Royal Mail Hotel Dunkeld, Western and Geelong

Royal Mail Hotel Details

Royal Mail Hotel Address

98 Parker St
Dunkeld VIC 3294
Map
Royal Mail Hotel Menu
Royal Mail Hotel Website

Royal Mail Hotel Contact Info

Phone (03) 5577 2241
Fax No (03) 5577 2577
Emailrelax@royalmail.com.au

Cuisines

Modern Australian, Vegetarian

Chef

Dan Hunter

Prices

Degustation
$140-$170
Prices last updated: 08/2012

Rooms & Capacity

No of Seats 70

Hours

Breakfast
Mon to Sun 7am - 10am
Lunch
Mon to Sun 11am - 3pm
Dinner
Mon to Sun 6pm - 9pm

BYO

Wine
Corkage per bottle $12.00

Royal Mail Hotel Awards

2013

Australian Gourmet Traveller 2013 - Three Stars

2013

The Age Good Food Guide 2013 - Three Chef's Hats

2012

Australian Gourmet Traveller 2012 - Regional Restaurant Of The Year

2012

The Age Good Food Guide 2012 - Three Chef's Hats

2012

Australian Gourmet Traveller 2012 - Three Stars

2012

The Australian Hot 50 Restaurant Awards 2012

2011

The Age Good Food Guide 2011 - Two Chef's Hats

2011

The Age Good Food Guide 2011 - Restaurant Of The Year

2011

Australian Gourmet Traveller 2011 - Two Stars

more…

User Reviews of Royal Mail Hotel, Dunkeld

Displaying: 1 - 7 of 7 reviews

5.3 Average

Food 5 Ambience 6 Service 5 Value 5

Having travelled from Sydney to experience a 3 hatted degustation meal we were very disappointed. Staff were welcoming but very 'rehearsed', not warm.

Food was repetitive and apart from two dishes not overwhelming. Wine package was good unless a 'top-up' was required which added another $20pp to the meal. Overall we had much more fun and value in front of the open fire in the bar area. Bistro was Ok and staff were friendly and attentive. Again food was average. Accomodation was good and the view of the Grampians spectacular. Go for the accomomdation and eat at the Bistro!

Oct 24, 2012

Lynn50
3

6.8 Recommended

Food 7 Ambience 5 Service 9 Value 6

We were very much looking forward to a special dinner at the restaurant having heard all the great things about it. Firstly I have to say that the ‘restaurant’ is just the side part of the bistro, near the door so everyone going to the bistro walks through the only difference is the restaurant tables have tablecloths on them whereas the bistro tables do not. So the atmosphere is pretty dismal. They are trying to create a fine dining experience however the space is not appropriate for it.

The wine list is amazing. I was overwhelmed by the size and quality of it, including 18 pages of Pinot Noir! The sommelier recommended a great bottle and we had a great chat about wines and his list.

The waiters were knowledgeable and professional and really made the evening. I was really surprised to get this level of service and food knowledge in a country town – they put staff at many city fine dining restaurants to shame.

The food was OK but not spectacular. While I appreciate all the prep that went into each intricate dish, the flavours were bland and repetitive. The best courses were the desserts, with the ‘fallen fruit’ and beetroot and mandarin courses outstanding.

All in all an interesting experience in the middle of nowhere, however I think it was a once off – unless they were opening their cellar for wine tastings in which case we would definitely return.

Nov 28, 2011

meee
87

9.5 Highly Recommended

Food 10 Ambience 10 Service 9 Value 9

We had lunch on a weekday in the bistro, which has a great outlook over nearly Mt Sturgeon. Our group couldn’t be rated as expert “foodies”, but we like to eat what appeals to us. Hence, we were a little apprehensive about the Royal Mail, thinking it might be out of our class. But it was great, we couldn’t fault the food in any way. In particular, the tasting plate to start was excellent and we loved the lamb rump and suckling pig dishes. Others of our group had the risotto and blue eye. And the desserts – wonderful! Of course it’s not cheap, but when you’re getting the obvious quality provided here, you don’t mind paying the price.

Nov 27, 2010

gxh
152

0 of 1 reader found the following review helpful

10 Highly Recommended

Food 10 Ambience 10 Service 10 Value 10

We've just spent a fantastic three days in Dunkeld, eating our way through the restaurant, bistro and bar menus. All in their own way spot on. From a luxurious 10 course tasting menu of a level we've not seen before in Australia, to the best pub grub you could expect to find, the Royal Mail does it all right at every level. Great, natural, friendly service, excellent wines, professional staff, really lovely accommodation and a stunning natural setting. This is a gem. Go!

Mar 15, 2010

Sue Keates
1

0 of 1 reader found the following review helpful

4.8 Average

Food 5 Ambience 5 Service 5 Value 4

After reading so many professional food reviews and seeing all the awards my fiancé and I were very much looking forward to a dining experience like no other.
Turns out we had set ourselves up for a mediocre and expensive fall.

We ate from the Bistro menu as the 'Restaurant' section was full. The main disappointments were: Being told by a waiter barely old enough to drink that all the wines priced above $150 were 'good'. I ordered the scotch fillet ($42) and rather than being marbled with fat it was over a 1/3 fat, which I couldn’t eat. The cold potatoes and grated carrot didn’t offer much as a side.

My fiancé ordered the kingfish which he said was delicate and tasty but was very small. Two fillets no more than 8cm long, about 3cm wide and very thin resembled an entree sized portion rather than a main meal. The staff weren’t very attentive to our table. I had read customer reviews before stating similar observations, which they felt may have been because they were younger than the other patrons (mainly aged 50+), perhaps, this was the case of us? All I know is my glass was empty a lot and we were ignored several times when asking for the cheque.

For dessert I had the lemon tart which was delicious the first 1 or 2 bites, but then got very sickening. A smaller size (at a smaller price) would have been preferred.
All in all if we were in the area again we wouldn’t go back. For the price, you expect the food and service to be spot on, which is sadly lacking in both departments.

Jan 27, 2010

luckyloz
3

1 of 1 reader found the following review helpful

10 Highly Recommended

Food 10 Ambience 10 Service 10 Value 10

We arrived shortly after passing the old discarded brickworks, trailing behind three vintage Porsches, all restored 356’s. The Royal Mail Hotel, Victoria looked like an old movie theatre from the early 1980’s a large curved round frontage of glass windows and surround by blossoming wattle. We ate lunch in the bistro watching the rain, as we drank our way through a bottle of burgundy the bush walk through the Grampians slowly shortened.

The lamb I ate was so soft and wonderfully tasty, the egg croquette style with wild mushrooms turned my mind to chicken farms it was so fresh. With no reservation for dinner the restaurant created an extra table (after asking the kitchen) by the piano where we went on to enjoy the tasting menu of the most outstanding artistic food. Green lip abalone in marine essence, spring vegetables, shoots, and flowers literally from their market gardens, a tuna broth with flowers and radish floating on the surface and many more, all matched to wines.

The maître d' in times of need would run past our window across the road and behind the rare bookstore like a new mystery character being introduced to the film, to the cellar to collect a wine selected by a customer. As we left the following morning a dozen or so 356 Porsches were all lined up outside the hotel ready to move on to a new location for the day like little lady beetles assembling for a new flight. This was a fantastic place to visit!

Feb 20, 2009

CSarah
2

0 of 1 reader found the following review helpful

2 Not Recommended

Food 1 Ambience 2 Service 3 Value 2

Went here for dinner I would never go again. When I made the booking, we told them three and got to the restauarnt and was told it was for two so we were sent to sit by the fire, 25 mins later that had taken a chair from the table across the way and placed it out ours. The cuttlefish had no flavour at all and the steak was over cooked and chewy.

Oct 02, 2008