VICTORIA PLATED

Victoria by Farmer’s Daughters in Federation Square is a temple to local food and wine built by Alejandro Saravia, a Peruvian by birth and Melburnian by choice.

ALEJANDRO SARAVIA might be the chef who introduced Australia to Peruvian food, but the Limeño’s latest venture is an all-Victorian endeavour fuelled by his fascination with the produce of his adopted hometown.

Back when Saravia landed in Manly in 2006 as a backpacker, he had no such lofty intentions – more intent on surfing, travelling and partying. But stints at Sydney dining icons such as Pier under Peter Doyle opened his eyes. “I started working with ingredients that I’d never heard of or experienced before,” he says. “And I started to see that there was a big opportunity here in Australia.”

First at Morena in Surry Hills then Pastuso in Melbourne, Saravia harnessed premium local produce to introduce Peruvian cuisine to Aussie palates. Along the way he developed an affinity for the Gippsland region and launched Farmer’s Daughters, his hyper-local ode to the vast eastern Victorian food bowl.

Soon, emails poured in from other regions, inviting Saravia to discover their produce. It inspired Victoria by Farmer’s Daughter, a new restaurant in the iconic Fed Square serving Victoria on a plate.

Relying on an ever-changing network of boutique and micro farms is a complex way to supply a busy restaurant, but it’s made Saravia and his team embrace a more seasons-driven, traditional approach that comes about as close to true farm-to-table as it gets. “For a long time, we were used to just demand, demand, demand; consume, consume, consume,” he says. “It’s good going back to basics... We ask, we don’t demand.

“The menu in Victoria by Farmer’s Daughters is always going to be dictated by the farmers, by the producers and by the seasons that we work with. And it’s on our expertise as chefs to interpret those ingredients... To elevate those ingredients to their full potential.”