The Table
Cooking from the paddock
7 min read
Farm-to-table is a phrase most menus overuse. Out here the paddock is fifty metres from the kitchen door, the hens are just past the compost heap, and the menu genuinely changes with what's ready to pick that morning.
What's in season
In summer the garden is at its most generous — tomatoes still warm from the vine, basil by the armful, cucumbers, zucchini, capsicum, stone fruit from the orchard, and eggs still warm from the coop. The cooking gets simpler: things sliced, dressed and eaten quickly, with as little between the paddock and the plate as possible.
In winter the garden slows and the kitchen speeds up. Greens, brassicas, citrus, root vegetables and a long list of herbs sit alongside slow braises, wood-fired sides and the sort of hearty cooking that suits a cool hinterland evening.
Where the rest comes from
What we don't grow, we source from neighbours and small producers across the Noosa hinterland and Sunshine Coast. Bread and pastries from bakers in Pomona. Cheeses from Maleny and Kenilworth. Oysters and reef fish up the coast. Coffee roasted in Cooroy. Beef and lamb from properties we know by name.
It is a very short supply chain by design. Nothing on the menu has travelled further than we would happily drive for lunch — usually much less.
Long tables under the arbour
The most-requested set-up is a shared long-table lunch or dinner under the arbour. We set the table with linen, hurricane lamps and cuttings from the garden, and cook multiple courses across the woodfire and the kitchen.
A typical dinner might open with grazing plates and something from the pizza oven, move into a shared main brought out on boards, and finish with something from the orchard — poached quince, roasted stone fruit, a warm cake with cream. Slow, generous food. The sort of meal that becomes the memory of the trip.
Or just the essentials
Not everyone wants a full menu. A grazing platter waiting on arrival, a stocked breakfast hamper in the fridge, or a pre-made dinner to warm up on a quiet night — we can do as much or as little as suits the stay.
Tell us what you love, what you cannot eat, and what kind of trip this is, and we will build it around you. The kitchen is happiest when it is cooking for people who are actually hungry.