Brae

Local, seasonal: the mission is sacrosanct, and it’s quite literally Brae’s bread and butter. Sourdough comprises two flours – one grown on-site and milled in-house – plus miso made of loaves past. Butter? Snow-white cream from nearby Timboon inoculated with a camembert culture for dazzling tartness.

Guests draw warmth from the fire as owner-chef Dan Hunter charms the property’s harvest into an affecting tasting menu. The 77 components in Brae’s flagship salad are picked just outside the window. Some manifest in tinctures, others are simply cut with caring hands and arranged to exhibit their purity.

Venison is smoked lightly, plated simply and eats tenderly, and a nostalgic riff on sport’s half-time orange makes extraordinary use of sweet pumpkin juice and cacao nibs. The room gathers more local art by the day, the service is as generous as ever. Is this Brae’s most charming season yet?

Good to know: Say yes to everything: a pairing (alcoholic, non-alcoholic, somewhere in between), a mid-meal garden stroll, an extra slice of bread.

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