Flavour and flair at the Daylesford Bowlo

It's always a great meal at the Daylesford Bowling Club. It starts with a warm welcome as you walk in, sometimes from the manager Neil, or the bar staff, and the good vibes continue.

The bistro is run by chef Lenny Giri who clearly loves his career choice - and is always working towards more flavour and flair. His latest move is a food carving course in Thailand - just to keep things interesting.

We chose a table overlooking Daylesford - with most of the restaurant ready for a big group from Woodend celebrating Christmas in July. It's a great view and one that Neil says many of the members enjoy for their evening tipple.

We leave the menu choice to Lenny and it's fantastic. A little bit of many things finishing with the huge lamb shanks.

We start with chicken lollipops with a special schezuan sauce. They are delicious and crunchy on the outside with really tender chicken inside. The sauce is sweet with a fair bit of heat. Just right. ($19 for four, $30 for eight with chips)

Next up is the bruschetta with tomato, basil and extra virgin olive oil topped with a little parmesan sitting on a drizzle of balsamic glaze. Really fresh and mouth-watering. I could just enjoy a plate of these on their own. ($14)

Lenny's special lamb and parmesan meatballs are up next. Lovely bite-sized flavour bombs with a little rocket on the side. Yum. ($16)

Finally, out comes the lamb shank. It's a huge serve on top of mash with loads of sauce and vegies. The bone just comes straight out - no wonder seeing it has been cooked for 24 hours. Lenny also makes the sauce from scratch and that takes 48 hours which accounts for the massive flavours. Perfect winter fare. ($29)

Ok, it wasn't the last dish. Lenny then brings over the tiramisu with rose water and whipped cream. It is really light and rich, if that is possible, and it's devoured in minutes. I think we are starting to become dessert people. ($18)

Now, those who know me know I like a little wine and I like it even more at the Daylesford Bowling Club where it is just $6 for a glass of Hanging Rock Chardonnay. Same for the Duck Shoot pinot noir. Yep, just $6. That must be the best value for a drink in the region.

As I said Lenny likes to keep things happening and every month there is a Thursday to Sunday change of menu from somewhere around the world. We just missed Italian and before that was Greek but Egyptian is the next one coming up - so keep an eye on the club's Facebook page. Could be very interesting. Belly dancing anyone? Oh, and don't forget Wednesday, it's steak night. A 300gm scotch or porterhouse for just $29. There's that value again. See you at the bowlo!

Words: Donna Kelly | Images: Kyle Barnes

THEIRS is a tale of taking a punt and following that inner vision. For Springmount couple Carmel and Brett Masterson it’s the sort of story that anyone dreaming of a new life direction and of becoming their own boss really likes to hear.

Carmel was working in admin at a local school when an episode of the popular TV series MasterChef caught her attention back in 2010. More specifically a certain special ingredient being used on the show caught her attention. That ingredient was black garlic and Carmel didn’t know it then, but the strong interest it piqued in her meant that by 2017 she and Brett would actually be supplying MasterChef with it themselves.

“I chucked in my job and went and bought an oven in 2014 and started making it,” Carmel recounts the move that would lead to the formation of their small batch gourmet edibles business, Springmount Fine Foods.

She admits that mastering the art of making black garlic took quite a bit of trial and error, and there was more than one batch that ended up in the compost before she mastered the art.

“Like most people I assumed black garlic was a variety of garlic, but after a lot of research we realised it was a painstakingly slow process of ageing the garlic in a low temperature oven for 40 days,” Carmel says.

This protracted and precise process creates the sweet, black, sticky delight that adds flavoursome interest – and particularly high antioxidant content - to all manner of fare. It’s perfect, for example, for cheese platters, folded through butter and served on a sizzling steak, scattered over grilled tomatoes or sautéed with mushrooms. It even pairs well with dark chocolate.

“Everyone that has tried it has fallen in love with the unique sweet yet savoury flavour and soft caramelised texture,” Carmel says.

When she bought that commercial oven, she was clearly doing something right as Brett also left his work as a landscape gardener and began working full-time at Springmount Fine Foods as well.

And while they no longer supply MasterChef with black garlic, they’re producing more than ever as demand has gone from strength to strength.

When The Local visited Carmel and Brett at their Springmount property and commercial kitchen in recent days, it wasn’t hard to spot the new garlic crop growing in a paddock.

It comprises 25,000 heads, or cloves, of garlic that the two of them planted –by hand. But harvest of the new garlic crop won’t happen until around the end of November/start of December. Harvest is a monumental job and involves family members as well.

“We also do sauces and vinaigrettes and we have a whole garlic range. One is smoked garlic, one is roasted, and aside from that we also do fruit pastes and relishes.

“Probably our biggest selling product is our garlic drizzle and we’re just about to launch two new versions – one with native mountain pepper and one with chilli oil.”

Other gourmet products of particular note include their fruity little flavour bombs called garnishing pearls which turn a glass of something good into something even better, perfect for special occasions.

“We’ve got our strawberry pearls for champagne, peach pearls for prosecco, and our lime pearls for gin and tonic – which are my favourite. I love them,” Carmel says.

“They have a fine gel coating and a liquid centre that pops with a burst of flavour in the mouth.

“We do a lot of food and wine festivals and it’s shown us how this new generation of foodies are not only looking for exciting food that’s beautifully presented but they are now craving that bit of theatre to accompany the experience.”

Brett says that since Covid, Springmount Fine Foods has been growing each year – “to the point where we’re struggling to keep up with the manufacturing and growing sides of the business”.

“Our daughter, Tia, now works for us part time,” Carmel says. “We don’t want to grow too big. We want to stay small and boutique. It suits us.”

Their products have picked up multiple medals at the Australian Food Awards, the Royal Sydney Fine Food Show and the Royal Hobart Fine Food Show over the past few years.

And especially worth noting for locals, is the fact that they’re also preparing to be part of the first ever Kingston Food and Wine Festival in October this year. In fact Carmel is on the organising committee and is pretty excited about this new addition to the region’s events calendar. She says the new festival is definitely intended to become a regular annual highlight. Watch this space.

Words: Eve Lamb. Images: Chloe Smith Photography.