Greenpoint Brasserie, Coldstream by Bureaucrat

Noisy and slightly below average service is how I'd sum up our visit to Greenpoint Brasserie at Domaine Chandon in the Yarra Valley.  Despite this, it didn't damper our high spirits as a dozen of us hens toasted and feasted in honour of Ms G's upcoming nuptials.  Domaine Chandon is one of the bigger and more well known wineries in the area, so we were all a bit disappointed with the overall impression of Greenpoint Brasserie.

To be fair, though our waitress was new, she was the only staff member that was friendly, prompt and willing to help.  Unfortunately, we couldn't really say the same of the other staff members.  I mean, when a large group turns up (with a booking) and is standing at the doorway waiting to be seated, it's not a good look to have three staff members who have made eye contact with us, continue to talk for several minutes and not make a move or even indicate that one of them would be with us shortly.


We all opted for the three course meal which comes with a glass of wine.  Entrees is a shared charcuterie platter.  This was pretty tasty and most of us considered this to be the best dish out of the lunch (no one thought any of the main dishes were particularly noteworthy).  A gorgeous range of cured meats, potted meats and unctuous preserves and chutneys.  For me the, standout was the chicken liver parfait (the earthenware bowl at 5 o'clock) and the proscuitto.  More wine please!


For mains, there are three dishes to choose from, and given our size, we managed to order one of everything. I went for the ocean trout with vanilla infused beurre blanc, which was served on a bed of puy lentils.  This was good but nothing exceptional.  The fish was fresh, the skin was crispy and it wasn't over-cooked.  What didn't impress me was the sauce.  It was evident that the dish had been sitting under the heat lamps for some time as the sauce was practically all dried up on parts of the dish.


The other mains included a steak with a wedge of potato galette...


...and roast pork.  One thing to note that because Greenpoint is so busy there doesn't seem to be enough staff to cope.  It was near impossible to get the attention of any of the staff members to bring us some cracked pepper.  In the end, Ms N got up herself to grab the pepper grinder for the table because our food would go cold if we were to wait for the staff to finally take notice.


The desserts fared better than the mains, which included a very pretty rhubarb crumble...


... a custard-y dish that was served with freeze-dried raspberries and meringue...


...and the totally ah-may-zing tarte tartin.  For those of us who ordered this (me included), we were in heaven.  For everyone else, they had major food envy! Served warm, it was loaded with sweet, flavoursome apples and had just the right amount of buttery caramel sauce on top.

Verdict

We wouldn't return

Overall

For an ostensibly fine dining restaurant, Greenpoint Brasserie doesn't quite hit the mark in terms of ambiance, service and food.  The restaurant is big and has lots of natural light, but it really could do with some sound-proofing.  Our ears were ringing as everyone in the restaurant had to talk louder to make themselves heard.

Service could most definitely be improved.  More staff on the floor would be good and more attentive/alert staff would make a big difference.

In terms of food, if you have to come to Greenpoint, order the charcuterie plate, skip the mains, and order the tarte tartin!  The rest of the food was fine but punters who make the effort of coming out to the Yarra Valley are looking for something special and unfortunately Greenpoint doesn't deliver as hoped. With so many other wineries with restaurants in the region, Greenpoint needs to lift its game.

Find it at

Greenpoint Brasserie
Domaine Chandon
727 Maroondah Hwy
Coldstream 3770
Telephone: (03) 9738 9200