Biji Dining’s Harry Mangat has made a return to Avani Cellar Door in Mornington Peninsula for a spring pop-up series.
The chef is collaborating with the winery to host curated lunch experiences that will be held every weekend until the end of December this year.
Mangat aims to showcase the diverse regions of India and has sourced and foraged for local ingredients to create dishes for the menu.
“Avani Wines holds a special place in my heart and I feel very lucky to be returning to this beautiful place,” he says.
“There’s no better place to source ingredients such as wild fennel, nasturtium, wattleseed and wild garlic than right here in their biodynamic vineyard. I have been amazed by the bountiful wild produce I can pick each day to create the menu.”
Guests can enjoy a four-course main menu for $95 that include dishes such as Naga pork sausage with pickled onion and mint; kashmiri lamb, harisa with pine nuts, pickled currants and smoked red capsicums and chana dal and methi roti with cashew cream and masala.
The dining experience is finished off with an dessert of yoghurt custard parfait served with chamomile and a burnt ginger marshmallow.
Over the next few months, Mangat will also be bringing in some of Melbourne’s best chefs for special one-off lunch events priced at $120 per person.
Guest chefs include Peter Gunn (IDES), Zackary Furst, Ross Magnaye (SERAI), Charlie
Carrington (Atlas Dining), Simone Watts (Barragunda) and Jack Shaw and Ellie Bouhadana (Hope Street Radio).
Each weekend’s menu will be accompanied by a range of Avani Cellar Door’s cool-climate wines which covers new releases such as the 2021 Amrit Main Ridge Chardonnay and the 2020 Amrit Pinot Noir.
Avani Wines x Biji Dining is now taking place every Saturday and Sunday with chef collaborations taking place on the following dates:
- 25 September – Harry Mangat and Peter Gunn (IDES)
- 9 October – Harry Mangat and Zackary Furst
- 23 October – Harry Mangat and Ross Magnaye (SERAI)
- 13 November – Harry Mangat and Simone Watts (Barragunda)
- 20 November – Harry Mangat and Charlie Carrington (Atlas Dining and Atlas Weekly)
- 18 December – Harry Mangat, Jack Shaw and Ellie Bouhadana (Hope Street Radio)
