Sydney Eat Street: Experience culinary delights at Orange F.O.O.D Week
It is food and wine week every day in Orange, but come early April the best of the season is celebrated in grand style over 10 days with a full line-up of foodie events to suit every taste.
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It is food and wine week every day in Orange, but come early April the best of the season is celebrated in grand style over 10 days with a full line-up of foodie events to suit every taste.
Orange F.O.O.D (Food of Orange District) Week runs from Friday, April 5 to Sunday, April 14.
Take a tour of the area’s best eateries right here with The Sunday Telegraph’s Eat Street. Are you hungry for more inspiration? Follow us on Instagram.
For a chance to feature your food picture in The Sunday Telegraph, tag #SydneyEatStreet.
BORRODELL VINEYARD
At the top of Borrodell’s Vineyard is a sweeping view of the Towac Valley and a stellar restaurant featuring the bounty sourced from this vast estate.
The real draw is the gregarious husband-wife team Borry and Gaye Gartrell.
Not only do they grow and make wine and ciders from cool climate grapes and apples (more than 200 apple varieties), they also host truffle hunts and seasonal apple and cherry picking walks.
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The abundance of Borrodell’s fresh produce and regional products is the inspiration behind respected chef, Richard Learmonth’s menu which includes smoked fish and meat from the adjacent smokehouse, fresh vegetables and soon, their own farm-grown yabbies.
If you can’t make it up to the restaurant, Richard will be headlining the Autumn Grazing Dinner at Carrington Park, Blayney on Monday, 8 April.
Be sure to say hi to Borry and Gaye. They’re probably the ones dancing off in the corner.
— 298 Lake Canobolas Rd, Orange
THE AGRESTIC GROCER AND CAFE
Agrestic means “rural and rustic” and while this former cold storage space, furnished and decorated with repurposed woods may seem rough and rustic at first sight, it is a showcase of the best of what Orange has to offer.
“We act as sort of conduit between agriculture and consumer,” owner Lucas Martin said.
The Agrestic Grocer is divided into two spaces, one a retail outlet for local products ranging from hazelnut dukkah and lemon preserves to regional wines, beers and ciders.
The other is the cafe, which features the fruit and veg available during each season, such as one of Lucas’ favourite creations, The Cellar Cake with anjou pears poached in shiraz, a malt biscuit base made with ale malt from Badlands and a rich curd from The Second Mouse Cheese Company.
“If we get amazing things in the shop we have to use in the cakes,” Lucas said.
“It tells the story of the shop.”
So, for an even longer tale, try the Ploughman’s Board, you’re sure to find plenty of stories there as well.
— 426 Molong Rd, Orange
RACINE
After accolades, hatted-restaurants and restaurant openings throughout Europe, Shaun and Wills Arantz moved back to Orange to lay down some “roots”, which fittingly translate to Racine in French.
As well as French cooking with local ingredients, Shaun also inspires the next generation of chefs through such initiatives at Racine’s Training Nights.
Once a week, Shaun presents to his apprentices some fresh ingredients and it is up to them to produce a degustation dinner on par with his dishes, such as burrata with kale and local hazelnuts.
Or intricate desserts that just melt in your mouth with an explosion of flavour.
To no one’s real surprise though, Shaun, in the evenings, took on bread and pastry making as a side project but enjoyed it enough to expand the range and open a bakery.
Now in addition to his organic based sourdough, you can pick up one of his coveted croissants, cinnamon scroll, rhubarb tarts in town.
Seems like Shaun and Willa aren’t quite done ticking off those boxes.
— 42 Lake Canobolas Rd
ROSS HILL WINES
Red wine with steak, white wine with fish. But what about the best drop to complement the local hazelnuts or arbequena olives and olive oil?
For those intrigued by the potential pairings, head to family-owned winery, Ross Hill Wines to visit their rustic chic cellar door and order a tasting plate with wine flight for two people ($40).
Served on a sleek ceramic platter along with “tasting notes” you’ll get samples of local products starting from their own olives matched with a pour of sauvignon blanc up to the bresaola, a rich beef that goes beautifully with their cabernet sauvignon.
Take the whole experience one step further and sign up for a cooking class at their own school of wine and food, Barrel & Larder.
“At the heart of it, we love good wine, and we love pairing good wine with food,” Ross Hill Wines co-owner, James Robson, said.
A highlight of Orange Food Week will be a French cooking class at the school with hatted-chef Michael Manners held on Saturday, April 13.
Ross Hill also offers winery tours at 10am, which give you the opportunity to witness the production of Australia’s only NCOS certified carbon-neutral winery.
— 134 Wallace Lane, Orange
THE BEEKEEPERS INN
For Mark Lockwood, honey is in the genes. Considering the family has more than 7000 hives in NSW and Victoria, this gives head chef, Kaitie Baker, a lot to work with for the breakfast and lunch menu.
Starting with just one hive 40 years ago, patriarch Grant Lockwood laid the groundwork not just for honey production but also an onsite brewery, 1859 Brewing Co (the year that the farm was founded) where Mark makes handcrafted beers.
For Katie that’s a win.
“Our own pure Australian Honey and 1859 Ale are just two of the incredible flavours I enjoy utilising in my dishes and I’m lucky enough to have unlimited supplies of both,” she said.
This lovely location also sports a chic rustic event space suited to intimate gatherings and weddings, an antique shop and an outlet to sample and purchase their honey and ale.
— 2319 Mitchell Hwy, Vittoria
MUST TRY
PIZZA AND BRUSCHETTA
The rooftop of this former RSL has been transformed from generic to genuinely impressive with a massive overhaul that’s opened up the eating areas and planted an expansive garden.
While the large space has distinct areas, it’s still relaxed and roomy enough to maintain that send of community at the heart of any local club.
Here you’ll find a menu that showcases from and wine from the Central West region along with ingredients taken straight from the garden.
Try their farm fresh bruschetta with a lamb and pumpkin pizza along with one of the many local beer and wines.
— The Greenhouse of Orange, Rooftop bar; 44 Sale St, Orange
CHARRED KITCHEN & BAR
Inspiration can come at any time and for head chef Liam O’Brien that’s often out on weekend walks with his wife and daughter.
One dish in particular is his inventive dessert, The Magic Caramel Mushroom which came to him after a day of mushroom hunting with the family.
Made with local hazelnuts, chocolate and raspberry glaze, it’s the perfect ending to any one of the entree and main dishes such as the fire-roasted beetroot and goats cheese or charred lamp rump that have been treated to a stint with their wood and charcoal oven (which is appropriately named Lucifer or Lucy for short).
— 1-5 New St, Orange
BYNG STREET LOCAL STORE
While a great cup of coffee may lure you into this sun-drenched cafe along a sleepy leafy street, local and visitors alike will tell you it’d be a sin to pass on dishes from market-fresh menu.
“We serve up classic cafe with a modern twist,” chef Chris Tudor, formerly of gourmet butchery Victor Churchill, said.
“It’s simple food done well.”
Of particular note is his housemade apple-cider sausage with a rainbow slaw. Be sure to bring a friend, as you won’t want to pass on the smashed avo with smashed avo with roasted pumpkin and goat curd, or the refreshing Coconut tapioca pudding with peaches and crumbed gingerbread. All with coffee of course.
— Byng Street Local Store, 47 Byng Street Orange
CROISSANTS AND PASTRIES
Flaky layers on outside, moist and slightly stretchy when pulled apart and most of all, just enough butter to make them finger-licking good.
That is what co-owner Shaun Arantz, also of Racine restaurant, deems as the mandates for the perfect croissant and judging by the queue first thing the morning have the same thought.
— Racine Bakery; 166 Summer St, Orange
Originally published as Sydney Eat Street: Experience culinary delights at Orange F.O.O.D Week
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