OUR LOCAL FOODIE DELIGHTS

Only recently our very good friend Ell came to visit us - she still berates us for leaving Mentone and Melbourne, our home by the Bay but on each visit understands the joy we have in this transition.
Yes, we do miss many aspects of our former life. The Bay is beautiful as are our friendships however as retirement drew closer and our home was being hemmed in by high rise and high density living, we found that we didn't fit the square anymore - we had become the square peg!!!

Smiles and friendly gestures are all part of the day here, even in Kyneton which is a small regional town on the way between Melbourne and Bendigo which is a large regional city. The region where we live is known as the Central Highlands - Macedon Ranges. Trentham is part of the region and in fact pretty much slam bam in the middle. We have our fair share of culinary delights within the local area and several of them have been featured in the recently published book,

FLAVOURS of VICTORIA.

It takes in the towns and villages of Kyneton, where we currently live, Trentham where we will be living and the lovely towns of Daylesford, Castlemaine, and Gisborne. The smaller villages of Trentham, Musk, Sailor's Falls, Shepherd's Flat and Smeaton are way up there.

Our new home town of Trentham which probably has a population now of 2000, has four listed Cafe's/Bakeries/Restaurants which is excellent when other larger towns were less. We are spoilt in the region for great food and wine.
That's not to say we thought after reading the book, we thought many more should have been included. Note our comments in the photo captions.

The book is called "Flavours of Victoria" - our blog deals with our own region of the Macedon Ranges.

We discovered the book while catching up with Rhys at "The Collective" in Trentham. Along with David the Barista and the friendly staff, it has become a favourite spot for us. This photo was taken by our friend Ell without knowing. You can tell how friendly the place is by the laughter.

The Macedon Ranges takes in a region of an upside down triangle spreading from Gisborne via Kyneton to Castlemaine , across to Daylesford to Trentham, Woodend and returning to Gisborne. Within that triangle, a weekend does not pass with the local producers bringing their wares to the Saturday/Sunday markets every weekend.

The Collective is a family concern with Rhys and his mother Joy. It's our local for the best coffee by David the Barista. Breakfast is a treat. There are another two Cafes we enjoy in town being Chaplin's which is my Thursday morning place for breakfast before playing Petanque. The other is Wylde Thyme, recently replacing the former establishment, The Colliban Food Store which up until its closure was our Friday afternoon place to be.
We are spoilt for cafes in Trentham.

The "Cosmo" has been reborn after a fire burnt part of it. Built in 1866, the owner, Rod Hughes breathed new life in to the derelict, fire damaged building and every weekend it is full of travelling tourists. There's a leafy tree shaded garden out back to enjoy a cool beer or wine in the summer and inside during winter you can enjoy a tender steak with a glass of the many local reds available. Our local car club meet here once a month. Oh, yes and there's Trudie behind the bar whom I met at the Collective when dressed in my full cycling Lycra kit.
The Cosmo is not our only local Pub - The Plough which has won many awards for the food and front of house staff is our favourite although disappointingly was not featured in the book. The food is superb and again washed down with local wines. We met Mitch, the front of house guy in our early visits through Trentham before we bought in.

Kyneton's Duck Duck Goose is not only a great breakfast spot but out the back, you can wander looking at produce, gift ware, foodie books and be tempted to spend that little more than you intended. Across the road is my very favourite bakery in GRIST. Chris was probably one of the first local proprietors that I warmed to. He makes an unbelievable Cornish Pastie, his pies are great and he also makes a croissant that I would be prepared to say are the best I've tasted compared with the local French bakeries.

Now Tim at La Bonta is a great host. His menu is based on modern Italian with some great local as well as Italian regional wines. When ever we drive down Piper Street, Kyneton, Sue will always say - we need to go back to La Bonta. I think we will this Friday night.
There's also "The Source" and " The Midnight Starling" for fine dining. There are several other more casual dining places in Kyneton along with the local pub meals which are way up there on the foodie scale.

Trentham's Red Beard Bakery is renown for their sour dough bread but some of their more sweet delicacies are worth a try.
I love their Autumn Spiced Pear Cake with my Latte or Cappuccino. I've also had their Bread and Butter Pudding - Yum!!
Red Beard run baking classes so that you can take their secrets home with you.
Red Beard is not the only local bakery as in the main street there is a long term local baking bread and making pies which I  often buy to fill that empty spot. Not as good as Grist, but not far behind. 

I'm pleased we bought this book as it will open up new delights in our region - the ones mentioned in this Blog Post are the ones we frequent. Victoria is a rich foodie state within Australia and this book will take us further from our local area to explore further afield.