the gorgeous fire lit dining room but here is a small selection of what we indulged in.

Each meal began with a delicious taster to activate the palate. I can't quite remember what this one was but I can tell you that it was delicious!

Yellow Fin Tuna - sweet soy, cashew & shallot crumble, nashi pear & parsley.

One of the mid-meal palate cleansers - Orange Mountain Ver jus Sorbet.

Millthorpe Pork - Loin, belly, hock, morel mushroom & garden pea.

Desserts & Snacks:

My birthday dessert: a combination of ice-cream, biscuit and crumble presented in an ice sculpture dome.

 

Bilpin Apple Tart Tatin - Wolgan sorrel, Olsson's salted caramel and Garret quince.

Zokoko Chocolate Fondant - brandy snap tuile, green bean coffee and butter milk ice cream.

I'm salivating just typing out the names of these desserts and dishes. There were other amazing ones that I didn't even get the opportunity to photograph, like the Heston Blumenthol-esque white chocolate dome that collapsed into itself once syrup was poured over it to reveal a hidden treasure chest of candied nuts, chocolate and rhubarb presented in a variety of ways. Oh, heaven!

Compliments to the amazing chefs at Wolgan Valley Resort - I would honestly return just for the food!