Catch some Vitamin D over a plate of delicious regional cuisine or a round of drinks in these vibrant outdoor dining spaces. Take in the views across vineyards, dine al fresco style, or soak in the rays in a funky beer garden.
Garden Views
The O&L Café is the perfect place to settle in for an afternoon of delicious food accompanied by the sing-song of birdlife in a picturesque Mediterranean style garden. Why not bring your furry friends, totally dog friendly. The O & L is the home of Doctors Creek Preserves. With a wide variety of sweet and savoury preserves, you will be certain to find something to tantalize the taste buds.
Summerfield Winery is a lovely spot to sip on estate grown wine on the manicured grass under the shady trees and umbrellas. Offering a selection of mouth-watering wood fire pizzas, along with artisan poolish sourdough breads and pastry products, both savoury and sweet, baked fresh on site. If pizza isn’t your thing, they have a deli stocking local and international produce such as smoked meats, cheeses, jams, chutney, relish, olives, olive oil, and nuts.
Beer Gardens
Make the most of the sunshine in our regions favourite bars and pubs. Head to Waubra Springs Hotel where you can find indoor and outdoor dining in an a la carte setting. The menu boasts a modern bistro style, with contemporary Australian elements including your pub favourites as well as some of the chefs personal favourites. Each Sunday through Summer, you can enjoy live music in the beer garden. A little further down the road you can find the Lexton Pyrenees Hotel where you can enjoy a refreshing under the maple tree. Cross over to Beaufort where you will find the Golden Age Hotel that consists of a relaxed beer garden and an extensive menu. Moonambel is where you can really cool off with a beer garden that has a pool at the Moonambel Resort.
Dine By The Vines
Lazy afternoons filled with sunshine, wine and plenty of grazing await at picturesque vineyards in the Pyrenees. Enjoy vineyard views and Mountain landscapes as far as the eye can see at Bigibila Winery. Open 11am – 5pm Saturday and Sundays Bigibila offers visitors a casual and more relaxed dining with their Grazing Platters featuring Goldfields Farmhouse Cheeses as well as delicious coffee and cake. Blue Pyrenees cellar door provides a superb vantage point from which to taste the estates award winning wines and the outdoor courtyard is a serine place for a relaxing afternoon under the vines where you can enjoy grazing plates and small plates.
Create your own Insta-worthy moment in the beautiful estate gardens at Taltarni Vineyard and try their chocolate and wine experience. At Sallys Paddock, you are guaranteed a more intimate experience where visitors are warmly welcomed to enjoy the wineries diverse selection of wines on the terrace with a platter. Sally and Neil make a dynamic duo with Neil creating sensational full bodied wines and Sally is a whiz in the kitchen creating her own sauces and preservatives from fruit grown on the estate which you will find in her dishes and her home made cakes are to die for!
Only 20 minutes from Ballarat and overlooking the Pyrenees Ranges, Wayward Winery is a “must visit” location. With a brand new restaurant with amazing views, Wayward Winery specialises in wood fired cooking for a relaxing lunch, The restaurant features a deck that overlooks the vineyard, offering superb alfresco lunches.
Urban dining in the Country
Want to enjoy the city culinary scene in the country? Head to The Avoca Hotel for a spot of day drinking in Avoca. Here you can find a huge list of local wines that the Pyrenees region is well known for as well as a substantial range of local and regional craft beer together with many uncommon imported boutique beers from all over the world. Offering a relaxed fine dining experience either inside the dining room or al fresco out the front of the Hotel, it is easy to spend an entire afternoon here relaxing in the sun.