Green Olive at Red Hill is a daytime cafe and farm gate providore set among the curving slopes of neat olive groves in Main Ridge, physician Mornington Peninsula.
The cafe’s floor to ceiling windows and the tables on the deck facing the raised garden beds makes it a picturesque spot for all-day dining.
The kitchen’s paddock-to-plate philosophy means that everything is fresh and made with care. All the food is made from produce grown on the farm and in the surrounding area. The kitchen garden provides herbs and vegetables, they grow olives, grapes and raise sheep, chickens and ducks. On site they also roast coffee beans and bake wood-fired bread.
In addition, Green Olive really serves families well (the owners have two children). There is a roll of butcher’s paper set up on one of the long tables and buckets of colouring pencils. There’s loads of room to run around. Best of all there’s an in-ground trampoline by the dam!
The menu is really about all day tapas and wine. It’s not really a place for breakfast if you’re expecting muesli and eggs but we had no problems choosing several tapas for our breakfast.
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I highly recommend the juicy homemade lamb sausages dressed with garden herbs, fennel seeds and capsicum relish ($12.95), crispy tostadas of slow cooked lamb with onion marmalade and coriander ($12.95) and the cute braised lamb sliders piled high with honey mustard slaw and tomato relish ($12.95). For a lighter option try thesmoked eel brandade with olive oil crisp bread and Green Olive’s famous beetroot relish ($12.95). What a feast!
At the store you can buy produce including lamb, relish, chutneys, jams and marmalades, dukkah and salts, bread, wine and, of course, olives. They also run cooking classes throughout the year.
After a thorough go at the trampoline on our way out we bought an amaretti biscuit ($3.50) and the chef kindly snuck an extra one for Lady AB.
We loved the food and the setting at Green Olive at Red Hill and if you have kids with space and activities make it a winning formula for a relaxed outing.
Green Olive at Red Hill is part of Wine Food Farmgate, a collection and trail of the best of Mornington Peninsula’s wineries, eateries and farmgate providores. For other child-friendly places on the Wine Food Farmgate trail try Flinders Hotel and Hickinbotham of Dromana.
HOT Tips:
- pram access;
- high chairs;
- children’s menu;
- standard menu suitable for children;
- colouring pencils and paper; and
- outdoor play area including trampoline.
Green Olive at Red Hill, 1180 Mornington Flinders Road Main Ridge, Mornington Peninsula 03 5989 2992
Wednesday to Sunday 9am to 5pm (May – October)
Everyday 9am to 5pm (November – April)
Closed Christmas Day & Boxing Day
