In November last year, the historic Woolshed was devastated by a fire. It could have marked the end of the business, but as tragic as it was, the fire gave them the opportunity to start things afresh, so change they did. It has a new level of class, but still caters for all crowds, whether they’re after a casual place for a beer, maybe a wine or cocktail and bar snacks, or a long lunch.

The new Woolshed has now been open for 5 weeks, and we visit to see what the revamp has meant for the menu. For our first course we try our hand at making our own dressing for the New Zealand Snapper Ceviche. We pick from a range of ingredients including coconut milk, lime, coriander, lemon and lime juice, chilli oil, caper berries, and sumac, whisking up a dressing to go with the fresh fish.

We have a palate cleanser of blood orange sorbet, before being presented with platters of Salt and Pepper Crispy Duck with Sichuan pickled cucumber and hoisin sauce, and a side of orange segments, Asian greens and fried shallots. It is amazing. Easily my favourite dish of the day, the duck has crisp, well-seasoned skin and juicy and tender meat. We get to mix and match our ingredients and condiments to fill bao and crepes to our liking. Each bite is full of flavour, especially when paired with the Sichuan pepper mix and burnt chilli oil. It’s a struggle to practice self-control.

Woolshed’s whole dry-aged roast Scotch fillet is the product of two days’ worth of preparation, and 12 hours of roasting in a combi oven. The beef is perfectly cooked, and a perfect match with the strong but tasty port wine jus. We have a variety of roasted vegetables on the side, such as roasted heirloom carrots, garlic-roasted Kipfler potatoes, and translucent and juicy Jerusalem artichokes.

Our lazy lunch concludes with a dessert of chocolate, malt, golden raisins, and burnt butter. We smash the chocolate disk and mix everything together to enjoy a messy but delicious dish.

Woolshed has now broadened its horizons to suit a wider range of guests, stepping beyond just simple gastropub food. From what we tried today, we can safely say that its new restaurant menu marks it as something special.

Disclaimer: I was invited to Woolshed as a guest, however, opinions expressed here are purely my own, and are based on my experience at the time

Woolshed
9, T18/161 Harbour Esplanade
Docklands, VIC, 3008
(03) 8623 9640
woolshed.melbourne