Take a Spring Drive to these 5 Chef-hatted Mod Oz Restaurants

Spring is the perfect time to venture out of your comfort zone and try a new dining experience at a Chef-hatted restaurant near you.

As we celebrate the warmer weather and longer days, head to one of these five award-winning venues for a meal to remember:

Experience the best of the Mornington Peninsula in a relaxed bespoke environment at Moke Dining on Cook Street in Flinders. Once through the leadlight windowed door, take in a refined ambience of chandelier lighting, polished wooden floors, an open fireplace and potted greenery, setting the scene for memorable shared dining from a weekly changing menu.

There's an impressive wine list from local vineyards, interstate and overseas, along with local beer and cocktails to accompany dishes such as Ora King salmon with jalapeño buttermilk sauce, on top of tartare seasoned with crème fraiche, dill, capers and lime zest; then delve into roasted blue eye cod with chestnuts, cabbage and brandy. For dessert, try yuzu and vanilla tart, with cinnamon and orange ice cream.

Celebrate the graces of nature in alluring bushland surrounds at AMARA Restaurant on Grandview Lane in Bowen Mountain. With a name meaning ‘grace’ in West African, this stylish Sydney restaurant projects an elegant vibe of beige-clothed tables and leather chairs, while a glass frontage allows spectacular sunset views.

 

The culinary team’s food philosophy embodies a simple, ultimately natural approach to cooking preferring traditional techniques of charcoal and fire over gas and electricity, as well as the use of indigenous ingredients to add flavour. Degustation menus for lunch and dinner see plates such as beef and carrot three ways before a dessert of hazelnut, passionfruit and chocolate.

While away an afternoon at Cullen Wines Biodynamic Wine Room on Caves Road in Wilyabrup, gazing across the vineyards and indulging in superb wine and food. Relax alfresco at the only biodynamic and carbon-neutral winery in the region, or join the lively buzz of conversation inside, where stacked stone walls, recycled timber and views of the vines from a full glass frontage await.

 

Arrive early and enjoy a wine-tasting experience before your meal - the lunch menu has been carefully curated by Head Chef, Ben Day, using produce from the onsite biodynamic kitchen garden and paired with world-renowned Cullen wines. Think plates like Margaret River venison, beetroot, mulberry, radicchio and wattle seed, with a glass of Diana Madeline.

Perspective Dining on Brunswick Street in the heart of Brisbane’s CBD is a modern gastronomic experience taking you on an unforgettable culinary journey. This closed-door 12-seat Chef dining venue offers cutting-edge seasonal tasting menus from five to nine courses with plant and protein-based choices in elegant surrounds sure to impress.

 

As well as showcasing local producers, an offsite garden provides produce for dishes like fungi, sheep’s milk, black garlic compost, mushroom ferment and goats’ curd; followed by dry-aged local snapper, pig’s cheek, natives, black corn and lilly pilly, enjoyed with a glass of Tyrell’s Blanc de Blanc wine.

Discover a slice of Paris set in Byron Bay at Bar Heather on Jonson Street. Nestled down Jonson Lane, expect to taste the best produce the Northern Rivers has to offer along with precious wines from around the world, featured in a seasonal, rotating menu – Chef Ollie Wong-Hee brings old-school, French technique to the kitchen with influences from Asia and beyond to create avant-garde dishes.

 

With an 800-plus cellar hoarding some of the rarest drops you’ll find, pair a glass with plates such as yellowfin tuna, dressed with makrut and chive oil, mushroom shoyu, red wine vinegar and eschalots; for the main, think offerings like rib eye, smoked paprika and tomato dressing with sides of greens beans and leaf salad.