Sunday lunch: Foxeys Hangout

ANYONE younger than 35 could be excused for thinking this sassy-sounding venue is a slick bar.

Others will know this was the name given to the corner of Tubbarubba and Balnarring roads at Moorooduc, where local farmers would hang up foxes they had caught on a metal rack that encircled an old eucalypt tree ... now reduced to a stump.

Eight years ago, having sold The Argo restaurant and wine bar in South Yarra, the Lee brothers — Michael and Tony (pictured) — decided to concentrate on their vineyard at Tubbarubba. They chose to perpetuate the folklore by snaffling Foxeys Hangout as the name for their second vineyard, winery and cafe at Red Hill.

Wanting to keep things simple, the restaurant professionals offer a blackboard menu of small snacks plates ($10) to match their estate-grown wines (mostly $8). At any time there might be Flinders tomatoes, fetta and red wine vinegar salad, zucchini fritters, avocado with candied walnuts and seared pancetta or roasted capsicum and white anchovies — which we enjoy with a glass of pinot gris.

Almost permanent fixtures are mushrooms wrapped in vine leaves, excellent barbecued quail and moorish spiced meatballs with yoghurt — perfect with a glass of fruity shiraz.

And to finish, there's usually a cheese, such as blue cheese with figs poached in port, a soft, creamy brie or Tony's signature vanilla-bean ice-cream served with hot chocolate sauce — just gorgeous with a glass of their late-harvest pinot gris ($10).

Families come to sit on the wooden deck overlooking the neatly tended paddocks of pinot gris, pinot noir and chardonnay.

Foxeys Hangout, 795 White Hill Road, Red Hill, 5989 2022. Open Saturday and Sunday and public holidays from 11am-4pm. See foxeys-hangout.com.au. Melway 190 H2. To stay, nearby options include Mantons Creek Vineyard, mantonscreekvineyard.com.au; Georges Boutique B&B and Culinary Retreat, georgesonarthurs.com.au; and The Stables at Red Hill thestables.biz.