STORY BY LARISSA DUBECKI, PHOTOS BY CHRIS TURNER

The generational winds of change were blowing in Daylesford two years ago when Liam Thornycroft, now 29, and Samantha Mackley, 31, took over the iconic Cliffy’s Emporium, revitalising the ageing institution into one of the town’s most vibrant food and wine hubs. They’ve learned plenty – “I’m prematurely aged, my hair is going grey!” laughs Thornycroft – but the hard work hasn’t nipped their food-focused entrepreneurial spirit in the bud. In very good news for the town and the greater region, they’ve colonised the Raglan Street space until recently housing fine diner Mercato to open easygoing Italian trattoria Beppe. Geographically it’s a neat bookend to Cliffy’s. Directly across Wombat Street, the Beppe courtyard looks directly into the Cliffy’s courtyard. “They’re literally side by side, with Wombat Street and its gorgeous linden trees in between,” says Thornycroft. Helped along by Paul Hecker of design firm Hecker Guthrie, a Cliffy’s habitué and friend of the pair, the makeover of the Victorian cottage has it treading the line between sophisticated, rustic and thoroughly welcoming. And spiritually it takes over where the day-time focused Cliffy’s leaves off, taking over the evening trade and adding an Italian flourish across the menu and wine list.

“Sam and I are both very passionate Italian food lovers,” says Thornycroft. “It was a bit of a romantic idea we had to open our own trattoria.”

Mackley’s baker partner Michael Chapman is in charge of the pizza bar and the wood-fired Kuma Forni oven, where produce-driven classicism drives toppings such as pork sausage, provolone and peas or a four-cheese version oozing with mozzarella, provolone, gorgonzola and mascarpone. Chef Cameron Roche, who worked for Thornycroft at his now-sold West Footscray café Dumbo and spent two years working with esteemed Italian chef Pietro Barbagello at his Carlton restaurant Kaprica, is in charge of the rest of the menu that swings through the greatest hits of one the world’s great food canons: think of a perfect seasonal caprese salad, mussels in sugo or fat pouches of pumpkin-filled ravioli passers-by can see being pleated at the marble-topped bench each morning. Thornycroft’s partner Daniel Condon has put together a wine list that celebrates Italy, with added love for the central Victoria and the state’s bushfire-affected regions, complete with Millennial-bait tasting notes such as “Just a bloody grouse full-bodied red”.

The owners’ youthful worldview is adding other excitement. Look out soon for a secretive takeaway pizza window hidden down the alleyway. “It’s so you can sneak down the side of Beppe, ring the bell and a light will come on and you can either order your pizza or pick up your takeaway,” says Thornycroft. “It’s all very theatrical. I tend to get takeaway pizza when I’ve had a big night and I’m not exactly looking my best, so this is a way you can rock up in your pyjamas and not have to run through the restaurant.”

Beppe Bar & Kitchen

5312 2778

beppe.com.au

32 Raglan St, Daylesford