A unique culinary collaboration is set to showcase the best of regional Victoria’s food scene at Junction Moama on Friday, July 18 and Saturday, July 19.
The inaugural 'Discover the Region's Finest' series will feature Castlemaine's Rory Brown, recently named 2024 Chef of the Year at the AHA Victoria Awards, joining forces with Junction's head chef Cam Kydd.
“At the Discover the Region’s Finest weekend, you are going to see some of my favourite Castlemaine suppliers and producers,” Campbells Creek historic Five Flags Hotel head chef Rory Brown said.
“You are going to see Tuki farm trout, which is located between Castlemaine and Daylesford.
“That trout farm is amazing, you can go out there for the school holidays and catch trout, they fillet it for you, they package and then you take it home.
“You are going to see Warral honey, from Lindsay in Maldon who works a lot with sustainability of his bees as he is very passionate about what he does, and it reflects in his product.
“You are going to see venison, you are going to see rabbit.
“It will be proper food from the bush done right.”
The exclusive menu celebrates local producers and wild game, featuring dishes such as Spring Ridge venison tartare, red gum smoked Tuki trout, and Melvor Farm Berkshire pork collar.
“My favourite thing to cook is game meat, any game meat for me and I’m in,” Rory said.
“Game meat is sustainable, it's real, straight from the bush.
“Being a chef, I like something I shoot, I process and I feed to my family — it is the freshest meat and the best meat you can get.”
Five Flags Hotel, a Gold Rush era establishment, recently won best state dining at the 2024 Golden Plate Awards.
“It is a super old pub, super old building, very rustic, a lot of charm,” Rory said.
“'A lot of our food is rustic with a modern twist.”
At the Five Flags Hotel, the menu reflects this with dishes such as braised rabbit, mushroom pate, seared kangaroo and venison.
The Discover the Region’s Finest weekend will run for dinner on Friday and both lunch and dinner on Saturday at Junction.
Bookings are essential and can be made at junctionmoama.com.au.
Junction Moama is an over-18s venue.