Yarra Valley Dairy Dinner at Bistro 38 at Joondalup Resort

I’d never been to Joondalup Resort before but I was invited along a cheese dinner they were holding at their Bistro 38 Restaurant in partnership with Yarra Valley Dairy. And I was pretty excited because I am a long time appreciator of cheese 🙂

Set amongst lush emerald fairways and natural bushland at Joondalup Resort, Bistro 38 offers you exquisite food, friendly service and a relaxed atmosphere. 

Two long tables were set up in the main restaurant, adorned with wine glasses and cutlery, and guests found themselves a seat and prepared for an indulgent evening of cheese inspired dining.

The Yarra Valley Dairy crew were actually in attendance for the dinner and by chance we found ourselves sat right opposite them. They’d flown to the West for the weekend’s Good Food & Wine Show.

Most of our cheese are fresh, soft style cheeses made in a style that reflects the farmhouse cheese of France and Italy. The cheese factory uses the freshest cows milk from nearby Yarra Valley dairy farms and goats milk from the neighbouring Victorian region of Gippsland. All the fresh milk that arrives at the Yarra Valley Dairy is used for cheese production in our factory by our team of over 30 factory staff who work around the clock producing our award winning cheeses.

The team from Yarra Valley Dairy and the representative from Sticks Winery were a passionate bunch and I appreciated hearing a little more about their products. What’s not to love about wine and cheese. I imagine both must be a lovely fields to work in.

The kitchen really put their thinking caps on with how they could showcase the amazing range of cheeses that the Yarra Valley Dairy team produce. What I really enjoyed about the evening was being across from the cheese maker and his family and seeing how pleased they were with the creativity of what had been plated up.

Here are a few happy snaps of all the evening’s cheese goodness

fresh baguette, butter

persian feta tart, poached quince, caramelized walnuts

le jack, baked with truffled honey, roast winter fruits, rye

black savourine, grilled eggplantcroquette roulade

chevre medallions, confit potato, roast blackwood beef, beetroot

gentle goat, yorkshire curd tart

petit fours

Bistro 38 had been incredibly generous with the servings sizes! No one was going to be leaving hungry 🙂 Hard to pick a favourite, but I actually think it was dessert that was the real star for me. I sat across from Jack (the namesake of the indulgent baked Le Jack that we had enjoyed) and he let me know that the gentle goat was a good introductory goats cheese for those who previously hadn’t tried it. And it was actually quite magic in dessert form. Light in texture, with a pleasant citrus infusion and a slight crunch from the rhubarb and crumbles, along with the sweetness from a pureed fruit, apple I believe it was. It just all worked beautifully. It was a really nice dessert that I was grateful that I had just enough room to finish.

My thanks to the Joondalup Resort for the invitation. You can venture to Bistro 38 Restaurant 7 days a week for breakfast, lunch or dinner, so it’s a great option for those in the Northern suburbs. Keep an eye on their website for details of other events like this.