La Petanque

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Overall Rating

La Petanque Highly Recommended based on its 16 reviews
Calculated using a Weighted average

Food: 9.4
Ambience: 9
Service: 9.2
Value: 8.4

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La Petanque Details

La Petanque Address

1208 Mornington Flinders Rd
Main Ridge VIC 3928
Map
La Petanque Menu
La Petanque Website

La Petanque Contact Info »

Book a table instantly Phone (03) 5931 0155
Fax No (03) 5931 0155

Cuisines

French, Mediterranean, Modern Australian, Modern European

Chef

Simon Buckley

Prices

Average Meal Price $50 - based on one entree & main course only
Lunch Menu - Wednesday to Friday - 2 courses $35 - 3 courses $45
Entrees $15.00-$19.00
Mains $26.00-$39.00
Desserts $16.00

Bookings

Bookings are preferred

Rooms & Capacity

No of Seats 45

Hours

Lunch
Wed to Sun Noon - 3pm
Dinner
Fri to Sat 6pm - 10pm

Entertainment/Live Music

Newly renovated and redecorated restaurant. Large shaded deck and terrace with stunning views over olive grove and vineyards.
Food and wine matching experience. Organic herb and vegetable Garden. Extensive wine list 600 + 30 by the glass. Pétanque pitch

Specialties

Duck Breast, roasted black figs, Shoreham honey and star anise jus
Port Phillip Bay Snapper fillet, chickpea panis. mini ratatouille, tomato tarte Tatin, tapenade beurre blanc
Warm spring vegetable salad, herbs and flowers from the garden, tarragon vinaigrette, duck poached egg
Soft centered Valrhona Chololate biscuit, Amaretto and almond icecream, Tahiti vanilla Anglaise

Parking

Ample or Convenient Parking
Free Parking
Parking Suggestions
Private car park on the estate.

Help us correct a mistake or add more info!

La Petanque Awards

2012

The Age Good Food Guide 2011 - One Chef's Hat

2009

Gourmet Traveller - Best Regional Wine List of the Year

Overview of La Petanque

Set on a twenty acre property, La Pétanque Restaurant has undergone major interior and exterior renovations. The elegant new dining room and the shaded deck and terrace has sweeping views over the estate vineyard and nearby olive grove, rose garden and pétanque pitch.

Talented Head Chef Simon Buckley is inspired by the South of France. Simon’s creative dishes are surprising in their simplicity and refinement, utilising herbs and flowers from the garden and a majority of seasonal locally grown produces.

La Pétanque won Best European Restaurant at the Award for Excellence for 2009 and 2010.

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User Reviews of La Petanque, Main Ridge

Page: 1 2 Next

Displaying: 1 - 10 of 16 reviews

1 of 1 reader found the following review helpful

9.3 Highly Recommended

Food 9 Ambience 10 Service 10 Value 8

Beautiful scenery, fresh, delicious and beautifully presented food. Lots of little extras added a special touch, such as the powdery, warm sourdough served with olives, and crispy, melt-in-your-mouth, rich chocolate brownies to end an impressive meal! The service was impeccable, very friendly staff. Definitely worth a (re)visit!

The slow-cooked honey-glazed pork belly is a Must try! So tender, yet perfectly crisp on one side. Yum!

Apr 24, 2011

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shayzhang
1

1 of 1 reader found the following review helpful

9.8 Highly Recommended

Food 10 Ambience 10 Service 10 Value 9

Few weeks ago a friend recommended La Petanque on the Mornington Peninsula. As we were trying not get lost we drove pass La Petanque restaurant and decided to stop and have lunch. When you see the charming wooden barn structure you think simple bistro food and small winery wine list. As soon as you push the door you realize this is not your ordinary restaurant, the tables are covered with white linen with beautiful glassware.

The staff is attentive and immediately you feel looked after. Then they bring you the menu, together with “THE” wine list. The wine list is literally a photo album with 600 plus references with 30 wines by the glass. But if you are not in the mood you can let the menu guide you. Every dish is described and has a suggested wine to match. We wanted a couple of entrées each but we could not resist the temptation. So we went for it.

What we tried and can recommend are the scallops with a tian of provencal vegetable with olive oil garlic cream, the Autumn vegetables with tarragon vinaigrette and duck poached egg, to follow the duck breast with roasted fig and star anise, the crispy pork belly with preserve lemon jus and for dessert the Valrhona chocolate pudding with amaretto ice cream and the Red Hill apple crepe with green apple sorbet.

We decided to try the wine suggested with every dish and every single one was spot on. The restaurant is not exactly luxurious, but the atmosphere is very smooth. The French lounge music in the background, the staff is constantly keeping a discrete eye, anticipating your needs without fuss or demonstration. No fireworks or special effects, just good attentive service and perfect timing. We glided from one dish to the other, surprised by the presentation, the flavours and the attention to details. La Petanque is by far the best food and wine experience we had this year.

May 07, 2010

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F&W
1

0 of 1 reader found the following review helpful

3.5 Below Average

Food 5 Ambience 4 Service 4 Value 1

La Petanque stunk. Flies everywhere, under-seasoned food and over 45 minutes wait between entree and mains. My husband's chestnut and fennel soup was bland and under-seasoned. The portions were extremely small and the only options for side dishes were a bowl of chat potatoes or a salad at $8 each and they weren't huge either.

I was underwhelmed with the duck and my husband's pork belly needed salt. Where is the salt and pepper in the kitchen guys? The desserts were delicious though so the meal ended on a high. We won't be going back though. The flies were horrendous and when you spend nearly 3 hours swatting them away from your food, it gets pretty tiresome.

Apr 09, 2010

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Madfads
1

1 of 1 reader found the following review helpful

9.5 Highly Recommended

Food 10 Ambience 8 Service 10 Value 10

Visited recently and as a regular diner at chefs hat restaurants I can't believe La Petanque is not hatted. My partner loved the rabbit terrine with cornichons and I could not fault the tuna nicoise (the most original and pretty presentation of this dish I have seen for along time).

To follow I had the rolled lamb shoulder with mini rataouille superbly cooked pink and my partner had braised rabbit n again tasty superbly presented both dishes the epitomy of provence cuisine. To finish we shared the strawberry minestrone a standout dessert.

La Petanque is a rare gem on the peninsula with superb service, a most interesting wine list and most of all chefs and an owner who realise attention to detail do make a difference.

Mar 28, 2010

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good food rocks
1

1 of 1 reader found the following review helpful

9.5 Highly Recommended

Food 10 Ambience 9 Service 10 Value 9

La Petanque is very charming. The countryside views, the olive trees, the vineyards, the lavender, roses, herb garden, the Bocce pitch and the modest barn for restaurant make you feel you could be somewhere in the South of France. The food is spectacular. I don't know what the reviewers before me are on about. They, perhaps, went to a different restaurant or they never go out.

The food was one of the best french food I ever had, together with Vue du Monde, Embrasse and Jacques Reymond. The presentation is elegant, utilizing herbs and flowers from their garden. The flavors are enticing and original, balanced and yet intriguing. We had the warm vegetable salad, duck poached egg and tarragon vinaigrette, the spanish piquillo stuffed with calamari, fennel, saffron and skid ink risotto. To follow the duck breast perfectly pink with fresh roasted black figs and star anise jus, the pork belly, scampi, oyster mushroom, glazed turnip, preserved lemon jus, divine.

For desserts the amazing soft Valrhona chocolate pudding with amaretto sorbet and the strawberry minestrone with mild spices and lemon and basil sorbet was pure genius. Remarkable. The wine list is very comprehensive with 600 + wines. The service is very attentive and warm. The prices are cheaper than most bistro in the city. I can't wait to go back.

Mar 22, 2010

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Foodwinelove
1

0 of 1 reader found the following review helpful

5 Average

Food 6 Ambience 6 Service 4 Value 4

Coming to La Petanque you could not fail to be charmed by the rose beds, trees and attractive views. Sadly the restaurant food was rather hit and miss, poor value and service slow. Our mains arrived 40 minutes after our appetisers had been cleared, following a query and without apology or explanation.

The rack of lamb (AU$ 39) consisted of 2 cutlets and some side salad. The side of potatoes were overcooked. In contrast the vegetarian goats cheese tart was a delight. The room was too warm, with one solitary AC unit on the opposite wall.

Jan 16, 2010

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jimmyL
1

0 of 3 readers found the following review helpful

4 Below Average

Food 3 Ambience 10 Service 1 Value 2

Went for dinner and was very disappointed. Don't understand why this has got previously such good reviews, but this restaurant has gone downhill since as the service and food were both unsatisfactory. There are much better places to go on the Peninsula.

Jan 14, 2010

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Lovefoodandwine
4

0 of 1 reader found the following review helpful

4.3 Below Average

Food 5 Ambience 5 Service 3 Value 4

We went to La Petanque based on the reviews on this site and regret our decision. We got to the restaurant and staff were rude from the beginning. We were given a table outside as it was busy which was fine, however, it started to get cold and when we asked whether it would be possible to move inside if a table became available the response was basically that it would be too much effort to reset the table for us.

After we ordered, olive oil was put on the table but no bread, after about 15 minutes bread was brought out, another 15 minutes and we were still waiting for our wine, we asked if we could have our wine and the waiter who barely grunted a word to us the whole time reluctantly went inside to get out wine for us.

We got our meals which were supposed to be black angus steak which were overcooked and when we asked for steak knifes so we could cut through the things, they said they didn't have any. Service was unfriendly, food average, would not recommend.

Dec 27, 2009

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foodismylife
1

1 of 1 reader found the following review helpful

9.5 Highly Recommended

Food 10 Ambience 9 Service 10 Value 9

We had a leisurely weekday lunch here. The service was impeccable and the atmosphere good. And the food! Subtle flavours and beautifully presented. The vichyssoise and honey glazed pork belly were both great, as was the Mickelham duck breast. We finished up with the blood orange, almond and Tahiti vanilla pudding, which was fantastic.

The 3 course weekday lunch menu for $42 is terrific value for the quality of what you get. The wine list is most impressive, with a wide choice of both imported and local wines, including a good range by the glass.

Nov 22, 2009

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gxh
149

9.5 Highly Recommended

Food 10 Ambience 9 Service 10 Value 9

I went to La Petanque last weekend not knowing what to expect. The place is surprisingly easy to find around the corner from Arthur seat road on the way to Finders. It was a beautiful day so we drove early and took the time to explore the stunning roads in the area. As we arrive to the car park we were quite surprised to find such scenery.

The views over the olive grove and wines make you feel that you could be in Provence. As we arrived to the restaurant, we were welcome and guided to our table, presented with menus and one of the most remarkable wine lists I have ever seen outside Melbourne top restaurants. They said it has a bit little less than 600 wines. The menu consisted of 6 entrees, 6 mains and 6 desserts (vegetarian: two entrees and one main course).

My partner chose the vegetarian entrée of winter vegetables salad with fresh tarragon vinaigrette, farmed organic poached egg and hazelnut tuile, fresh, cooked perfectly vegetables with ideal combination of flavours. I took the scallops with celeriac tagliatelles, vanilla beurre blanc and salmon roe, simply stunning. To follow I had the duck with quince, star anis jus and potato galette, my partner had the puff pastry tart with marinated organic tomatoes, French goat cheese, green beans, snow peas and a parmesan foam with basil oil and gardens flowers, whoa!

For dessert the soft centered Valrhona chocolate biscuit with candied chestnut ice cream and praline Anglaise was probably the best chocolate dessert I ever had. The chilled minestrone of pineapple, grapefruit, candied fennel and ginger with coconut sorbet is pure genius. The tea and coffees came with warm petit fours. The service is spot on, welcoming and friendly without being tacky or over the top. Never saw a glass empty at any of the other tables. The bread is served warm. Everything make sense, they were very close to perfection. I can’t wait to go back.

Jun 24, 2009

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