The Art of Surprise

Pasta heaven at Ragazzone.

Discover a new first impression of Ballarat

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 But my outdated notion of Ballarat being a city mostly defined by its gold rush glory days had started eroding even before the taco.

Latin American deliciousness at Pancho.

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

The grand Ballarat Railway Station.

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 white themed 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 well selected 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.

Art Attack

The Art Gallery of Ballarat - Australia’s oldest regional gallery.

L’Espresso is where I meet Fiona Sweet, the Creative Director of the Ballarat International Foto Biennale. The biennale is a 60-day festival starting on August 28 with Linda McCartney as this year’s headline act. It will include her photo of Eric Clapton that made her the first woman to score a Rolling Stone cover and never-before seen photos she took during Wings’ 1976 tour of Australia. There are also multiple exhibitions in buildings throughout the city, themed dinners and local photographers exhibiting and selling their work.

Listening to Sweet enthusiastically spruik Ballarat’s art credentials, including the long engagement the city has with photography, I realised, once again, I may have missed the point by mistaking the city for a museum. It’s actually more like a gallery, an ongoing conversation. Ballarat was named a UNESCO Creative City in 2019 and that bit of branding has helped focus the spotlight on the city’s artistic side. It’s helped generate an energy that’s a little similar to Hobart, post-MONA.

The Art Gallery of Ballarat - Australia’s oldest regional gallery.

It also necessitates a visit to the Art Gallery of Ballarat, Australia’s oldest regional gallery. Over the past few years, under the stewardship of Director Louise Tegart and curator Julie McLaren, the multiple spaces have been energised with dynamic exhibitions hung by theme rather than by artist or period. Indigenous and modern abstract art and sculpture sits together with the important, extensive historical collection in thoughtful – and sometimes provocative – ways. In a nod to the strength of the local art scene, the gift shop is filled with the work of local artists.

Tasting Surprise

Art you can eat at underbar.

Of course, there’s also art you can eat and there’s no better place in Ballarat to do that than underbar. First things first. This excellent 16-seat degustation restaurant is only open two nights a week so you need to plan ahead as it books out months ahead. It’s worth the effort. Behind an unmarked door on Doveton Street, chef Derek Boath, formerly of New York’s acclaimed Per Se, creates exquisite, artful and, most importantly, incredibly delicious tasting menus. I’d make a return trip for the cornbread served with maple butter and a cup of whipped corn soup alone. Or the cured ocean trout topped with flowers, roe and horseradish, as pretty as it was tasty.

Johnny Alloo - a must-do by day or by night, or both!

Almost as startling as underbar’s finesse was the number of quality places to eat, all within walking distance. Among the best is Ragazzone, a nattily designed Italian restaurant washed in pink that serves Italian classics given a modern twist and Johnny Alloo, where the daytime menu (try the anchovy chilli scramble) competes with the Friday-Saturday dinner of Euro bistro classics, as the optimum time to pay a visit. If you can manage, do both.

Sip on expertly-crafted cocktails at 18th Amendment.

There are good places to drink too, all within an easy stagger. A must-do for cocktail lovers is 18th Amendment, a speakeasy-style cocktail bar with some truly loopy (and well made) drinks to be had. For the craft beer crew, Aunty Jack’s, a new brewery bar, serves everything it makes on tap and has a constantly changing range of seasonal beers. Take shelter here in winter and you’ll want to grab a pint of the Vanilla Porter with its smooth chocolate, vanilla and sweet biscuit notes. Roy Hammond, on Armstrong Street North, has a superb range of quality booze (whisky lovers take note), Asian-influenced food (try the cheesy corn) and a party atmosphere that brings in a young, fun-loving crowd.

Tranquility abounds at Ballarat’s Sanctuary Day Spa.

I abandoned the walking-only rule just once, but it was in a good cause – a spa treatment at the Ballarat Sanctuary Day Spa. Again, all in the name of research. A tranquil place set amidst native gardens, it provided a good opportunity to contemplate all that had surprised me about Ballarat. Laying in the heated hydrotherapy pool, gazing up at eucalypts through large windows ahead of a foot bath and warm oil back massage, I contemplated the pleasant surprise of preconceived ideas being overturned and the exciting balance Ballarat is achieving between the historic and modern, the old and the young. I also started planning a return visit.