Ahh, the Gastro-Pub. I don't much go for that phrase. Too often it seems to me to be code for a pub with a kitchen, and delusions of grandeur. The Farmers Arms in Daylesford, about an hour and a half out of Melbourne, does not fall into that category. Nor, however, does the kitchen at The Farmers Arms turn out intricate, overly complicated, intimidating cuisine. This is simple food, done very very well. In some cases, almost perfectly.

The restaurant is situated to the rear of the old red-brick pub, which from the outside is decidedly underwhelming. The dining room has been renovated somewhat since my last visit several years ago, and now has significantly more light than previously. The wine list is reasonably comprehensive, and the markups are not too bad either. Service is competent, although sometimes not as polished as it could be.

I'm actually not going to go through all the food and experiences as I normally do, I'll just put the photos up and you can assume they all tasted good (because they did). What I am going to do is wax lyrical about one dish in particular.

The steak.

That's all I'm going to say. This is serious comfort food with a capital C. Dayelsford is usually cold, and if it's dark and rainy too then so much the better. I like nothing more than eating a good meal with a bottle of red when it's positively miserable outside. I can think of few better places to do just that than here.

We ate:

We drank: