Destination Dining
"It's about the total experience - the surprise, theatre, challenging the norm, creating memories." Neil Perry
I've sort of written about this before when I wrote about Fine Dining, really early on in this blog. But The Australian Financial Review had an article about destination dining and also something more about those 50 Best Restaurants Awards, which are about to happen, and so I thought I would revisit the subject.
"Destination dining in regional centres is becoming big business for the hospitality industry and has the potential to change the fortunes of country towns with a knock-on effect on local tourism, business and employment."
So says the AFR and I can attest to this here in Victoria with two or three personal experiences.
It seems that the Australian version of destination dining was started by Alla Wolf-Tasker at The Lake House in Daylesford.
We visited it ourselves for an anniversary or something - can't quite remember which, and yes it did create memories, but I have to confess that for us it was a bit of a disappointment - but critiques of particular places is not the purpose of this post. What The Lake House did though, in spades, is to not only create a 'go to' boutique hotel/dining destination but also to revive Daylesford and the adjacent Hepburn Springs into 'go to' destinations in themselves. A whole host of foodie, spa and arty places have set up shop there. There are several boutique hotels and guest houses, not to mention bed and breakfasts and restaurants. And it's relatively close to Melbourne, so there are day trippers as well as those who stay there. And it is a beautiful spot although it rained the weekend that we were there.
Obviously the lady, besides being a talented cook was a canny businesswoman - and she was no doubt helped by contacts in the food industry giving her lots of publicity. Indeed it often seems to me that there is a bit of a closed shop in terms of the food publicity industry - the food awards, the food magazines, the general press - they all seem to concentrate on a few 'hot' people. I suspect it's often who you know that counts. But that's an aside. And whether you think The Lake House is a rip-off or not, it has certainly brought prosperity to a forgotten country town. In Alla Wolf-Tasker's own words, "The region has become a tourist mecca, but even more pleasing is the growth in the local population to include young families and young people bring new energy, enterprise and ideas." And that has to be a good thing doesn't it?
Back to destination dining in regional Victoria and my own experiences - which are very limited.
For another birthday or anniversary our son shouted us a weekend at The Royal Mail Hotel in Dunkeld, which is at the base of the Grampians.
Now the Grampians are already a tourist destination but Dunkeld was not really, as it is on the main Melbourne to Adelaide road and a tiny bit south of the Grampians proper. But the hotel was renovated in a very interesting architectural style and a hot young chef, Dan Hunter was installed in the restaurant. And pretty soon it was one of 'the' places to go for a long weekend. Dan Hunter has since moved on to Brae in Birregurra - way out in rural Victoria - and into the top fifty restaurants in the world. We tried to get into this for our Golden Wedding Anniversary but it was booked up - as, of course, these places are. Most of them would need to be booked months in advance. You don't do this sort of thing on a whim - unless you are someone famous and then you can probably be squeezed in somewhere.
As for the Royal Mail his successor is also making a name for himself and the town itself has prospered, both as a destination in itself and also as a stop off on the Melbourne to Adelaide drag.
Other Victorian destination diners that have helped revive country towns are Stefano di Pieri in Mildura and Simones in Bright. And according to the AFR the Mornington Peninsula, along with the South Australian wine areas is leading the charge. So sometimes it's one person who transforms a small town, in others it's wine-growing areas, and beach resorts that encourage the growth of a whole tourist industry around food - not just restaurants, but food producers, cellar doors, farms, shops, etc. It's all good. I suspect that some of these places are only aiming, at least initially, to the wealthy, but this is surely not sustainable. If you want to increase your reach you have to also provide accommodation and cheaper options than your top fifty degustation menu - The Royal Mail, for example had a cheaper bistro option for dining as well as the posh restaurant - I guess it all came from the same kitchen so it was good too.
And world wide there are those places that are almost mythic - The Fat Duck and Noma are two that spring to mind.
And Paul Bocuse of course at the top of the page, although Paul Bocuse himself - now in his nineties - surely does not cook there any more. But the place itself is destination dining. We did go there for my fiftieth birthday - a long time ago - and he was still cooking then.
We are about to go on holiday to France and I have already started looking for one special place to eat to celebrate our and our friends' Golden Wedding Anniversaries. I have found a possible choice - a one star Michelin restaurant, so possibly not quite the ultimate in destination dining (we can't afford them anyway - or wouldn't want to). Now I just have to find out if it is already booked out.
