A food experience

Food is evocative. Certain flavours, tastes or dishes remind us of sitting around the family dinner table, gathering around a barbecue or crouching around a campfire. What we eat is often integral to the experience we have.

HSG at the Gardens chef and owner Dion Taylor has set about capturing the special role food plays in celebrations by creating unique food experiences for private functions and special ticketed events. With a diverse four-acre property, from lush green gardens to the bush billabong, rustic barn or courtyard under lights, HSG’s menus are as individual as each of the spaces.

Grazing and cocktails, beer and pizza, roast and barbecue, indoor or outdoor all feature across 11 themed experience menus, with the ability to include add-ons or create a custom menu. The unique setting in Branyan lends itself to outdoor cooking, over open grills or Yagoona barbecues, with guests able to watch their food being cooked.

It’s a concept that makes celebrations easy. Hens and bucks’ nights. High teas. Birthday celebrations. Work functions, Christmas parties, weddings and more. Pick your spot, pick your menu and then just show up, with everything else taken care of. Most menus are suitable for any groups of 20 or more.

Don’t have a group but want to join in? Keep an eye on HSG at the Gardens’ Facebook page for regular dining experiences, events and cooking classes.

So a left-handed ‘roo and a right handed moose walk into a bar...

It sounds like a joke, but it turns out they fall in love, get married, and open a fusion restaurant in Apple Tree Creek, just 5km north of Childers. It’s not as strange as it seems for Aussie Alana and Canadian Mike Vandenbrink to end up there – it’s actually just around the corner from Alana’s childhood home.

Mollydookers is a fitting name. Slang for left-handers like Alana, as well as a nod to Molly’s; one of the bars the pair worked at during the eight years Alana lived in Canada. When they moved to Australia, the couple designed Mollydookers to be everything they missed from the True White North.

“Mollydookers balances country charm with city standards and presents a menu you can’t find anywhere else in Australia,” Alana said.

“It’s about friendly table service and good, honest food, with Canadian beer, whisky, cocktails, wings, Rubens and poutine with real curd.”

The café is cosy with nods to Canada throughout, like ice hockey on the televisions and a shot ski behind the bar. There’s Canadian number plates and pictures on the walls of travels afar, locals long gone and quirky sayings to amuse.

If you want the truly authentic Canadian experience, make sure to ask Mike a question. Any question will do, but make sure you have enough time for his long, long, Canadian answer.