Warm welcome at the Daylesford Steakhouse

ON A recent chill winter’s evening, just after dark, the mellow light that issues from our dining destination – the Daylesford Steakhouse - is warm and inviting.

My dining companion, Paddy H, and I climb the small flight of polished wooden stairs to enter this central Vincent Street eatery - and thaw out.

At the top of the stair we’re warmly welcomed by the venue’s manager, Mike, and by the equally warming woodsmoke aroma that can only mean a real log fire is present. In fact, Mike tells us, there are two fires on site to warm diners, and we can seat ourselves beside either, he suggests.

Whether you’re a carnivore or not, the Steakhouse gets full marks, straight up, for ambience. The lights are soft. The background music likewise, and the log fire that I strategically place myself beside, makes this a top spot to while away an extremely pleasant few hours. Particularly at this time of year.

Mike informs us that the new winter menu is just out - and we take our time perusing it over a generous glass of Geelong region pinot.

Now, let’s be clear, this is a steak house. It takes its steaks seriously. All of the Steakhouse’s steaks are local 100 per cent pasture-fed Black Angus beef, hormone and antibiotic free. The menu contains an illustrated guide to ordering your steak, char grilled to your specific taste, with options ranging from “blue rare” to “well done” all technically detailed. The char grilled steaks are, as you’d expect, a feature of the menu. The “standard house cuts” include petite mignon (200g), eye fillet (300g), sirloin (400g), scotch (400g), highland rump (400g), T-bone (800g) and cote de boeuf (900g), and every steak comes with the diner’s choice of side and sauce.

Options for sides include: grilled asparagus, stuffed mushroom, rosemary and pumpkin dauphinoise and more. Options for sauces include truffle, peppercorn, béarnaise, garlic butter and more, while additional steak toppers include king prawns, grilled Victorian lobster tail, grilled Balmain bugs - and more. And if the standard house cuts don’t meet diner’s requirements, the menu suggests that they “see board for larger steaks cut to order”.

But don’t worry if you’re not a big meat-eater, or even a meat-eater at all. Besides all the multiple vegetable side possibilities, there’s also plenty of seafood options to choose from. These include: apple cider mussels, stuffed lobster (half or whole), Atlantic salmon steak, grilled seafood platter and lobster and seafood pasta – to name some.

For starters I go with the panko funky brie ($19). It’s crisply fried on the exterior and deliciously melted within, accompanied by a tomato and mango chutney.

Paddy, recounting that his mother used to be a dab hand at making the traditional Scotch egg, nominates the Steakhouse posh Scotch egg with truffle aioli and tomato relish ($25) for starters and, on sampling, declares it to reward with “nostalgic” flavour.

For mains Paddy opts for the petite mignon ($59) with garlic butter and a side of broccoli and bacon. The steak arrives swiftly, criss-crossed with char grill sear lines and the aroma of hot coals. Paddy declares it “Spot on. Beautifully tender”.

I go for the apple cider mussels with tomato, butter, mustard, parsley and dipping fries ($39) as a main. While the menu informs that they come with dipping fries, my gluten intolerance is obligingly accommodated and, instead, mine is arranged to come with a locally grown, baked and deep-fried spud, which proves particularly satisfying. As to the mussels – the serve is generous and pops an instant and transportive taste of the sea.

When it comes to desserts ($16), Mike highlights the ‘Disco’ crepes suzette as a flambéed house speciality. Other possibilities include the salted caramel fried icecream bombe, the classic affogato, or the cheese plate – blue and brie with relish. But Paddy is a self-confessed cheesecake nut who once confided that, if on death row, he’d select cheesecake as his last mortal crumb. So no surprises that it’s the New York option here for him.

I’m very tempted by the ultimate choc fudge sundae – containing “nuts and awesomeness”. How could you not be? But my gluten sensitivity compels me to instead select the vanilla crème brulee, a dessert choice that I always find hard to ignore. This one has a really home-made, delicate quality beneath its crunchy toffeed top. Both desserts are accompanied by the Steakhouse signature “glorious whipped ‘schlag’ vanilla bean ice cream”.

It should be mentioned here that one of the house attractions is the100-plus different cocktails – “and if there’s a cocktail that you really like and we haven’t got it, we’ll have a go at making it,” Mike mentions.

It’s true to say that we’re sorry to have to leave the warm embrace of our respective club chairs beside the log fire, but this place is clearly popular and, with a degree of difficulty, we bid its mellow ambience farewell. Until next time.

Words & images: Eve Lamb

ITALIAN born Daniele Tarasco brings a personal passion for fresh, flavoursome food and his background as a high-end chef to running Meraki certified organic farm at Newlyn North.

Originally from Matera in Southern Italy, he and his wife Liv Reppas, have had the 2.4-hectare property on its rich volcanic soil at Newlyn North since 2015 when they began the three-year process of certifying the farm as organic.

Their ethos is captured in the name of their little patch of paradise - Meraki. It’s a word modern Greeks use to describe doing something with creative flair or passion - putting “something of yourself” into what you do.

“I’ve always worked with my hands from a young age,” says Daniele, who left Italy in his late teens and worked for top-notch eateries in London, Melbourne and Hepburn before getting into organic farming full-time at Meraki.

“ I’ve always been connected to food. When I was growing up food was a crucial cultural part of life and then I developed this passion for growing food. On school breaks in Italy I started to get into hospitality, into cooking.”

Since taking to culinary creation at the tender age of 10, he built a fine dining career with stints at Gordon Ramsay’s Maze and earning the title of Head Chef at No. 8 by John Lawson where he was nominated as The Age Good Food Guide’s Young Chef of the Year.

Liv (Olivia) has a professional background as an organic auditor working for property certifiers and, in the lead-up to their establishing Meraki, had been looking into organic gardening as something they too could pursue.

“We found this place and we wanted to turn it into a small farm. While we were setting up the farm I was working at Peppers. I did two and a half years as head chef at Peppers before shifting full-time into farming,” Daniele says.

Right now they’re growing all manner of delicious fully certified organic vegetables and also producing and selling certified organic eggs courtesy of their Lohmann Brown layer hens. The layers are dutifully guarded by the couple’s two large handsome Italian Maremma dogs –Trajan and Luna.

A whole range of seasonal vegetables is currently flourishing on site and, when The Local visits for a tour on a recent drizzly winter's day, Daniele lists what’s growing. It’s an impressive assemblage.

“At the moment there’s carrots, beetroot, Tuscan kale, black cabbage, onions, garlic, turnips. swedes, potatoes, leeks, radicchio, pumpkin, Brussels sprouts, celery, broccoli and we’ve also got some herbs - coriander and parsley,” he says. He regularly does the local markets including the Daylesford Farmers Market on Sundays and also monthly markets at Creswick and Ballan, selling Meraki’s fresh organic produce direct to the public.

“I generally grow things I like to eat, and I grow mainly for flavour,” Daniele says. “We’re also supplying Spade to Blade but my main focus is direct to the public either through the markets or home deliveries. Whatever is in abundance goes to a couple of local shops like Tonna’s in Daylesford, Hepburn Wholefoods, and a couple of local restaurants.”

On the property there’s also a small, young apple orchard and a small, young olive grove. At this time of year the olives are just starting to colour up ahead of harvest time and Daniele says he has plans to pickle. Edible flowers that play a useful role in the process of organic farming are also part of the bigger picture. “I plant marigold and calendula to help with companion planting and to establish a niche for beneficial insects,’ Daniele says

Liv runs the couple’s other on-site venture – Little Luxe B&B accommodation –which particularly seems to go down a treat with city folk hankering for big skies, peace and tranquillity.

However, now, after about eight good years at Meraki, family circumstances have compelled Liv and Daniele to place their little certified organic patch of paradise on the market as they look to relocate to the Riverland area in South Australia.

The organic certification comes with the property, so the listing is a chance for someone else who is keen to move into this space to make their own dream of farming organically become a reality.

It can be hard work, particularly in cold blustery weather, but it’s something that they love at Meraki, as is improving the soil for future generations, a personal goal for Daniele.

“Over three or four years we have managed to raise the soil pH by 0.5,” he says. Such a soil-sweetening movement, a reduction in acidity, may sound slight but it can make a big difference.

“When we moved up this way I also did a two year diploma in organic farming and it helped set up the farm,” Daniele says. “Even if the work is not easy, you need to start thinking months in advance, and there are long hours, it is rewarding. I raise all my own seedlings from seed and at the end of it you’ve got this beautiful produce and you can actually taste the difference.”

The positive feedback they receive from fans of the Meraki produce is particularly satisfying.

“You get feedback from people saying things like ‘these are the best eggs you can get in town’ or ‘these are the best onions I’ve ever eaten!’”

While Meraki is now on the market, Daniele says they will continue to grow and sell their nutrient-packed fresh organic produce for the foreseeable future - including at the usual regular local markets, throughout this winter.

Words and images: Eve Lamb