Just over 2 hours’ drive from Sydney, a restaurant in Pokolbin, Hunter Valley, is on par with – if not better than – its city counterparts.
The one hatted EXP. Restaurant, which was named in the Top 25 of NSW in the 2023 Gourmet Traveller National Restaurant Guide 2023, is intent on making dining a remarkable experience, and, boy, does it deliver.
Led by head chef and owner Frank Fawkner, EXP. is an expression of Australian cuisine, spotlighting premium produce and wines from the Hunter region and around Australia.
Fawkner began his career at Mount Broke Wines in the Hunter Valley before cutting his teeth in London with Michelin-star chef Tom Aikens. After an enriching time working for Troy and Megan Rhoades-Brown at award-winning Muse Restaurant, he opened EXP. just down the road in 2015.
EXP. serves two tasting menus: EXP.erience and Chef’s EXP.erience. We choose the latter.
EXP. Restaurant starters
Our evening starts with a peach and feta amuse-bouche. The feta has the consistency of thick cream, and we love the combination of sweet and savoury. Next comes the Sydney Heads yellowfin tuna seasoned with tuna garum, wrapped in toasted nori and splashed with kaffir lime, a chickpea taco filled with pumpkin miso hummus, citrus kosho and chives, and bonito with a warrigal greens curry and hung yoghurt, served in a crunchy tart shell. All the flavours are incredibly harmonious.
We progress to a creamy, Petuna Ocean Trout rillettes in a choux topped with Yarra Valley trout caviar. We also enjoy the sweet yet clean flavour of the Hiramasa Kingfish with eucalyptus oil, native lime and avocado, garnished with sunrose, and the Shark Bay Sea scallop in a nduja buttery sauce.
We’re seated at the bar overlooking the kitchen where the chefs have been serving our dishes. It’s great to interact with them. They are keen to help us understand the different components of the dishes, and are open to questions and feedback.
Mains
Our first main comes in two parts. The first part is a shiitake and king oyster mushroom consommé, split with green garlic oil and garnished with purple garlic flowers. The umami of the broth is out of this world. It is just the primer for the accompanying Hunter Valley Wagyu tartare from slow-grown, free-grazing Binnie Beef cattle. It comes with tomato jam and wasabi mayonnaise and leaf.
Mrs TCF isn’t usually the biggest fan of duck, which is the final main, but Fawkner creates a genius dish with dry-aged duck from Redgate Farm in the Hunter’s Brandy Hill. The duck comes with a spiced crust and is lightly woodfired. Its sweet but gamey flavour is accentuated by baked carrots and a richly flavoured sauce made from the duck bones, without the heaviness of cream. But the star is the duck leg salami on a duck fat lavosh tartlet, filled with liver parfait and finished with pinot noir vincotto.
We’ve never had duck salami before and it was very good, maintaining duck’s gamey undertone, with a moreish saltiness and a good chew. Mr TCF thinks the salami would work better as the amuse-bouche, to start the meal off with a bang. However, Mrs TCF likes finishing on a high note, and thinks it leaves a lasting impression.
Desserts
The desserts definitely do a good job of finishing on a high, beginning with the local cucumber and French sorrel granita, buttermilk and shiso gelato, with native river mint meringue, which doubles as a sweet and a palate refresher.
Hitting the spot are Misty Valley blueberries warmed over the barbecue with koji ice-cream and liquorice honeycomb, doused in a blueberry sauce split with wild fennel oil.
Our evening comes to an end with whipped and frozen lime curd, coated with lightly torched, sticky, lemon myrtle meringue. Mrs TCF loves how these fresh desserts don’t weigh you down and instead leave you wanting more, despite reaching fullness.
Summing up EXP. Restaurant
On the way to EXP. Restaurant, our hotel driver remarked how each guest he’s escorted to and from this restaurant has come home with a big smile on their face, impressed by Fawkner’s creativity and ability to think outside of the box, and blown-away by the fantastic flavours and quality.
We wondered if it would live up to the hype, and did it ever. Needless to say, when our driver picked us up, we could report back the exact feedback he’s been hearing for years.
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EXP. Restaurant
2188 Broke Road
Pokolbin NSW
Note: EXP. can cater to some dietary requirements if given plenty of notice, but since it is a small establishment with only a tasting menu, it may not be able to cater to all diets.