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15 Farm To Table Dining Experiences For Adventurous Foodies

Harvest Newrybar offers one of the most unique dining experiences, farm to table dining

Nowadays when we visit our favourite restaurants and cafes, we expect to know where our food comes from. As interest in sustainability soars, the restaurant trend towards farm to table dining has grown so popular it’s quickly becoming the benchmark.

Many urban restaurants and cafes now proudly source their producer from on-site gardens or nearby community farms. Unsurprisingly, Australia’s regional areas are home to some of the country’s must-visit foodie trails.

For emerging and seasoned chefs, the proximity to farm fresh produce and charm of regional Australia has put farm to table dining on the map. We’ve rounded up our top picks for regional restaurants offering farm to table dining experiences, so you can start planning your next regional adventure.

Farm To Table Dining In New South Wales

Paper Daisy, Cabarita Beach

Paper Daisy Cabarita Beach is one of the top farm to table restaurants on the NSW north coast

Sitting roughly halfway between Surfers Paradise and Byron Bay, Halcyon House at Cabarita Beach is where you’ll find the award-winning Paper Daisy. Executive chef Ben Devlin, 2014 young chef of the year, has helmed the seaside restaurant since it opened, taking Paper Daisy to two-hat status in the process with his ‘sophisticated simplicity’ focusing on producers in the region.

Pipeclay, Mudgee

Pipeclay in Mudgee is a regional farm to table dining experience

An acclaimed wine region, it won’t come as much surprise to learn that Mudgee also does pretty well for itself in the food stakes. Pipeclay Pumphouse owner and chef, Andy Crestani, is all about nurturing the land for his paddock-to-plate menu. Located at the Robert Stein Vineyard, you’re as likely to spot free-range pigs grazing as you are to catch the grape harvest.

Harvest, Newrybar

Harvest Newrybar offers one of the most unique dining experiences

If you’re a food and wine enthusiast, you’ll want to head out to Harvest in Newrybar. A short ride from Byron Bay, the restaurant, bakery and deli showcases the diversity of the wonderful local region.  The restaurant and cafe within the trees is perfect for a weekend long-lunch or a getaway with friends.

With an award-winning wine menu showcasing all the favourite local drops and farm to table ethos, Harvest will surely prove why it’s one of the most unique dining experiences on the NSW north coast.

Farm To Table Dining In Victoria

Wickens at Royal Mail Hotel, Dunkeld

Wickens at Royal Mail Hotel offers regional Farm to table dining

Serving a five or eight course menu harvested from the 1.2-hectare kitchen garden, Wickens is all about involving diners in their meal. No matter where you’re seated, you’re afforded a view of the kitchen, even more so if you choose the chef’s table right in the heart of the action. Alternatively, turn your attention to the stunning mountain vista of the southern Grampians.

Provenence, Beechworth

Provenance Beechworth offers a farm to table dining menu

Head over the NSW border from Albury into north-west Victoria and you’ll soon hit Beechworth. Inside a former bank building built during the gold rush, you’ll find Provenence, the creation of husband and wife Michael Ryan and Jeanette Henderson. Ryan hones local, seasonal produce into a menu that reflects his fascination with the techniques and tastes of Japan.

Brae, Birregurra

Brae in Birregurra

A couple of kilometres outside the village of Birregurra (population 828) in the Ottway hinterland sits Brae. Regenerative techniques are employed to ensure the organic hillside farm will continue providing well into the future. The olive grove supplies the oil, free-range chickens provide eggs and the honey comes from Brae’s own bee colony. Guests are encouraged to stay and interact with the land in their zero-emission suites, each with a skylight for stargazing.

Ezard at Levantine Hill

Ezard at Levantine Hill is a unique farm to table dining experience

After enthralling Melbourne’s hospitality scene for over 20 years with dining institutions like Ezard and Gingerboy, Teage Ezard’s most recent venture is something of a tree change in both flavour and locale.

The Asian influences of his earlier restaurants step aside for a classic European sensibility, surrounded by the vineyards of Levantine Hill rather than the high rises of the CBD.

Farm To Table Dining In Queensland

Homage, Grandchester

Homage is a truly farm to table dining - Grandchester, Queensland Australia

In the Lockyer Valley in the south east of the state, Homage stakes a claim to being ‘hyper-local’. With 12,000 acres of farmland to keep the pantry stocked, head chef Ash Martin is committed to a paddock-to-plate philosophy. Anything he can’t grow for himself, he’ll source from the neighbours.

NuNu, Palm Cove

NuNu Palm Cove offers fine dining serving locally sourced produce

In typically laidback Queensland fashion, NuNu describes itself as barefoot luxury. Set on the beachfront under a grove of palm trees, you can see why. The tropical setting, looking across the Coral Sea, is the inspiration for the food. The menu pays tribute to the tropics of far north Queensland with dishes like reef bug schnitzel.

Spirit House, Yandina

Spirit House

Speaking of tropical paradise, Spirit House is as close to idyllic as you could hope for. Step into the leafy lagoon-side jungle setting and you begin to be transported to South East Asia. The modern Thai menu finishes the job with produce from local farmers and fishing fleets.

Farm To Table Dining In Tasmania

The Agrarian Kitchen Eatery, New Norfolk

The Agrarian Kitchen Eatery, New Norfolk, offers farm to table dining

Inhabiting a former mental asylum, don’t be fooled by the clean white walls of the Agrarian Kitchen Eatery. The produce from local farmers (and their own farm and cooking school) is said to still have dirt on it when it arrives in the kitchen. Whole carcasses hang, waiting to be trimmed to order. Food is cooked over flame in the woodfired oven, grill and hot-smoker, made using bricks from the building.

Farm To Table Dining In South Australia

Line & Label, Port Lincoln

Line & Label, Port Lincoln

Harvesting food daily from the gardens and orchards around the 24-acre estate of Peter Teakle Wines vineyard, Line & Label crafts dishes designed to showcase the best produce from the Eyre Peninsula. So you could well find fresh oysters from nearby Coffin Bay or the snout of an ocean jacket fish on the menu, updated by Executive chef Josh Harris every six weeks.

Farm To Table Dining In Western Australia

Cape Lodge, Yallingup

Cape Lodge, Yallingup

The Margaret River region isn’t exactly wanting for incredible food and wine. If you’re looking to get your hands greasy, opt for the monthly cooking class at Cape Lodge, followed by a long table lunch (or visit for lunch only if you don’t fancy yourself as much of a cook). The Sunday chef harvest dinner brings together local and estate grown ingredients.

Northern Territory

Pee Wee’s at the Point, Fannie Bay

Pee Wee’s at the Point, Fannie Bay offers farm to table dining fromn locally sourced produce

Having been around for the best part of two decades, Pee Wee’s is something of a Top End institution by now. The waterfront reserve was once a naval camp and the award-winning kitchen is all about NT’s best ingredients, like wild caught saltwater barramundi.

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