Find gold beyond the city

Baking your own bread: impressive. Churning the butter to serve on it: a step up. Growing the wheat to make the flour to bake the bread: okay, Dan Hunter. You’ve probably read enough about

Brae (braerestaurant.com) – the restaurant Hunter and his wife, Julianne Bagnato, run at Birregurra – to not be surprised. Stay the night to explore the gardens and take the extraordinary minibar for a spin. As exceptional as Brae is, it’s just one of the superb reasons to journey beyond Melbourne for a meal.

Take a look at the tiny sweet peppers Derek Boath stuffs with crab and garnishes with garlic flowers at Underbar (underbar. com.au) in Ballarat. Or at the way Annie Smithers works her alchemy with Sher Wagyu neck at Du Fermier (anniesmithers.com.au) in Trentham, coaxing it to tenderness and laying it on a bed of brassicas she grew herself. Check out the potatoes Michael Ryan fries in beef fat before dusting with nori salt at Provenance (theprovenance.com.au) in Beechworth. Or anything Aaron Turner turns his hand to at Igni (restaurantigni.com) in Geelong, including the scallops he lays in slices across crisp and salty fried chicken skin. Not to mention the sterling work being done by Tansy Good at Tansy’s in Kyneton, plus Brigitte Hafner’s

Tedesca Osteria, Guy Stanaway at Jackalope, Phil Wood at Pt Leo Estate, Adam Sanderson at Ten Minutes by Tractor and the rest of the Mornington Peninsula cohort.

It isn’t just the tasting-menu places turning up the dial, either: the quality of the catch and the crunchiness of the batter Matt Germanchis offers at his Fish by

Moonlite (fishbymoonlite.com.au) takeaway in Anglesea or, back in Geelong, the bite of the scallop tostadas Aaron Turner’s team turn out at Tacos y Liquor (87A Little Malop Street; 03 5222 2066) provide ample reward for the diner who goes the extra mile.