ten minutes by tractor

i took my partner here for his birthday and despite it was a one-hour drive, tenminutesby tractor delivered exceptional, refined food that really made the night extra special. i've been here in the past for wine tasting during the day and glancing over at the finished dishes on kitchen bench when the restaurant was closing at lunch, the plates were so attractive i had to come back. dinner overlooking the vine-yards was perfect, great ambience, outstanding service from all the friendly staff and the food was faultless. every dish of the eight-course degustation menu was unique, well-presented and the waitress even gave me extra red wine jus (more sauce makes cindy extra happy haha). the wine menu was on-point, definitely try the estate pinot noir which complemented the dishes so well (not too dense and a little more fruitier). expensive but worth every dime for such an experience, and i can't wait to come back to try the a la carte menu!

tenminutesby tractor is slowly becoming a favourite past time for me and my so. we came for the first time last year for ken’s birthday, and a full year later, we decided that rather than risking food disappointment, (definition: eating out somewhere fancy with high expectations but being disappointed in the end) we’d go back to our old favourite. so with that, we prepared ourselves for an 8 course, flavour filled lunch served with matching international wines...

mornington peninsula is a playground for foodie and winies and the choices are seemingly endless.  at the very top of a very tall tree stands tenminutesby tractor, which i have had the pleasure of going to a couple of times.  amongst rarified companie such as monalto and port phillip estate, it still stands out due to it's boutique feel and obsession with the provenance of their produce. of the famous wineries on the peninsula, tenminutesby tractor is one of the smallest.  it has a relatively modest cellar door which adjoins the small capacity restaurant.  the strange name actually has an interesting provenance.  the vineyards were formerly separate owned by a few families.  these vineyards were 'tenminutesapart by tractor', and you can actually see one of the old tractors as you peruse the wine bible (only the rockpool wine list is more comprehensive) and decide if you want to go with the epic

we’ve been eagerly waiting for the last 19 odd months for tenminutesby tractor to be rebuilt and open for business! i’ve been here 6 or 7 times myself (pre fire), and have fond memories of amazing food and faultless service. it was their second week of trading since the fire and we were there for a birthday. alas, it was fairly disappointing. the menu is either 3, 5 or 8 courses. there are only three choices for the 3 course option. it’s a new chef and most of the staff were new and didn’t have much idea. it was very amateur. kudos to nikki who tried her best and jacques (who i think was there prior to the fire). it wasn’t all doom and gloom, but it’s annoying to be paying top dollar to be a guinea pig while they’re still sorting things out. surely soft launches could fine tune everything? main course was a choice of fish, duck or a mushroom dish. the fish was ok, the duck was undercooked and underwhelming with soggy skin. nobody at our table had the mushroom dish. one of the desserts was panacotta with coriander and green peas. it just felt like they were trying too hard, regardless of ‘feedback’ they’ve had about that dessert. we voiced our disappointment and they knocked 10% off but it’s not about that. it was a special occasion and it was a real let down.


below is a 5 star review from a years back:

magnificent food and service, amazing attention to detail, everything about this dining experience was top notch. fine dining without being over wanky. had the spanner crab with fish to start. the serving was much bigger than expected and everything about it was delicious. all entrees at the table looked perfect. sirloin for mains and the rum caramelised bananas for desert. i can't stress how good this experience was.

is it possible to feel like a regular when your second visit to a restaurant is eight years apart? perhaps that is a kpi for tenminutesby tractor. without any facade, the staff have you feeling completely at ease in an instant.

looking around the room, the recent renovation has been nicely undertaken, not making a big statement but certainly leaving a very comfortable dining room to spend three hours over lunch. the seats in particular are the perfect choice, both well designed, and like your favourite couch. as you can imagine, there is plenty of emphasis in having a good view of the vines in this beautiful part of the world.

notwithstanding first class service, and a terrific newly renovated dining room, i want to talk about one dish. offal has never been the flavour of the month. it has been lauded for reason over a long time, but has never escalated to the heights of true popularity. perhaps it never will be. when you look at a "balanced" restaurant menu you would ordinarily expect certain main star ingredients, some choice of secondary stars, and then something surprising. i'm afraid while beef, chicken, and fish take that staring role, offal has always been kept to the "surprise" meaning it gets a gig only on occasion.

while livers take the cake, sweetbreads (which actually sound like a cake) must be the second most unsexy ingredient going around. i mean they actually gave them a name that tries to confuse the customer into having a go! tenminutesby tractor are serving veal sweetbreads for entree, and like a kid in a candy shop, i'm excited. to serve offal, you need to honour the flavour, but present it looking delicious (in spite of itself) and with complimentary accompaniments (more than other dishes).

worth the drive !. 

went to 10minutesby tractor for my birthday - yearly splurge on fine dining. had the 8 course degustation menu because you are there so why not go the full monte!. 

the food is excellent as is the presentation but what i actually liked most about the experience were the waiters and the service. the restaurant is not at all stuffy. when i arrived i was starving and told the waiter who even before bringing out menus ect, got me some delicious freshly cooked bread. having tamed the hungry beast i could now focus my attention on the menu, the surrounding and on enjoying the evening. 

the pace of each course for us was absolutely perfect. not too fast yet not too slow because when you have a degustation menu it can sometimes feel like an eternity between courses.  the waiter asked once if we wanted a break and we said no that was fine. 

i had wine by the glass rather than the full food wine matching and that was plenty for me. 

overall experience was warm and friendly with a variety of food for all tastes - quail, fish, beef and chocolate desert. highly recommended.

having had degustations at several locations now, and all of them of a very high standard, we had high expectations for tenminutesby tractor for our lunch catching up with friends. fear not hungry reader, you will be well served at this establishment. if only you could taste the pictures with this review, you will find that taste buds are happy with each morsel. beautiful presentation, care of the quality produce and served to the table with true professionalism from the fantastic front of house staff. graham, wes and peter took great care of us and ensured our dietary 'sensitivities' were catered for.
5 course degustation was not rushed either. 4 hours, at our pace.
also, as it is foremost a winery, a great selection is on hand. we had the pinot noir 2014 & 2015 and it was fantastic. this region has come a long way and 5-10 years ago was not producing wines of this exceptional quality.

had a great meal at the tenminutesby tractor restaurant this week. we were a (slightly rowdy and very hungry) group of eight, which can be a little challenging, but the crew looks after us brilliantly. adding a couple of small tasters to our three courses meant we were able to get a good sense of the menu breadth. my quail entree, beef main and deconstructed apple pie desert were stunningly presented and equally tasty. service was five star. we really are blessed to be able to experience this quality of restaurant in almost every corner of the state.

there are many beautiful wineries on the mornington peninsula, but when you are talking the best, tenminutesby tractor is the name on everyone’s lips. aside from their impeccable wine list, (try their estate pinot noir, we dare you not to love it!), tenminutesby tractor are renowned for their unpretentious, yet refined degustation. with a restaurant that has earned itself two chefs’ hats, it is fine dining that is innovative but still tastes delicious!

i absolutely love having overseas guests visit me in melbourne. especially my buddies from asia. they love food as much as i do, but the bonus of being in melbourne, is that we get some beautiful settings to enjoy as well. . not too long ago, my crew who i usually meet up with came down to melbourne for an extended weekend, so i trotted them out to the mornington peninsula, where we airbnb’ed (is that a verb yet?) a huge house and made our way to the very charming tenminutesby tractor for dinner (which had be on my wishlist for a very long time).

we arrived at tenminutesby tractor cellar door for wine tasting. we’d called up the day before to try and make a booking in the restaurant only to find out it is booked weeks in advance during the summer. happily wine tasting we mentioned to the cellar door manager we tried to get a table the day earlier - his response the same ‘completely booked out’. right at the end of our tasting, he came back over and mentioned the restaurant had just received a cancellation for lunch and if we’d like the table. without thinking we we’re seated ordering wine. ordering the tenminutesby tractor 10x chardonnay- my new favourite chardonnay. what a lovely 2+ hour meal. a lunch i won’t forget. each dish is perfectly pieced together with each ingredient complementing each other. i especially love the small surprise samplers they bring out between each course. highly recommend for a special occasion.

my parents were gifted a $400 voucher for tenminutesby tractor last christmas by my sister. the past year has been unexpectedly challenging for my family including my mother having to temporarily relocate to become the full-time carer of a family member. subsequently, my parents regrettably forgot about the voucher. recently, mum rung up & explained her situation, kindly asking if the voucher could be extended. she was told that the voucher couldn't be extended by longer than a week & lots of people had rung up with "similar stories." disgraceful customer service. the reservation they were wanting to make was for 4 people so the cheque would have undoubtedly superseded the $400 voucher. my parents have a holiday home in martha cove & are always looking for local spots to entertain guests. not to mention my father spends thousands of dollars a month on wine. shame on you tenminutesby tractor for your terrible customer service & your failure to recognise a valuable customer.

there were even more surprises though the next day on my actual birthday when we went to tenminutesby tractor for the degustation lunch. a friend at work had mentioned this place to me so i was excited when i found out where we were going. on the way there we stopped back off at port phillip estate to admire the daytime view and check out their wine offerings.

our first course was the house smoked salmon with quinoa, crisps and horseradish snow. froggy laughed as all she could hear from me was “mmmmm… mmmmmmmmm”. no words can describe how yumgasmic this dish was. the different elements, textures, flavours just worked so well with each mouthful. eating this we could instantly see that tenminutesby tractor is another level to places like port phillip estate, where we dined the previous night.

we booked dinner here for our tenth anniversary instead of going to montalto which is our usual anniversary haunt. the reason being is that people kept telling us to go. so for a change why not.

we arrived early and enjoyed the garden as per the photos. we were greeted warmly and offered a glass of wine before being seated too as we were so early.

the food was just lovely as promised by others. my husband still prefers montalto. he likes the punchier taste. i was surprised because we went to montalto the next day. boy has it stepped up since and is giving tenminutesa run for their money. it's good to see healthy competition between the two.

the question is, which one do i prefer? the answer really comes down to personal taste. having said this i would return, i loved the food and wish i could cook even remotely like this.