On Saturday 8 August Provenance restaurant on Smith St hosted its third special dinner, and the first I have attended. The mushroom degustation was originally planned for a month ago, but the mushrooms missed their flight from France and the event had to be rescheduled. With so much time to spend anticipating that it would be good, I was releived to be more than satisfied with the meal – it was fabulous and the matching wines from Red Hill Estate on the Mornington Peninsula were all excellent.

I arrived early, straight from MIFF, and was able to take some photos of the beautifully presented dining space and enjoy a glass of the Red Hill Estate sparkling blanc de blanc, with hints of lime and ocean spray. Owner Dave was buzzing around the room checking that everything was ready and all the front of house staff seemed excited to be serving a fully booked event.

A dense wholegrain bread was served with truffle infused oil.

The opening course was a plate featuring a parmesan crisp, pumpkin mouse and wonderful chanterelle mushrooms with a truffle martini (truffle infused vodka).

Perhaps the best combination of food and wine in the meal was captured in the next course, truffle oil linguine with the surprisingly tart and complex reserve chardonnay.

The next course was a trumpet and hedgehog tart with cavalo nero (Italian cabbage) with chevre matched with the shiraz.

Dessert was intriguing and amazing: mushroom and chocolate mousse with blood orange. You could really taste the mushroom and the combination with the chocolate was smooth and enticing. The muscat (sourced from the Rutherglen region) was a great combination with dessert.

We were surprised to find we were offered a bonus course of cheese to complete the meal. The French triple cream brie was so seductively soft and creamy that we ate it all despite being already satisfied.

We were expecting four courses and three wines and received five courses and four wines, all of excellent quality, for $75. This is a sensational bargain and is indicative of what Dave is aiming to achieve with the food at Provenance: high quality at a reasonable price that delivers great satisfaction.

The kitchen staff busy at work (above) and the full menu, complete with truffle oil stains and crumbs (below). I also managed to have a good chat to new Melbourne food blogger Liz from Food Fable, who also seemed to be enjoying the meal.

Provenance is somewhere I like to recommend to friends because I have consistently had wonderful food there and, when my friends report back to me that they also have had good experiences , I recommend it to even more people. Dave says that the feature ingredient of the next special dinner will be goat, which is a favourite of mine. The date is not yet confirmed, so check the Provenance site soon for details and make a booking early as it will fill quickly.