About Regional readers love their food and drink, so we’ve assembled our top 24 food and wine stories for 2024. Which ones will you put to the taste test this summer?
24. Hat-trick hero: Merimbula’s Valentina earns Good Food kudos for third year running
by Lucy Ridge
Valentina chef and co-owner Ash Cotter (back row, centre) said he was proud of his team and acknowledged their efforts in earning a Good Food hat for the third consecutive year. Photo: Valentina.
Merimbula has been known for its beautiful beaches, scenic town and gourmet oysters for a long time, but this stretch of the Sapphire Coast is increasingly becoming a foodie paradise. And fine-dining Mediterranean-inspired Valentina is the jewel in its crown.
Ash Cotter, a co-owner and the head chef at Valentina, told Region that the South Coast location provided access to great local produce.
23. Meet the family bringing quality food from local farms right to your door
by Morgan Kenyon
Farm Door Riverina works with suppliers across regional NSW to share nutritious, delicious, ethically sourced meals with families around the country. Photo: Farm Door Riverina.
When this husband and wife team took on a small ready-made meals business in 2016, they never imagined it would blossom into a thriving farm-to-table venture fuelled by passionate local producers.
Having both grown up around good food, Zoe Lamont and Frank Coorey always wanted to start something together that would promote vital nutrition to everyday families in an accessible, authentic way.
What they came up with is now known as Farm Door Riverina. It began with a team of three, which is now 30-strong, working from a custom-built commercial kitchen and packing facility 10 minutes outside of Wagga.
22. Sixth generation farmer now heads up Hilltops Wine
by Edwina Mason
James and Wendy Bowman of Barwang Wines. Photo: Barwang Wines.
Young farmer James Bowman reckons if you’d told him four years ago he’d add viticulture to his farming portfolio, he’d have laughed in your face.
“That wasn’t even on my radar,” he said, “the most I knew about wine was probably Spumante and Passion Pop, even when I walked into a bottle shop I’d pick what was on special.”
When they purchased neighbouring land on the Moppity Road, east of Young, in 2021, the sixth generation farmer and his wife Wendy were starkly aware that about 100 of the 1000 arable acres, mostly upper slopes and crowns of hills, were dedicated to grape-growing.
21. One year on from Le Tres Bon, the region’s busiest restaurateurs are conquering the internet
by Tenele Conway
Christophe Gregoire at his former restaurant Le Tres Bon, in Bungendore. Photo: Supplied.
Having sold up their Bungendore restaurant in late 2023, there was a misconception that restaurateurs Christophe and Josephine were planning on retiring. Far from it, they’re finding new ways to connect with people including live streamed cooking demonstrations from France and tours with celebrity chef Gabriel Gate.
20. ‘Just the right amount’ of award-winning bread at Lagom
by Lucy Ridge
Lagom Bakery has come out on top two years running at the Wollongong Baking Show. Photo: Ola Moszumanska.
Lagom Bakery has had another ripper year at the Wollongong Baking Show, taking out the Champion Loaf of the Show award.
Brinley Kettle and Jon Reeves had both started making and selling sourdough bread during 2020 – Brinley using a friend’s Mollymook restaurant, and Jon from his kitchen at home. They quickly established a following and decided to team up. By the end of the year they’d opened the roller door at their own venue at Burrill Lake.
19. Braidwood-made liqueurs with a taste of citrus win accolades at national awards
by Claire Sams
Navy veteran Gavin Gillin says two wins in national awards prove his distillery is “on the right path” with its liqueurs. Photo: Lucy Ridge.
Next time you’re making some cocktails, think of two liqueurs you may not have planned on reaching for.
At Hold Fast Distillery, Gavin Gillin and his team make craft gin, vodka, liqueurs and whisky out of the historic Braidwood Hotel.
Their yuzucello liqueur was awarded a silver medal, while the limoncello came home with the bronze at the recent Australian Distilled Spirits Awards.
18. Local, seasonal food is on the menu at Scrumpers Kitchen, Bungendore
by Lucy Ridge
Ruth Gaha Morris runs Scrumpers Kitchen at Bungendore. Photo: Lucy Ridge.
The word ‘local’ has become something of an industry buzzword for restaurants, but Ruth Gaha Morris lives and breathes local food. As operations manager for food and farming not-for-profit Southern Harvest Association, Ruth has spent years building connections with farmers and producers in the region.
When her home-based catering business outgrew her kitchen, she decided it was time to open Scrumpers Kitchen: a restaurant serving entirely local, seasonal food to the people of Bungendore.
17. Two Sisters bring the taste of Thailand to Tomakin
by Lucy Ridge
Two Sisters on Wheels is proving equally as popular at Barlings Beach as it is in Canberra. Photo: Supplied.
Canberra restaurant Two Sisters has joined the popular Canberra pilgrimage: it’s headed down the coast!
After nearly three decades of serving customers in the big city, owners – and sisters – Naya and Sisouk Rajbabdith have opened a food van, which is currently stationed at Barlings Beach Holiday Park in Tomakin, south of Batemans Bay.
Two Sisters first opened in Canberra in 1996 and soon expanded, with the Dickson location opening in 1998. Naly and Sisouk took the Laos and Thai recipes they’d learned from their mother and brought them to a Canberra audience.
16. Bungendore’s female butchers are a cut above
by Tenele Conway
Charlotte Edwards, Haylee Laidely and Grace Zorzi: Bungendore’s female butchers. Photo: Tenele Conway.
Bungendore Country Butchery is the kind of place where you can walk in the door, chat with the friendly staff, and get your meat butchered to your preference.
That has remained unchanged for 28 years. What has changed, though, is who you will likely see butchering your meat. This local butchery has on staff three female butchers under the age of 30, and it hasn’t gone unnoticed by the locals.
15. Toast cafe of Pambula brings winning ways to Eden’s beloved Sprout site: Say hello to Toast Eden
by Lisa Herbert
Toast Eden has great frontage and brings fab food and coffee to the town’s main street. Photo: Supplied.
Eden is a beautiful town with a main street that has seen a parade of culinary openings and closings and chef comings and goings over recent times.
Recently the team at popular Pambula cafe Toast saw an opening when Sprout Cafe – the produce driven eatery started by Karen Lott in 2011 – became available.
Ms Lott sold her popular cafe in late 2022, and after only 16 months or so under a couple new to town, seasoned cafe owners Nicky Austin and Ollie Pitcher have stepped in and set up a sister act to their first cafe, Toast Pambula.
14. How French cuttings, grown in Batemans Bay and Cowra, created an Australian oyster marvel
by Marion Williams
Steve Feletti is celebrating his latest win. Photo: David Rogers.
How did Cowra, Canberra and Batemans Bay play a part in an Aussie wine outscoring its French counterpart? And what do oysters have to do with it? Read on.
13. ‘Spooky, dark and gross’ no more: One hundred years and one big renovation of the Candelo General Store and Cafe
by Tenele Conway
The counter and shelves were retrofitted into the Candelo General Store in the 2014 renovation. Photo: Tenele Conway.
With 100 years to its name, the Candelo General Store and Cafe is delivering a cafe experience that’s a far cry from your standard country town affair. Food writer Tenele Conway takes a detour to find Buddha bowls, tropical smoothies and artisan sourdough on the menu.
12. Merimbula’s new Japanese eatery adds flavour to the Far South Coast culinary scene
by Lisa Herbert
Merimbula’s Umiko Izakaya’s ultimate Pork Ramen is deep and comforting. Photo: Lisa Herbert.
Japanese food fans, activate your tastebuds! Lisa Herbert has the good oil on Umiko Izakaya, Merimbula’s new restaurant.
11. From a lockdown idea to sweet treats on a Braidwood street
by Claire Sams
Oscar’s Donuts started with an idea in lockdown. Two years later, the Parsons family prepare sweet treats for all on a Braidwood street. Photo: Oscar’s Donuts Facebook.
It was during a COVID-19 lockdown when Brodie had the idea. Now, years later, his business sits on a leafy Braidwood street and mum Judy says the “trial and error” has well and truly paid off.
10. Brewery in a paddock in the middle of nowhere bubbles with success
by Edwina Mason
Mike Coleman’s interest in brewing beer was ignited in the UK and Germany, then Melbourne where, using a backyard set-up, he experimented with different flavours. Photo: Bulla Creek Brewing Co.
Having a brewery in the middle of a paddock in the middle of nowhere might seem bizarre, but Mike and Steph of Bulla Creek Brewing Co. are proving distance and dirt are no barriers to success.
9. With a twist: Sapphire Coast distillery relaunches gin, now with an Aussie-grown ingredient
by Claire Sams
As North of Eden Artisan Distillery relaunches one of its award-winning gins, an Australian-grown product has joined the ingredients list. Photo: David Rogers Photography.
A partnership between two regional businesses is bearing fruit (and bringing a new taste to an award-winning gin) as a South Coast distillery makes a switch to an Australian-grown product. Here’s what the exciting union means for gin lovers.
8. Fifty years of fresh donuts keep customers coming back
by John Thistleton
Natalie Gray offers more than 30 flavours but chocolate, strawberry, vanilla and caramel remain the Donut Shop’s top sellers – although pineapple-flavoured donuts are showing promise. Photo: John Thistleton.
Mention Russell Lane to any long-term Goulburn resident and they will smell and taste warm fresh donuts. John Thistleton tells us why.
7. Australia’s Oyster Coast launches new brand, Oystersmiths
by Albert McKnight
Australia’s Oyster Coast CEO Devin Watson was excited about the launch of Oystersmiths. Photo: David Rogers Photography.
A new consumer brand, Oystersmiths, has been launched by the NSW South Coast-based producer Australia’s Oyster Coast (AOC).
AOC, which also owns Appellation Oysters, is the country’s largest producer of food-grade rock oysters and launched the new brand partly to promote oysters as a healthy and sustainable seafood choice.
6. Changing places at Lush Cafe as Nepalese chefs begin first venture
by John Thistleton
Having worked their way through the ranks of hotels, cafes and restaurants in Sydney, Canberra and Goulburn, Krishna Bhandari and Basanta Regmi are taking over the Lush Cafe and Bar in Goulburn. Photo: John Thistleton.
Two highly experienced chefs have taken over Lush Cafe and Bar in Goulburn.
Both have similar journeys in the Australian restaurant and cafe industry as the current owners of Lush, Rajan Gurung and Raj Acharya, who have purchased the Pavilion Cafe in Clifford Street.
Rajan and Raj have opened the former Pavilion as the Bluebird Cafe and Bar.
5. Enjoy local seafood fresh off the boat at the Punt House, Batemans Bay
by Lucy Ridge
The Punt House features stunning outdoor dining. Photo: Jonah Pearson.
When the new bridge construction started at Batemans Bay, it spelled the end of an institution. On The Pier restaurant – in the shadow of the bridge – was closed for the duration of the construction. But now the space has reopened with a fresh creative direction and a name that pays homage to the building’s origins: The Punt House.
The previous restaurant On The Pier was partly owned by Alan Imrie, who is leading the new venture with wife Alison Miers. The pair have spent the past couple of years renovating the old building.
4. Here’s cheers to Captains Flat ‘original’ for buying historic village pub
by Sally Hopman
Sharanne Witt behind the bar of the Captains Flat Hotel, which she has just taken over. Photo: Sally Hopman.
Sharanne Witt has always had a connection to Captains Flat.
She can claim to be a local because she was born there, but the “and bred” bit, not so much. A month after she was born, the mines closed and her family moved away.
It could have been the end of the village, about an hour’s drive southeast of Canberra, when the mines closed in the 1960s. The thousands of miners who patronised the pub after their shifts were no more.
3. New owner rolls on in to take over popular historic cafe at Bowning
by Sally Hopman
New owner of the Rollonin Cafe, David Gargett, with manager Vikkii Wallis, at the Bowning business near Yass. Photo: Sally Hopman.
David Gargett first experienced the beauty of the Yass Valley back in 1977 when, as a PhD student, he studied how the managerial ability of graziers could be measured.
Now he has returned to the Valley, but this time in quite the opposite of roles – as the new owner of the historic Rollonin Cafe just off the Hume Highway at Bowning.
It was, he said, both a business and lifestyle decision to take on the cafe which had been run by Renata Ryan and her late husband Tony for almost 20 years.
2. Tumut River Brewing Co to reopen after former staff buy up
by Lucy Ridge
Mary Richmond and Michael Cichoki have bought the brewery. Photo: Michael Cichoki.
Beer lovers were sad to hear the news of Tumut River Brewing Co’s closure in September 2024 but there’s good news on the horizon! Two former staff members – Michael Cichoki and Mary Richmond – have bought the business back from the liquidators.
Speaking with Region, Michael Cichoki said that he wants to “walk before we run” and return the focus of the business to their Tumut Brewpub.
“I was one of the first employees when they opened the doors as a tourism destination,” he told Region.
1. From Lush to the Pavilion, cafe owners reveal latest venture for Goulburn
by John Thistleton
Raj Acharya and his two-year-old son Aahansh, Raj’s wife Sabita, Sunita Gurung nursing Aarshvi, Raj and Sabita’s one-month-old daughter and Rajan Gurung and his two-year-old son Rhys, outside the Pavilion Cafe in Clifford Street Goulburn. The owners of Lush Cafe have bought the Pavilion and will open on 9 December under the Bluebird Cafe and Bar. Photo: John Thistleton.
Enterprising owners of Lush Cafe and Bar in Goulburn have bought the Pavilion Cafe and will begin running it as the Bluebird Cafe and Bar.
The Pavilion opened in November last year, on the site of the former Greengrocer Cafe and Cyclery in Clifford Street which had gone into voluntary liquidation following the tragic death of owner Con Toparis.
The Pavilion’s new owners, Rajan Gurung and Raj Acharya, met in the kitchen of the Paragon Cafe in Goulburn about three years ago, formed a business partnership centred on their extraordinary work ethic and are about to begin their third dining venture.
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