6 Regional RCA Winning Restaurants to Put on Your Road Map

As we continue on our delicious drive around the country discovering the plethora of Readers’ Choice Award-winning venues, let’s take a look at those restaurants leading the kitchen charge in their region.

Here are six to put on your culinary road map:

Dine, sip and meet overlooking the idyllic pool at FABRIC Restaurant and Bar on Olive Street in Albury. Nestled in the Mercure Hotel, this restaurant delivers fresh, fun and seriously good food to those on the road and locals looking to linger over breakfast or dinner in trendy surrounds; from a seasonal menu showcasing local produce.

 

Expect fresh and flavoursome dishes such as Asian pork belly bites with sticky ponzu sauce, fresh chilli and fried onion to start; then delve into prawn linguine with fresh tomato salsa, fine herbs, garlic, red onion, spinach, fresh chilli, marinara sauce and Parmesan.

Sit back and relax in CMWV Resort Restaurant, the only restaurant with an uninterrupted view of Cradle Mountain. Nestled inside Cradle Mountain Wilderness Village Resort, this stylish restaurant serves some of the best local produce alongside Tasmania’s finest beverages in rustic surrounds of a stacked stone fireplace, wooden beamed ceilings, comfy booths and intimate tables.

 

Select from a seasonal menu offering starters like flash-fried calamari, spiced with salt, lime and aioli; followed by memorable mains such as Tassie West Coast salmon, duck fat roasted potatoes, asparagus and caper butter sauce.

Offering up a taste of some of Daylesford’s freshest produce combined with smooth sophistication and elegant style is Chef Hat-awarded Sault on Ballan Daylesford Road. Views are abundant and inspiring with the restaurant taking in 180-degree vistas of the surrounding lake, lavender fields and forest.

 

Head Chef, Jack Powlay creates seasonal delights with produce from the onsite gardens and the results shine in starters of beef tartare, cheese, radish, preserved lime and egg yolk; while mains of duck breast, baby beetroot, amaranth, blackberry and young pine oil always entice.

Set inside a charming heritage Queenslander on Limestone Street sits The Cottage Restaurant, an Ipswich establishment for delectable cuisine in distinctive surrounds. Once a home, converted bedrooms now serve as thoughtfully appointed dining spaces giving a touch of seclusion warmed by fireplaces, with extra room available out on a verandah, enjoyed best at dusk.

 

Find seasonal and local cuisine with a Mediterranean influence, perhaps savouring an entrée of quail ballotine, chestnuts and cauliflower; then salivate over venison semi-dried tomato Wellington, caponata and bell pepper reduction.

Serving hungry and thirsty locals for almost 150 years, Tinamba Hotel on Tinamba Seaton Road is one of Gippsland’s finest dining destinations. From the first-class ambience of the dining room, lounge and conservatory, to the relaxed atmosphere in the Amba Bar and outdoor verandah, this hotel exudes country hospitality to all who enter.

 

Using the finest, locally grown produce and working with the most talented Chefs in the region, expect to find starters such as char-grilled lamb cutlets, chilli jam and Tinamba salad; moving onto pork sirloin, spinach, peach, wild fennel and pork jus.

Those seeking seafood and paella in Cowes head along Thompson Avenue to find Fig & Olive restaurant. This Mod Oz eatery with a European twist welcomes guests with an oasis of hanging and potted greenery in an alfresco courtyard creating a relaxing spot for enjoying a glass of wine after spending the day exploring.

 

Indoors, tantalising aromas waft from the wood-fired oven as hungry diners contemplate tempters like New England-style seafood chowder, before rump steak, cooked your way, topped with garlic prawns and Moreton Bay bugs, with lobster bisque.