Learmonth, 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.”
Read MoreIt might come as a surprise to learn that Alla Wolf-Tasker, the one-woman revolution who created Daylesford’s iconic Lake House out of a weedy paddock more than 30 years ago, has anything left on her to-do list.
But despite running the lauded restaurant along with its boutique accommodation and spa, its sibling Wombat Hill House café and being an all-round champion of central Victoria - with the Order of Australia to prove it - Wolf-Tasker still longed for the authenticity of her own freshly-baked bread.
“It was a dream of mine to offer a larger variety of good bread to our guests at Lake House but our kitchens were operating to capacity,” she says. “With the Bake House we’ll be able to produce slow-fermented sourdough breads as well as beautifully laminated croissants, viennoiserie, donuts, breakfast buns and all sorts of deliciousness.”
Read MoreKathryn Russack cooks with the practised skill of decades in the kitchen and the flair of someone born to the job. Watching her in the kitchen at Colenso, her European-leaning restaurant on Kyneton’s High Street, is a masterclass in deftness and control. And deliciousness.
“Handmade modern” is the way she describes her food as she hands over a plate of pea fritters with a thick dollop pf crème fraiche bejewelled with salmon roe. “Very ingredient based; I’ve got it down to how many trips I have to make to the plate. I never jump the shark.”
Read MoreYou could say Johnny Baker is a stage name. It’s the alter ego of John Stekerhofs, professional chef, self-taught patissière and all-round
bon vivant. It’s also the name of the singular, bustling coffee stop and pastry heaven he’s run in the heart of Castlemaine since 2015.
Hidden at the rear of the Newnorthern Art Hotel, near the Castlemaine Botanic Gardens – look for the de rigueur small sign pointing the way, or just follow your nose - is where you’ll find the always-pumping Johnny Baker. It’s colonised the old drive-through bottle shop, where coffee and cakes have replaced champagne and chardonnay. And if the words “drive through” don’t strike you as the food world’s
Read MoreTim Foster has learned the ways of Central Victoria in his five years running leading Kyneton restaurant Source Dining. Some days he turns up to work to find fresh produce left at the kitchen door – figs, sometimes, or maybe quince or lemons. “We won’t know who has left it. until a local is in having a meal and they’ll say, ‘Did you get that box I left for you?” he says. “It’s really lovely.”
There’s a delightful synchronicity that Foster finds himself embedded in a community upholding the old-fashioned food values. The promise of such a life is what originally lured him and wife Michelle to the area in 2013. “We grew up in South Australia – Coonawarra born and bred - but loved how the food scene in Victoria was so active and vibrant.”
Read MoreDaylesford’s Farmers Arms Hotel is the type of character-filled, friendly pub that every country town wishes it had - and which dozens of metro pubs have tried try to emulate. The beautiful red brick building, complete with red geraniums in window boxes, gilt sign-writing on windows and clipped hedge houses the quintessential character filled bar.
Read More“I love the flavour and texture of small, new potatoes,” she says. “But they are something that you just can’t buy.”
Read More“When you are part of a community you are part of something bigger…”
Read MoreTammi Jonas is both the farmer and butcher, but she wants you to eat less meat. She also wants you to eat better meat…
Read MoreKazuki Tsuya spends his spare time exploring the forests around Daylesford. Quietly spoken and profoundly observant this Japanese born chef…
Read MoreIt is early morning and the weeds in the laneway leading to RedBeard Bakery in Trentham are covered in frost…
Read MoreLiam Thornycroft was 10 years old when he started work at Cliffy’s Emporium in Daylesford. Seventeen years later he has returned to town and bought the old store and café…
Read MoreFrank and Connie Gianiotis were Caliopi Buck’s late grandparents. Born in Greece they were an integral part her upbringing…
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Read MoreThere is a butcher out the back in the kitchen of The Farmers Arms Hotel in Creswick. He is also a chef...
Read More“This place is going to look after me and my customers for the rest of my cheffing days”
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