“I’m a glutton for making good food simple.” Everything at the shops is made in-house, from the fudge and fruit compotes flavouring the ice-cream to the cookie crumbs folded into the cookies and cream version along with a pinch of salt to make it zing.
Read MoreThe Trading Post is the kind of place that’s all things to all people. It’s a café and wine store, a grocer and a place to pick up take-home meals for the nights when you really can’t be bothered cooking.
Read MoreFrom morning coffee and croissants to dinner and a nightcap, this charming hangout has all bases covered.
Read MoreGrowing his own herbs and edible flowers in kitchen gardens at Daylesford’s Woodshed, Gary makes his own pickles, preserves and dried herbs
Read MoreThe name Passing Clouds is an in-joke; a dig at the people who thought Graham Leith and Sue Mackinnon were out of their minds to attempt growing pinot noir grapes at such a high altitude.
Read MoreThe road to FIKA (the name is Swedish for “coffee break”) started with Freeman ditching sales to train as a barista at South Melbourne coffee kings St Ali. The decision to return to his hometown of Ballarat saw FIKA opening on Doveton Street in 2015. Then, as now, he chose to serve St Ali coffee beans in the café’s espresso and milk-based coffees, while Collingwood’s Proud Mary stands in for filter coffee.
Read More“The other day we had a guest who just ordered two oysters,” says Waite, who runs front-of-house at the Castlemaine wine bar and restaurant. “I really love seeing someone come in and choose their speed, whether it’s a drink or a few small plates or a full dinner. We really want to be able to represent that kind of flexibility and be the kind of place people feel comfortable doing their thing.”
Read MoreOn the golden mile of Piper Street, one of the hottest eat streets in Victoria, it sits directly opposite Grist Artisan Bakers, while Parkland bar, Major Tom’s burger joint and Little Swallow Café are just up the road.
Read MoreSpaghetti Bar is a lesson in how Italian food should be done. A love letter from Kyneton to Italy, it celebrates that country’s great gift to the food world as it deserves: simply, with an insouciant sense of style.
Opened by Daniel Whelan on historic Piper Street two years ago, it’s a portal to Rome, or Puglia, or the Veneto, depending on which way the region-hopping menu swings. The fresh ribbons of pappardelle with duck ragu will whisk you straight to Tuscany; the saffron risotto to Milan.
Read More“The idea is that we cater to guests, sure, but we also want to be a place where locals feel comfortable and intrigued enough to visit regularly. We’ll be changing the menu often enough to keep it interesting.”
Read More“Hospitality seems to give me energy rather than take it away. You can feed off the energy of your customers when they’re having a good time.”
Read MoreThe signature dish of chef Steve Rogers and his six-and-a-half-year-old restaurant, it’s something that keeps the regulars coming back, “If I took it off, I’d be run out of town.”
Read MoreLocation counts – sometimes so much that it makes you do unexpected things. That’s how Jen Latta found herself at the end of June throwing open the doors on Daylesford’s newest wine bar and deli.
Read MoreLauren Bieber and Tom Crowe aren’t the only Melbournians who’ve packed up to seek a simpler life steeped in the beauty of Central Victoria. They are unique, however, in being members of the city’s café intelligentsia who’ve brought their skills to the `hood. Part of a wave of smart operators who helped revitalise Melbourne’s café scene into a world leader more than a decade ago, these days you’ll find their skill-set transplanted to a vibrant café on Daylesford’s Vincent Street.
Read More“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.”
Read MoreFittingly for a bar decked out in so much Old World finery it’s like stepping into a portal to an earlier time, Creswick’s newest bar occupies its oldest building. Odessa is the latest iteration of Leaver’s Hotel, the 1852 construction that was the only thing on Alber Street left standing when fire ripped through more than a century ago.
Read MoreLearmonth, population 438, is the kind of Victorian town that most people have never heard of. Once visited, however, it’s impossible to forget.
Around 20 minutes’ drive from Ballarat, this leafy corner of Central Victoria is as pretty as it gets. Broad streets are lined with period beauties and the imposing Lake Learmonth acts as a dramatic backdrop. And once you encounter Café Sidra on the tree-lined main avenue the town’s charm offensive is complete.
Read MoreIt started as a joke. Mitch Duncan and his partner Steve had been coming to Daylesford for several years to visit friends and every time they visited, they’d end up at the Farmers Arms Hotel.
“We loved the feel of the place and it felt like our local, even though we only got there every couple of months,” says Mitch. “It was always a cracker night and we used to say – as you do drunkenly at the end of the bar – if this place ever comes up for sale, we should buy it.”
And then it happened. Four-and-a-half years ago, a friend rang Mitch to tell him the pub was on the market and so he and Steve decided it wasn’t a joke. Suddenly they were publicans.
“We loved the idea of having such an iconic place,” Mitch says. “But we’d never run a hospitality business before. Steve’s a doctor and I’d retired from the automotive industry and had interests in property development. For the first six months we worked there ourselves but realised pretty quickly that it was best for us to get out of the way and concentrate on the business side of the business and let the hospitality professionals, led by long-term team member Megan Evans, do the fantastic job they do.”
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