The Yarra Valley
The Yarra Valley is just one hour’s drive from the centre of Melbourne, but it’s a world away from the daily grind. While it’s famous for its multitude of wineries, there are plenty of things to entertain the non-drinker as well.
We stopped first at the Yarra Valley Dairy, where the ‘House Cow’ and ‘Saffy Cow’ (marinated in saffron-infused olive oil) cheeses come highly recommended!!
After that we headed to the Innocent Bystander, a restaurant and wine bar, for lunch. While the highlight for many is the wine tasting, I’ll leave that to the experts and talk about the food. A cheese board to start, followed by crispy ocean trout with puttanesca sauce, woodfire pizza and twice cooked duck, along with a range of cool drinks and cakes.
Innocent Bystander cheese board
Innocent Bystander twice cooked duck
Innocent Bystander buffalo mozzarella pizza
Innocent Bystander crispy skin ocean trout
LOVE this!
We tried to get into the Yarra Valley Chocolaterie and Ice Creamery, but the lines for that were ridiculous enough to have us on our way back to the big smoke. Instead we finished up with a drive around some of the pretty wineries for which the area is known, clicking pictures and being shamelessly touristy.
’tis a fine place on Earth. with lots of cheese!
LOTSSSSS of cheese! Makes me happy 😀
Lovely post friend. Cheese, wine AND beautiful countryside…. Looks heavenly.
Your words actually prompted me to contact an old friend who is obsessed with Innocent Bystander, we are catching up soon to chat about all the fun times we had drinking their wines.
How’s about that cow? And twice cooked duck….. YARM!
You MUST come here – you would LOVE it!! Thanks for reading 🙂
Oh Tim, it seems like a perfect getaway place for families and couples!
Got it in one!! Hope you can go there one day 🙂