STORY BY LARISSA DUBECKI, PHOTOS BY CHRIS TURNER

Daylesford region’s latest café delivers a taste of relaxed refinement for locals and tourists alike.

Hotel Bellinzona certainly has the wow factor sewn up. A Gatsby-esque glamour infuses the grand, sprawling estate in the heart of Hepburn. Dating back to 1903 and revitalised with the modern élan of new owners Theresa Albioli and Tony De Marco, it has 43 suites awaiting guests, along with a spa, indoor heated pool and gorgeous landscaped grounds. But the demands of its café, The Virgin, and restaurant, The Oxford Dining Room, required a person with the expertise and talent to act as the missing piece in the puzzle.

Good chefs can be hard to come by, which makes it a coup for Hotel Bellinzona that they have recruited Tom Brockbank as Executive Chef. The name will be immediately recognisable to the restaurant scene’s many trainspotters. Since arriving from his native UK, Brockbank has worked at Scott Pickett’s The Estelle, overseen the classic pub menu at O’Connell’s Centenary Hotel in South Melbourne, and taken charge of the entire food offering at Melbourne’s grand dame Windsor Hotel.

It’s a boon for The Virgin Café and The Oxford Dining Room at Hotel Bellinzona – and also an exciting opportunity Brockbank says he couldn’t pass up.

“To start from scratch is a pretty enticing proposition,” says the 35-year-old. “To deal with producers in the region, to have the chance to start our own kitchen garden out back, and to really push the regional story is a great thing for any chef, particularly with everything we have to choose from in Central Victoria.”

First cab off the rank is The Virgin Cafe. Its caffeine offering is second to none thanks to the exclusive regional rights to Proud Mary coffee, but the food to go with it – the gourmet all day breakfast menu, tarts and sweets and savoury nibbles. The filled baguettes and sandwiches that, given Brockbank’s artisan flare, are more like a proper meal wrapped in bread.

The space itself is stunning. On the hotel’s ground floor, The Virgin is light and bright, with a six-metre-long central oak table and French doors opening onto the tranquil grounds. Strewn with statuary and objects d’art and with original works hung on the walls, it’s a bit like an easygoing gallery – one where you can order a smashed pavlova with charred stonefruit and lime curd or a white chocolate cheesecake with fresh mango.

“The idea is that we cater to guests, sure, but we also want to be a place where locals feel comfortable and intrigued enough to visit regularly. We’ll be changing the menu often enough to keep it interesting.”

Brockbank has been busy cementing relationships with the area’s artisan producers, such as Bruce and Roz Burton of organic poultry Milking Yard Farm. “I can tell how much passion goes into making it, and it’s a story we can tell our guests,” he says. “I want our chefs to interact with the customers. A bit of light-hearted banter never goes astray.”

The Virgin Cafe

77 Main Road, Hepburn Springs

5348 2271

www.bellinzona.com.au