Colin Barker is only days away from opening Megalong Restaurant, and he still hasn’t settled on a menu. The former head chef at The Boathouse on Blackwattle Bay doesn’t have to worry about produce, with the luxury of a sprawling Lot 101 at his disposal outside his kitchen door.

“The menu is a day-to-day proposition, depending on what’s in the coolroom and the garden. We’ve got two beef cattle swinging, there are 100 lambs on the property, 90 fruit trees and 130 olive trees. Eventually, we’ll produce five times more than the restaurant can consume,” he says.

Megalong Restaurant opens on April 13, but Easter visitors to the Blue Mountains can get an early taste of some of the Lot 101 produce at the historic tearoom in Megalong, which Baker also oversees.

The 50-seat Megalong Restaurant slides into the former homestead Barker jokes was “held together by mould and nicotine” before its restoration. Shirking an a la carte for a fixed menu of “five or six courses” ($185 a head), it’ll open Thursday to Saturday for dinner, but will be prime turf for visitors to the Valley searching out a mega long weekend lunch.

Barker cites “Kristina Stefanova and her husband”, the duo behind Lot 101 and its restaurant, as his partners in the venture. “They are both heavily involved and very passionate,” he says.

The chef might not have yet nailed his opening menu, but he’s been trialling beef short rib with borlotti beans and bullhorn peppers as well as a potato and leek soup with a poached Lot 101 egg on top. In a nod to his Boathouse days, he’s also playing around with Murray cod.

“The spaghetti squash is looking amazing, we have plenty of cavolo nero, and there are seven varieties of spuds,” he says.

If you don’t get to the restaurant, there’s always the farm gate.

Open dinner Thu-Sat; lunch Sat-Sun

3-7 Peach Tree Road, Megalong Valley, megalongrestaurant.com.au