For about the last four years as an annual getaway and my birthday celebration, the Quality Controller, boys and I choose a region to visit and discover the local produce and foodie things of the area.
We aim to taste and buy produce familiar to the region to stash in the pantry or freezer, or eat as our meals over the weekend.
This year we concentrated on the Bendigo and Harcourt area of country Victoria.
Friday night we arrived at our accommodation with only plans to consume our traditional travel egg and bacon pie with salad for dinner, then an earlyish night for the foodie foraging the next day.
We went on the weekend of the Bendigo Agricultural show, so having always wanted to go to a more rural show factored that into our itinerary. Having a son in Bendigo helped in planning our foodie tour, as our thoughts and plans were tweaked according to someone more in the know than us. For example, checking out some of the foodie shops before going to the show because shops tend to close earlier than in the big smoke.
So, the first bite, bag and buy was at the popular sourdough bakery “The Good Loaf Sourdough Bakery and Cafe” for a light breakfast (anticipating munching our way through the show).
We chose, very simply, to have the sourdough fruit buns on display and a latte.
The coffee was fine, the fruit buns divine! I was a bit concerned that they would not let us have a non menu item, but they were more than happy to warm the buns and serve them with butter on the side. We purchased some more fruit buns and some olive rolls for breakfast the next morning.
The next port of call was the butcher shop for a local lamb/beef farm where they breed sheep, Black Angus beef, pigs and chickens.
I had read that the lamb was good, so purchased a 2kg boned and trimmed lamb shoulder to slow roast to crusty, fall-apart deliciousness. This has yet to be realized.
We also purchased a rolled beef roast. Hmm… juicy roast beef with yorkshire puds, and maybe the Shiraz Glaze bought at the wonderful foodie paradise known as Bendigo Wholefoods.
Yes, just across the street from the butcher is a vastly stocked grocery store that required a decent bit of time to explore.
There were generous samples of sourdough fruit loaf, local dried figs (semi-dried really lovely and moist and figalicious) and local goats cheese labne and local orange juice.
Shelves and tables were laden with preserves and olives and Dukah and jams and fresh produce.
In hindsight this was the place to go to find produce of the region. I had done a ton of googling to find producers of the area and frustratingly, most of those that were mentioned were not visitable or did not have a factory to visit or factory shop. In my mind, food fossicking really starts at a visit to the farm or factory. I was a bit disappointed at this. I love to talk to the prime producers and see how things are grown or made. I also had unfortunately, missed the Bendigo farmers market that was held two weekends before.
I discovered some produce that I had not read about, and duly bought some Bendigo area produced Shiraz glaze–straight to the pantry, and my most exciting discovery–Smoked Garlic! I thought this sounded wonderful, so that was snaffled and led to moments through the weekend of me day dreaming of how to use it. More on smoked garlic later.
Next up: show time! A lovely time with family looking at animals and preserves and local wood turning, but not a local produce stall in sight! So much for munching our way through the show. We ended up having some small slices of pizza and shared a couple of slightly greasy potato twirls (a potato spiraled and deep fried on a long skewer) I was hungry.
Tired baby and big people motivated us to leave the show and Bendigo boy took us to a lovely contemporary cafe–The Corner store–where we had refreshments and some had more lunch. But I had to wait until dinner out that night!
After a leisurely stop, we checked out the Bendigo Pottery factory, an oldware/antique shop (where I eagerly claimed a retro Turkey platter) and then on to a local supermarket with a family run smokehouse attached–Eaglehawk Gold smokehouse. I struck gold on discovering the smoked produce section with a large variety of goods at reduced prices because they were 4 days until their best by date. Smoked kangaroo, emu, venison, lamb and chicken were gleefully taken to the check out. We savoured these delicacies with a variety of salads the next few days, and lamb, emu and chicken were our top choices.
Home, little drink and snack then ready for dinner
…at The Dispensary Enotica.
A most enjoyable time was had by me and my family. The service was friendly and efficient and although the wine and beer list is overwhelming, our difficulty was what to choose–entree and main, or main and dessert?
I think I could have made the wrong choice about meal component or at the least, wrong choice about my dessert.
But I will start with the positive:
My son was the only one to go the entree/mains option and I wish I did.
His spiced grilled quail with pomegranate syrup and yoghurt on a tabbouleh type mix was tasty, juicy and morish.
The mains included: Medium Rare Black Angus steak;
Slow cooked pork belly with fennel pickle, asparagus and slow cooked pork with ouzo
Duck confit with braised cabbage;
All the meats were cooked beautifully and full of flavour. The accompanying vegetables matched well.
Desserts sounded lovely and the chocolate parfait and tart was:
My orange blossom water, persimmon and dried fig mille-feuille was bland and left me thinking what I spent $16 on. I so should have had the quail….
The night was wonderfully finished with the best fireworks display I have ever seen back at the showgrounds.
Aaahhh. Home, James…
