They’re in charge of some of Australia’s best kitchens, so who better to ask for local intel on where to eat, drink and stock up on provisions than our top regional chefs? From the best bakery on the Bellarine Peninsula to the Daylesford cafe that punches above its weight, here are the top spots to seek out in regional areas, according to those in the know.

Daylesford and surrounds

Aaron Schembri

Kadota, Daylesford

After spells cooking in both Melbourne and at a Michelin three-starred restaurant in Osaka, chef Aaron Schembri returned to his home town with his wife, Risa Kadota, to open a Japanese-inspired fine dining restaurant, which has two hats in the Good Food Guide.

Best coffee: Enki in Daylesford makes exceptional coffee. They really know the craft with a great balance of coffee and delicious local milk. You can also add in some medicinal mushroom extracts made by them. enkidaylesford.com

Best breakfast: Pancho is pretty much unmatched in the area. They’re punching above their weight in terms of quality cooking, with quality ingredients in a cafe environment. panchocafe.com.au

Best wine bar: Bar Midland in Castlemaine – the food is fantastic, the wines are great, and the service is amazing. This is a must-experience! barmidland.com

Best casual meal: The Glenlyon General Store has a great selection of local produce, good food, great staff – they’re one of those local businesses we couldn’t do without. glenlyongeneralstore.com.au

Best food store: Winespeake Cellar and Deli is super casual, super simple and super delicious, with a large variety of wine at your fingertips if you fancy a bottle or two. winespeake.com.au

Best cellar door: Passing Clouds in Musk. My ideal day off is one spent here. I love their wine, food, service – everything is wonderful. passingclouds.com.au

Best farmers’ market: The Daylesford Sunday Market is hardly a secret, but it’s one of my favourite markets week in, week out. We love to go there to get olive oil, honey, soap – literally most of our shopping list is covered. daylesfordsundaymarket.com.au

Best local pub: If I want a pub meal, I head to The Farmers Arms in Daylesford for great steak and a glass of wine. farmersarmsdaylesford.com.au

Best casual lunch: Bistro Terroir fits the brief in terms of atmosphere and food presentation, but it’s also sophisticated, the food is fantastic and the wine is unreal. Owner-chef Matt Carnell has a great selection and he knows his stuff. We couldn’t ask for better neighbours. bistroterroir.com.au

Best bakery: RedBeard in Trentham is just the best. We try to go once a fortnight but usually end up going more often. redbeardbakery.com.au

Mornington Peninsula

Hayden Ellis

Ten Minutes by Tractor, Main Ridge

Having notched up experience at The Fat Duck and The Ledbury in the UK, and at Dinner by Heston Blumenthal in Melbourne, New Zealand-born chef Hayden Ellis now heads the kitchen at winery restaurant Ten Minutes by Tractor.

Best coffee: Laneway Espresso in Dromana opposite the beach is nice and chilled to hang out in, but also does a good takeaway brew. laneway-espresso.com

Best breakfast: You’ll find me most Tuesdays having breakfast at Pier Street Kitchen in Dromana. It’s never cramped or rushed and the food’s great. It’s got a laidback vibe and usually has a bit of old-school hip-hop playing, which I Iike. pierstreetkitchen.com.au

Best wine bar: While I’m more a beer man, The Bodega opened in Dromana about a month ago and has already made its mark with locals. It’s a wine store, bar and deli, so you can grab a bottle to take away or drink in with some charcuterie and olives. It’s a great local addition. thebodega.com.au

Best casual meal: Zero95 in Dromana does awesome wood-fired pizza, which is perfect with a Peroni. There’s also great handmade pasta, and the grilled octopus salad is really good. zero95.com.au

Best food store: Cellar & Pantry in Red Hill is a boutique provedore stocking a range of specialised ingredients, including a good range of vinegars and oils, and a heap of peninsula produce, including Mushroom Forestry gourmet mushrooms. cellarandpantry.com.au

Best for the family: Le Bouchon in Balnarring is an awesome French restaurant. The steak frites with bearnaise is my go-to every time. lebouchon.com.au

Best brewery: I love the brews at Jetty Road in Dromana. There’s a great range and always something new and interesting on tap to try. jettyroad.com.au

Best pub: Occupying prime position across from the beach, Stella’s Dromana Hotel has lots of outdoor seating and a good range of tap beers. It’s a cool spot for an afternoon pint in the sun. 151-163 Point Nepean Road, Dromana

Best bakery: Miller’s Bread in Dromana is amazing. They do a great sausage roll – one of the best around! millersbread.squarespace.com

Best farmgate: There’s always a good range of produce straight from the farm at Torello Farm in Dromana, including a really good selection of meat and local honey. torellofarm.com.au

Geelong and Bellarine Peninsula

Tobin Kent

Moonah, Connewarre

Tobin Kent grew up on the Bellarine Peninsula, and hyper-local produce from the region underpins the menu at Moonah, his award-winning 12-seat restaurant in Connewarre, south of Geelong.

Best coffee: White Hart Coffee Bar in Ocean Grove serves simply the best coffee on the Bellarine. Perfect stop on your way to your morning surf. instagram.com/whitehart_coffeebar

Best breakfast: I got my first job during high school at Starfish Bakery Cafe in Barwon Heads, and it’s always been the place to go for locals. The Squishy roll (fried egg, bacon and herb mayo) and BrieLT panini are my favourites. starfishbakery.com.au

Best wine bar: There’s great wine and bar snacks – and a very knowledgeable team – at Union Cellars in Geelong. unioncellars.com.au

Best casual meal: Roasted Bannockburn free-range chicken with chips and gravy at Chick’n Ranch in Newtown always hits the spot on my day off. They set a good example for fast food by using ethically raised birds – you can taste the difference.

Best food store: Corrine Blacket’s creations at Drysdale Cheeses always have a place on our menu. Her handmade cheeses come from a single herd of Saanen goats. The farmgate shop is no longer open, but the cheese can be found at a few shops in the area, including Ket Baker (see below) and Bellarine Smokehouse. drysdalecheeses.com

Best for the family: Man Bo has the best Chinese food in Geelong. They have a spacious dining room and a great wine list, and with generous servings, it’s always best to bring the whole family. manbo.com.au

Best casual lunch: Hanaya Fusion Cafe in Geelong West is great for mouthwatering ramen or a tonkatsu sando with a Hawaiian spin. A hidden gem. instagram.com/hanaya64elizabeth

Best bakery: You’ll find 100 per cent sourdough with biodynamic wheat and a gorgeous rural setting among the gum trees at Ket Baker in Wallington. I usually go for a plain croissant or creme koek [an eclair-like Belgian pastry]. The use of sourdough gives the pastry a superb natural yeasty flavour, which I love. ketbaker.com.au

Best farmgate: White Fisheries in Drysdale is owned and operated by local fishers with a retail shopfront. Ask for fish they’ve caught themselves and you’ll get the same quality line-caught fish we use at the restaurant – and a taste of the region. whitefisheries.com.au

Secret hangout: I’m always keen to hang out with my old apprentice in the smoking room as he cooks up some of the best Texas barbecue in the state at Wildfire Craft BBQ in Newcomb. Go early to avoid disappointment as they frequently sell out. wildfirecraftbbq.com.au

Beechworth and surrounds 

Michael Ryan

Provenance, Beechworth

One of the jewels of Victoria’s north-east, two-hatted Provenance is run by chef-restaurateur-Japanophile Michael Ryan and his winemaker wife Jeanette Henderson.

Best coffee: The Beechworth Conservatory is an indoor plant store and cafe that does really good coffee. It’s run by a young couple who are graphic designers, so they have cool plant prints for sale, too. thebeechworthconservatory.com

Best breakfast: They do a fantastic ploughman’s at Ploughmans, a cafe, picklery and provedore in Wodonga. It’s a great little spot – if it were in Melbourne it would be packed every day. ploughmans.co

Best wine bar: Project 49 in Beechworth is not a wine bar per se, but it’s a good spot to sit and have a glass of wine and a snack in the afternoon. projectfortynine.com.au

Best casual meal: The pizzas at Bridge Road Brewers are always great – I like the pepperoni and they do a good verdure verde, which is even better if you add anchovy. bridgeroadbrewers.com.au

Best food store: I’m convinced they’re making some of the best cheese in Australia at The Peaks in Bright. The Mountaineer (a semi-hard mountain-style cheese) is fantastic, and the lightly smoked raclette-style cheese is great, too. You can pick up picnic packs from their cheese cellar door. peakscheese.com.au

Best distillery: Along with the gin and koji that he’s been doing for years at Reed & Co in Bright, Hamish Nugent is building a new distillery for sochu, which will be Australia’s first. It’s amazing stuff. reedandcodistillery.com

Best casual lunch: I went to Brown Brothers in Milawa for lunch recently and was really impressed. Chef Bodee Price does a lot of his own fermentation. The dishes were well-balanced and delicious, and the set menu is really good value. brownbrothers.com.au

Best farmgate: Goldfields Greengrocer in Beechworth has access to all the small market gardens in the area and produce from backyards – and they grow their own produce. The stuff in store at the moment is fantastic. instagram.com/goldfieldsgreengrocer

Best local pub: The Stanley Pub is a pretty cool little spot with a great beer garden. stanleypub.com.au

Best bottle shop: Cellar Door Wine Store in Beechworth has a great selection of local wines, but I like the extensive selection of internationals. It’s the best spot in the area for purchasing wine. cellardoorwinestore.com.au

East Gippsland

Mark Briggs

Sardine Dining, Paynesville

British-born chef Mark Briggs moved to Melbourne to join the team at Vue de Monde. He’s since put Paynesville, on the Gippsland Lakes, on the destination-dining map with his seafood-focused fine diner Sardine Dining.

Best coffee: Northern Ground in Bairnsdale is great for coffee and does a good breakfast, too. There’s a beautiful courtyard and it’s a lovely way to start the day here. northernground.com.au

Best breakfast: I worked with Tanya Bertino back in our Vue de Monde days and love visiting her at Long Paddock in Lindenow. It’s a beautiful cafe overlooking the Lindenow Valley, serving no-nonsense, home-style food – go in the morning and you don’t need to eat again for the day! longpaddock.com.au

Best wine bar: There was nowhere really for a glass of wine and some charcuterie or cheese, so we opened our own! Sardine Cantina in Paynesville is our wine store and bar, with more than 150 wines from here and abroad. sardinedining.com.au

Best casual meal: The Local in Metung does terrific wood-fired pizzas – simple toppings done well. They also do the occasional roast night, where you load up your plate and pay by weight. localmetung.com

Best food store: Wholesale bakery Seasalt Sourdough supplies a few places around, including us. You can find their bread at Lucke’s Fresh Food Market in Bairnsdale. seasaltsourdough.com

Best cellar door: Lightfoot Wines has incredible views over the vineyard and Mitchell River valley, which is filled with veg producers. They do a good pinot and the Home Block chardonnay is excellent. lightfootwines.com

Best brewery: They’re always making funky-monkey beers at Sailors Grave in Orbost, but they’re consistently good. I recently tried their new Purple Reign – a beetroot beer with blueberries and vanilla lactose. It was surprisingly good! sailorsgravebrewing.com

Best pub: Sitting on the verandah at the Metung Hotel overlooking the water and boats with a drink in the sun – there’s no better place in Gippsland! metunghotel.com.au

Best for the family: They do a great parma at the Grand Terminus in Bairnsdale, and it’s a good spot to visit with the kids. There are newly renovated rooms upstairs where you can stay, too. grandterminus.com.au

Best deli: The Hunting Ground in Sale is a great little provedore that does really good sandwiches. instagram.com/huntinggrnd