Ballarat's Underbar restaurant reopens as fully fledged destination diner

If you ask what's changed at the newly relocated Underbar in Ballarat, the answer is, on one hand, not much.

The fine-diner remains open only two nights a week. There are still few enough seats – 14 – to make each one enviable. Chef Derek Boath (ex Per Se, New York) still sources, preps and cooks an 8-10 course set menu mostly solo, which he serves from an entirely open kitchen.

But Underbar 2.0, which officially opened on December 2, has also taken a quantum leap in its atmosphere, furnishings and, presumably, budget, after joining forces with the owners of new boutique stay Hotel Vera.

The six-year-old restaurant has gone from a narrow, single-room shopfront in the heart of Ballarat to having run of a new wing of the hotel. It boasts travertine floors, garden views, a private dining room, lounge area and a custom-designed Electrolux Thermaline kitchen which faces six chef's table seats.

The 890-kilogram kit was shipped to Australia in a single piece. Moving it into the new restaurant was a "heart in your mouth moment", says Boath. But everything else, including returning to cooking after a six-month break, has felt like "riding a bike".

Heavily skewed to produce from the Ballarat region, dishes might highlight Sher Wagyu beef or Western Plains pork, or simply the lemons that a neighbour dropped off.

The opening menu ($210) featured whole garfish stuffed with king prawn, rolled in nori and served with a bisque-like sauce made from the prawn heads.

A hands-on dessert presented diners with a house-made croissant, two chocolate pots de creme - one flavoured with cinnamon, the other orange - and let them tear, dip and smear as they pleased.

The original Underbar was sparse; now it's a softer and airier dining room with a palette of warm yellows, deep greens and neutral colours that reference the Ballarat landscape. Victorian makers, including Krof cutlery and Neville French ceramics, are on the table.

Another big change is having a full-time sommelier on staff, Anthony Schuurs, who brings experience at Mitchell Harris Wines and is also Boath's partner in Pencilmark Wine Bar, which they installed at Underbar's former home.

"He can stretch his legs and show his personality with that side of service, and it enables me to focus on food a bit more," says Boath.

Included in Boath's purview is the hotel breakfast and mini-bar, which both name-check an impressive array of Victorian, if not Ballarat, producers, such as We Bar None snacks, Byrdi bottled cocktails, Schulz yoghurt and a bespoke chocolate bar made with Lucky and James called, of course, The Underbar.

"It's encapsulating all the great things Victoria has to offer," says Boath. "We hope that it's going to be that holistic destination place."

Open Fri-Sat 7pm-11pm

710 Sturt Street, Ballarat, underbar.com.au