Three exciting new restaurants that will change the way you think about regional dining

Victoria’s regional restaurants continue to push the boundaries of what’s possible in a country town, filling the gaps between white tablecloth destination diners and humble pub dining with a whole spectrum of options.

At Yarra Valley winery Helen & Joey Estate, newly added restaurant Re’em (12-14 Spring Lane, Gruyere) is ditching the rule book of winery dining and drawing on its owners’ heritage to serve cumin lamb skewers, fried shiitake and tofu dumplings and other Chinese-inspired dishes.

Mark Ebbels (ex-The Fat Duck) worked as culinary consultant with head chef Abe Yang to translate the upbringings of Helen Xu in China’s Zhejiang province and Joey Zeng in Chongqing into dishes including beef tartare that sings with Sichuan pepper, fermented cabbage and pickled wood ear mushrooms.

Local Buxton trout is combined with aromats such as ginger and spring onion, often used in steamed fish dishes in Cantonese cooking, except the fish here is dry-aged and wood-grilled. Handmade noodles in a mountain pepper sauce are topped with seared kangaroo loin. Yang says the estate’s juicier wines are a great match for the punchy flavours.

A 16-room hotel has also just opened. helenandjoeyestate.com.au

Geelong trailblazer Igni has morphed from serious fine-diner to rollicking Thai canteen Songbird (2 Ryan Place, Geelong), serving fire-licked Isan sausage, curried Murray cod in banana leaf and som tum (green papaya salad).

Igni’s owners Aaron Turner and Joanna Smith are still involved, but have handed the reins in the kitchen to Nathan Lancaster, previously group chef across the casual venues of the couple, including Hot Chicken Project. At Songbird, he gets to explore his love of northern Thai cooking honed at San Francisco’s now-closed Hawker Fare.

The Igni DNA of fire and fermentation is still there. Pork ribs spend six weeks in a rice and garlic ferment before being grilled and served with house-made sriracha sauce. Lemongrass and garlic chicken is cooked over red gum and served with naam jim gai (sweet chilli sauce). Isan-style sausage is grilled, then smoked and dried above the fire to achieve the right texture.

“The fire is that space,” says Turner. But he’s enjoying seeing more colour, more seats (50-ish) and more children in the revamped dining room.

“It’s been really pleasing to use that space we’ve been in for eight years – a very controlled environment – and kind of letting loose a bit.”

You can still dine kitchen-side, but the bar is now also open, reserved for walk-ins. Takeaway is on the cards. instagram.com/songbirdthaibbq

If you think ferry terminals are where great food goes to die, it’s time to get yourself to Queenscliff, stat.

The town’s striking new ferry terminal perched on the sand is home to Tarra restaurant (1 Wharf Street East, Queenscliff), run by Michael Demagistris (ex-Jacques Reymond, Polperro). The venue, open since April, is about to enter its next phase with a new menu that’s big on quality ingredients and simple preparations given a few playful twists.

Charcuterie, including Great Ocean duck prosciutto, is made in-house. Calamari from Queenscliff’s pier, when it’s available, will be crumbed and served with fried capers and house-made tartare sauce. Beef short-rib in molasses is paired with charred onions and a “golden potato chip” dusted in vinegar powder and made using dehydrated Hawkes Farm potatoes from the Mornington Peninsula, where the Queenscliff ferry travels more than a dozen times a day.

The new menu, unveiled on Monday, is available at lunch while Demagistris builds the town’s appetite for dinner services via evening set menus once a month. The first will be called Nonna’s Kitchen, based on his grandmother’s Italian and Ukrainian heritage. tarra.com.au