More than just a restaurant: Victoria’s food experiences worth travelling for

If there’s such thing as an embarrassment of riches, then Victoria should be very, very embarrassed. This state has a surfeit of foodie attractions and an interest in gastronomy that stretches far beyond Melbourne’s famously food-obsessed reaches.

There are so many good places to eat in Victoria. Jump in the car from Melbourne and head in any direction and you will run into an excellent restaurant, one that celebrates local produce, that respects seasonality, and puts thought and care into the entire dining experience.

Though your options are many, these are our favourite restaurants worth the journey.

Brae, Birragurra

Brae owner-chef Dan Hunter.

This is Australia’s original destination dining venue, and it’s still the best. Chef Dan Hunter has created an institution at Brae, a model upon which so many future restaurants have been based (often helmed by Hunter’s former cadets), and one that featured in the 2021 World’s 50 Best restaurants list.

Brae is set in Birragurra, near the Great Ocean Road, and much of the produce is either grown on site, or sourced from the local area. There’s beautiful accommodation too, to make a proper event of it. See braerestaurant.com

10 Minutes by Tractor, Mornington Peninsula

The tasting space at Ten Minutes by Tractor.Credit: Katherine Jamison

You should go to 10 Minutes by Tractor, on the Mornington Peninsula, for the food, for sure. This is high-end dining done right, a sprawling menu of mod-Oz cuisine served in a dining room looking across rows of vines and towering gum trees. You will love the food here.

However, that’s not the main reason to drive the hour or so south of Melbourne. The main reason to do that is the 10X wine list, a hefty tome that features one of the finest selections of Burgundy – both white and red – you will find in Australia. See tenminutesbytractor.com.au

Chauncy, Heathcote

Chauncy, Heathcote.Credit: Grace Seow

This is it: the French-style bistro you wish you had at the end of your street, the friendly, homely restaurant where everything is just right: from the service, to the dining room, to the continental cuisine created with local ingredients and absolute dedication.

Chauncy is the work of Louis Naepels and Tess Murray: he is French, and trained in Michelin-starred technique; she is from Melbourne, a sommelier with experience at Supernormal and Cutler & Co. The pair have moved to Heathcote, about an hour and a half north of Melbourne, and created something wonderful. See chauncy.com.au

Moonah, Connewarre

Tobin Kent’s Bellarine restaurant Moonah.Credit: Peter Foster

Moonah is bold, and it’s different. Chef Tobin Kent is swinging hard here, he’s really going for it – and succeeding. This is a 12-seat restaurant with a maximum group size of four. It’s only open three days a week. The meal is a three-hour extravaganza, an intimate affair that features only produce sourced within 200 kilometres of the restaurant.

It is, in other words, exceptional. And popular. If you can snag a booking you will be treated to one of Australia’s best dining experiences. See moonahrestaurant.com.au

Provenance, Beechworth

Beechworth’s Provenance Hotel. Credit: Roberto Seba

Here’s another of Victoria’s original destination dining venues, Michael Ryan’s award-winning Provenance. What began in 2009 as a simple restaurant in a historic building on Beechworth’s main street, has these days become a produce store, a hotel, a tour company, and even a distillery (Ryan’s label, Beechworth Bitters Company, produces a range of aperitifs).

This is the ideal place for a weekend away, where you can stay in comfortable, charming accommodation, enjoy Provenance’s Japanese-leaning cuisine, and soak up the beauty of the Beechworth area. See theprovenance.com.au

Tedesca Osteria, Mornington Peninsula

Brigitte Hafner (right) at Osteria Tedesca.Credit: James Broadway

There are so, so many great places to eat on the Mornington Peninsula. This list could have been made up entirely of Mornington eateries, the likes of Laura, Audrey’s, Martha’s Table, Doot Doot Doot and more. Perhaps the best of them, however, is Tedesca, chef Brigitte Hafner’s ode to classic Italian dining.

Tedesca Osteria is a 30-seat restaurant in leafy Red Hill, where set-menu meals feature the finest local produce, cooked with skill, often over wood fires. Trust us, you want to eat here. See tedesca.com.au

Lake House, Daylesford

The Lake House dining room.

The Lake House isn’t just a restaurant – it’s an experience. It’s a hotel, set on extensive grounds, a place to wander and cocoon yourself. It’s an art studio, once the home of co-founder Allan Wolf-Tasker. It’s a spa, taking advantage of the area’s mineral-rich waters. It’s an infinity pool overlooking the lake. It’s a wedding venue.

And of course, it is also a restaurant, under the guidance of Alla Wolf-Tasker, a fine-diner that takes advantage of its nearby 30-acre Dairy Flat Farm (with onsite sourdough bakehouse), as well as the finest regional produce. It’s no wonder so many Melburnians make the journey. See lakehouse.com.au

Wickens, Dunkeld

The Royal Mail, Dunkeld.Credit: Visit Victoria

Three hours west of Melbourne, the Royal Mail Hotel is the perfect destination for a weekend away, beautiful accommodation that also happens to be the home of Wickens. Here, chef Robin Wickens isn’t exactly reinventing the wheel, focusing on seasonal, local produce, allowing the location to shine. However, he’s doing it extremely well.

The restaurant is only open for dinner three nights a week – be sure to book well in advance. See royalmail.com.au

Hogget Kitchen, Warragul

Gippsland's Hogget Kitchen.Credit: Simon Schluter

Hogget is the work of three passionate, experienced foodies: William Dowie, renowned maker of lo-fi Victorian pinot noir; Trevor Perkins, long-time Warragul cheffing star; and Pat Sullivan, another local and well-known winemaker. Together, they have created a country restaurant where the focus is on high-quality ingredients, used at the right time of year, which are allowed to speak for themselves.

This food is served in a bright, beautiful dining room overlooking the vines at Wild Dog Winery, about an hour and a half out of Melbourne. See hogget.com.au

Chae, Cockatoo

Chae’s Cockatoo kitchen.

The Argentinian dining scene has long had a culture of “puertas cerradas”, or “closed door” restaurants, private eateries often housed in a chef’s home. It’s a great idea, a warm and intimate experience that allows a chef to do exactly what they want – and now, Victoria has one.

Chae is the work of Jung Eun Chae, who serves just six guests at a time in the kitchen and lounge room of her own home. The food is Korean, with a focus on fermentation. The house is in Cockatoo, about 50 kilometres south-east of Melbourne. The experience is like no other. See chae.com.au