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I’ve been at Gateway for about a minute when my doubts about the authenticity of its farm-to-table promise are dispelled. The setting is a steamy hydroponic growing shed with leggy tomato plants lined up into the distance. Chef Kristopher Sharples walks by with a bowl of cherry tomatoes and a handful of herbs, heading to his restaurant kitchen. The fresh-picked produce appears about 15 minutes later on my roasted cauliflower salad in the casual dining room.

It’s the country eating dream, so long as your bucolic vision encompasses the dirt-free, pipe-heavy world of hydroponics. Sure, I’ve driven an hour from Melbourne to be here but my luncheon’s own food miles are way down.

Open since October 2022, Gateway is a multi-purpose food hub where people can come to do their shopping, some of it picked with their own hands. A punnet of strawberries costs $7 to pluck, a little tub of herbs is $5. There are edible plants in pots to purchase: mizuna, coriander and basil await your dinner plans.

If you want to eat in, chef Sharples’ lunch menu features at least some estate-grown produce.

Gateway tomatoes are turned into the sauce that’s served with the satisfying beef sausage roll and home-grown capsicums appear in the sweet-tart caraway-inflected sauce that accompanies plump prawns.

It’s the country eating dream, so long as your bucolic vision encompasses the dirt-free, pipe-heavy world of hydroponics.

The owner of this ambitious development is Wallace, a corporation that says it’s focused on solving society’s big issues of housing, food, energy and health. On the land behind Gateway, they’re building “smart homes” – automated, quick to build and transportable. They also work in health data and diagnostics; products include a COVID test.

This is Wallace’s first hospitality venture and it feels idealistic but perhaps not entirely realised. Growing produce for food service is complex – sending 600 kilograms of tomatoes to the kitchen on one day isn’t always useful – though a work in progress is better than no work at all.

In the meantime, the food is very good: simple, approachable and more or less Mediterranean.

House-made flatbread is on hand to scoop up spiced ground lamb that’s spooned over hummus.

Beef rib is slow-braised overnight until it’s sticky and fall-apart tender then served with sweet carrot puree. It’s an accomplished restaurant dish and keen value at $28.

There’s more to come, too: a wood-fired oven will be cranked up for pizza and as the produce journey is streamlined, more home-grown vegetables will find their way to the menu.

Even in these early days, the Gateway set-up is energising and idea-generating. In the grocery store, pumpkin and watermelon are cut to order rather than languishing in pre-portioned plastic. In the growing shed, beneficial insects are brought in to manage pests.

Gateway hasn’t exactly solved any pressing food issues yet but it’s posing important questions: why don’t we do things differently?