Issue 2 / Winter 2021
The Art of Surprise Discover a new first impression of Ballarat
Pasta heaven at Ragazzone.
Having preconceived ideas overturned can be very satisfying. This hit me while I was chowing down on a superb fish taco at Pancho, a casual, very delicious Latin American restaurant in Ballarat Central. The taco and its applause-worthy spicy tangy pico di gallo salsa surely assisted the epiphany – I’d certainly had zero expectation that Ballarat would contain some of the best South and Central American food in the country. But my outdated notion of Ballarat being a city mostly defined by its gold rush glory days had started eroding even before the taco. I’d taken the 90-ish-minute train trip from Melbourne to Ballarat the day before, ditching the car for a couple of reasons. Firstly, I wanted to experience the place on foot, to get up close and personal with all that elaborate, famed Victorian architecture. Remembering Ballarat’s reputation for chilly, windy conditions (one of my preconceived ideas that actually proved correct) I’d packed appropriate outerwear, but was intending to keep warm in a less prosaic way, the other reason for walking. I’d been hearing rumours of a food and booze renaissance in Ballarat and wanted to get up close and personal with that too. All in the name of research, obviously.
First Impressions Ballarat Railway Station, a grand mostly-intact Victorian edifice, has been operating since 1862 and does a great job of scene setting. It’s a drum roll for the Victorian streetscape that envelopes you the moment you exit the station. Not that there was much time to be enveloped as I was staying at The Provincial, an Art Nouveau-style boutique hotel literally across the street. Wonderfully convenient, it also provided the first big hint that Ballarat may not be as stuck in the past as I’d imagined. The Provincial was built in 1909 and owners Gorgi and Simon Coghlan have done a superb job modernising it, giving the generous rooms and art-strewn public areas a breezy, casually luxurious, blue and whitethemed makeover without compromising any of the building’s lovely bones. There’s a cocktail bar that operates out of a converted caravan in the central courtyard and minibars that’ll keep you happy in your room but the main food and drink action is in Lola, The Provincial’s all-day diner. Perhaps it was the cocktail that was in my hand (a Lola Spritz – local Kilderkin gin, elderflower and prosecco) just minutes after checking in that endeared Lola to me. Or maybe it was the serene interior, all French bistro chairs and floods of natural light. Or the menu that will get you what you need most of the day, from excellent eggs benedict in the morning (local bread, eggs and ham, obviously) through to oysters, steak, beet-cured salmon and chargrilled spatchcock. Or a wine list bristling with wellselected labels, emphasising local heroes like Latta. It was tricky to tear myself away, but there was research to be done.
Just a couple of blocks from The Provincial is Mitchell Harris. It opened as a cellar door for local makers Mitchell Harris Wines eight years ago and has morphed into a bar/bottleshop/ café hybrid with a casual but sophisticated good time vibe. It’s also a template for the way eating and drinking in Ballarat has changed with a generational new wave that’s washed over the city, cleverly blending the old with the new. It’s a story you’ll hear quite a bit. Owner John Harris grew up in Ballarat, moved away for a while then returned, bringing with him the expectation of always having access to a good glass of wine and something decent to eat. He couldn’t find what he was looking for and so did it himself. He set up shop in a beautiful, cavernous old building, once home to a tentmaker then a car repair shop, now a bar diner dishing up treats like tuna ceviche, beef carpaccio and spicy chicken alongside a drinks list that stocks Mitchell Harris wines (the lean, clean sparkling wine Sabre is worth contemplating) and a thorough collection of local, Australian and Old World wines. Next door to Mitchell Harris is Fika, a café pumping out excellent coffee, courtesy of Melbourne’s St ALi, alongside a toastie menu and pastries. Ballarat is as fanatical about coffee as the rest of the country and there’s been an explosion in café numbers. The excellent bakery café 1816 Bakehouse over on Armstrong Street is a good place to recaffeinate while also picking up some of the city’s best sourdough and then there’s dark and handsome L’Espresso, one of the pioneers of Ballarat’s coffee rush that also, eccentrically and adorably, deals in vinyl and CDs.
6 copywriter and editor. His work has appeared in newspapers, Michael Harden is a freelance author, journalist, restaurant critic, magazines, books and journals both in Australia and internationally. He is currently working on a novel set in the food industry.
