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Hunter Valley on the cusp of a long-needed fine-dining boom

Scott Bolles
Scott Bolles

Chef Kyle Whitbourne and Justin North at the new Mount Pleasant cellar door in the Hunter Valley.
Chef Kyle Whitbourne and Justin North at the new Mount Pleasant cellar door in the Hunter Valley.Supplied

As hatted chefs Justin North and Kyle Whitbourne fuss over the Japanese marinade for the yellowfin tuna dish to be served at the luxe new cellar door at Mount Pleasant winery in the Hunter Valley, design shop Luchetti Krelle has tackled its interiors. The project isn't a one-off. "The Valley" is in the midst of a talent influx and hospitality building boom.

Mount Pleasant's new eat-in cellar door opens next week. A fortnight later it'll be followed by a new dining destination for the wine-growing area, Sebastian Restaurant. The moniker is a nod to San Sebastian, the city where its head chef, Gianni Moretto, worked at the Michelin-starred Rekondo before being poached.

Sebastian Restaurant will slide into Spicers Tower Lodge, which reopens on July 1 after having upwards of $6 million splashed on it. The Basque-inspired menu is just one of the drawcards for the Hunter Valley this winter.

Mount Pleasant's new eat-in cellar door opens next week.
Mount Pleasant's new eat-in cellar door opens next week.Supplied
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Former Tetsuya's chef Joey Ingram packed up and left Sydney last year, joining Margan Restaurant as its head chef. Ingram believes the rolling lockdowns of the past two years hastened the kitchen brain drain to the country, while the boom in regional travel has seen reinvestment in businesses (Margan is upgrading its outdoor eating terrace). "It's pretty great place to work, grabbing your produce from a one-hectare kitchen garden onsite," he says.

Michael Robinson was joint head chef at Becasse restaurant in Sydney before he jumped to the front of the peloton of chefs headed north. He's in awe of its current surge, and as operator of Hungerford Meat Co, the historic butcher shop up the road in Branxton, Robinson has joined the opening action. Late last month an architect-designed addition to the 1930s shop started a spin-off takeaway service. "Burgers and fries," says the onetime fine dining chef about the menu.

Justin North, who is a consultant chef at the new Mount Pleasant cellar door, explains the creation of dishes with head chef Kyle Whitbourne (ex Mason in Newcastle) has been creatively rewarding.

Mount Pleasant in the Hunter Valley has undergone multi-million dollar refurbishments.
Mount Pleasant in the Hunter Valley has undergone multi-million dollar refurbishments.Supplied

"We've been tasting dishes with winemaker Adrian Sparks," says North. "It really gives you a different perspective. And what Luchetti Krelle has done here [a re-imagined Australian homestead] stacks up against anything."

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And there's more on the way. Former Bathers' Pavilion owner Serge Dansereau is planning a restaurant at Casuarina Estate in Pokolbin. Its opening has been postponed, the veteran chef explaining the owner decided to renovate the whole property so diners in the restaurant – which will be French "with a twist of old Shanghai and the French Concession" – won't have to put up with any noise from building works.

"Hopefully it'll open by the end of the year," Dansereau tells Good Food.

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Scott BollesScott Bolles writes the weekly Short Black column in Good Food.

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