You can find Silos Estate and it’s vineyard in a restored dairy farm, originally operating from 1870. It has award winning cottage accommodation, a cellar door, art gallery and an amazing restaurant in its Silo, situated amongst rolling hills, vineyards and gardens in the beautiful town of Berry, approximately 2.5 hours from Sydney CBD.
On this occasion, we dined at the fabulous restaurant. As a result of their location enabling them to source great produce, they base their menu on these local goods, and celebrating all the region has to offer. The venue is historic, and as you walk inside, flanked by two silos, one is a sitting room with lounges and a fireplace with high annex ceiling, and the other cellars the restaurant’s wine.
The restaurant has a heritage, rustic and cottage feel to it with original brick floors, chandeliers and wooden chopping boards as artwork. You instantly feel warmth and the ambience is very comfortable and suitable for pairs or group dining alike.
The husband and wife team at Silos, Sarah and Andrew – “Smithy and the Chef” have collaborated on developing this restaurant and running events. Chef Andrew Hickie has come with a wealth of experience working with high end clientele on superyachts. The couple have had a sea change and he’s focusing here on not being too “fancy”. He wanted simple and fresh food, prepared well. He wanted it to be approachable by all diners, but enough to showcase flavour profiles and the beautiful produce of the region. This has resulted in a spectacular menu and amazingly prepared food.
We opted for the two course menu at $66 for an entrée and a main, and some of our dining party also added a dessert and the three courses was $75. This is extremely reasonable for the quality of the food. We began by sharing the marinated olives at $6, which was an extremely generous serve, as well as some of their fresh sourdough bread and butter for $6 with cultured butter.
They also offer oysters and charcuterie boards, which would be a good option if dining in groups. Our dining group tried a variety of dishes from the menu: zucchini flowers, salmon gravalax and the popular dish amongst us was the beef Capacchio, served with wild rocket, caper berries, horse radish and parmesan. Thin pieces of beef with a refreshing topping.
It was difficult to choose our main since we liked the sound of them all. We are certainly lovers of a good protein and opted for the popular Wagyu Tri Tip (served medium) with Cavolo Nero, Radicchio and Bagna Couda. The meat was cooked beautifully, presented fanned out on the plate with the greens.
We also really liked the Duck dish. Two pieces of juicy duck served with a side of nicely seasoned farro, Beetroot, Macadamia and Barberry Jus. All the ingredients worked together well.
Our peers sampled the Pork and apple, as well as some of the daily specials, an amazing lamb ragu and spanner crab pasta. Depending on your hunger and group size, you may also like to order some sides; salad Leaves, Green Beans, Cabbage Salad, Shoestring Fries or Pommes Puree. Though we recommend keeping some space for dessert.
The hazelnut Semi-Freddo, Dark Chocolate Mousse, Hazelnut Praline was a huge serving, appearance not dissimilar to a tiramisu and super creamy and what we believe would be a popular dish amongst diners. In addition, you may also like the chocolate Fondant, Ginger-Bread Ice-Cream, Caramelised Pear Puree or Affogato – an espresso Shot, Vanilla Bean Ice Cream and Frangelico.
Whilst you hear every cooking show contestant making a panna-cotta, this one was certainly a little more than what you ordinarily see. A beautiful white Vanilla Bean Panna-Cotta served in a glass, layered with a coconut Granita and passionfruit Curd Ice Cream. Pierce your spoon through the granita and passionfruit through to the creamy pannacotta.
If in a group, you may like to share their Cheese Board, Quince Paste, Muscatels, Fennel Seed Lavosh. We recommend pairing this with Macadamia Liqueur. In regards to other drinks, they are licensed and have a range of wines: sparkling, white, red, rose, fortified as well as cocktails, jugs, beers, ciders, soft drinks, tea and coffee. We paired our dinner with the sparkling wine.
In regards to their events, they are NSW South Coast specialists, offering catering as part of their business by “Smithy and the Chef”, delivering personable and friendly service to their customers and guests. They offer sit down menus, shared-style menus, canapes, Mexican Taco stations, Greek feasts, grazing stations, ‘Naked’ cakes, dessert tables, recovery brunches and custom menus for between 40-500 guests. Sarah is their event manager and it’s all about personalising the experience. They also offer event planning for weddings for your special day – why not let someone taking the planning off your hands! We experience one of their events first hand, when the catered the VIP table for the South Coast food and wine festival, fresh and delicious grazing platters.
Whether you’re after a catered event or a lovely dinner out, make it a priority to visit Silos.
B640 Princes Highway, Berry, NSW, 2535
+61 (02) 4448 6082
Hours:
Monday-Wednesday: closed
Thurs-Sat: lunch 12-2pm, dinner from 6pm
Sun: lunch 12-2pm
We dined as guests of Silos and Destination NSW. All opinions are our own.
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