This year, Yarra Valley local Joel Alderdice will fulfil a long-held dream to open his own restaurant where he grew up, departing his current post as head chef of hatted TarraWarra Estate to establish Emerald City, a tiny restaurant at the back of Healesville bar Cavanagh’s Whisky and Alehouse.

Past the rows of whisky bottles and behind a green velvet curtain, diners will find a four-seat chef’s counter where Alderdice will cook and serve diners in two sittings a night.

The restaurant is a much more intimate scale than Alderdice’s current gig, where he might cook for 70 diners at a time at lunch.

“I’m super pumped up to interact a bit more with the guests,” he says.

The idea for the restaurant came about after the chef was speaking to Cavanagh’s owners Brendan and Kate Cavanagh about adding food to their whisky bar. Realising they had a decent rangehood and room for a kitchen, the trio decided that they could open a style of venue that Healesville was lacking.

“We’re about 85 per cent local customers already,” says Brendan Cavanagh. “A lot of people are saying this [restaurant] is what the town needs.”

Alderdice, who has cooked at Bar Liberty, Medhurst Winery and TarraWarra, will be preparing tasting menus of 14 to 20 dishes at Emerald City, with the main throughline being Yarra Valley produce.

Gougeres will be filled with local cheese, Unearthed Mushrooms from Monbulk will be cooked tempura-style and produce from Timbarra Farm will feature heavily. Alderdice may even do a snack-sized version of his stunning “rainbow trout” dish from TarraWarra: Buxton trout bedazzled with finger lime, local salmon roe, spherified Four Pillars shiraz gin and more.

He will also introduce a small bar menu at Cavanagh’s. “I’m thinking about some really nice pies, maybe Guinness and wagyu beef shin, or buffalo chicken, or roo tail, to match with the different countries the whiskys are from.”

While Cavanagh’s will be handling drinks for Emerald City, the list will include a few cocktails designed especially for the restaurant, plus whisky pairings, non-alcoholic pairings and mixed pairings that cover everything from sherry to wine. Barrique Wine Shop, across the road, have offered some of their reserve bottles, too.

The name is a reference to the mythical city in The Wizard of Oz. “There’s the moment when it goes from black and white to colour – that surprise, that hidden wonder. And there’s also the “no place like home” thing and me always wanting to do something in the Yarra Valley,” explains Alderdice.

Emerald City will open in March.

207 Maroondah Highway, Healesville, instagram.com/emeraldcity.healesville