Last year, Provenance chef Michael Ryan – facing seemingly insurmountable hurdles – transformed his already excellent Japanese-leaning fine diner into something better still. The former scientist took to fermenting and distilling anything that stood still long enough. He appraised the eight-course set menu format and found it wanting. The experience now resembles the kaiseki menus of ryokan bathhouses – 18 dishes delivered in four waves. The riot of colour, slow food and ceramics begins with a silky prawn with vinegar jelly, myriad pickles and a soft lobe of poached kohlrabi with salted plum – umeboshi. There may be plush duck ham, or hand-cut udon noodles slippery with tonkotsu, or maybe sweet-salty lacto-fermented pumpkin, double dashed with its own seeds both as oil and furikake. Supported by Damian Moylan’s impeccable sake and hyper-local wine selections (and Ryan’s own amari) and that historic room, elegantly refreshed in late 2019, this Beechworth star has never shone brighter.
This review was made independently for the Gourmet Traveller Restaurant Guide. The guide’s reviewers visit unannounced and pay their way.
Gourmet Traveller Restaurant Guide 2022
Our guide gives a yearly snapshot of the best restaurants to eat at right now. The best-rated restaurants, as judged by the reviewers’ first-hand experience, form our national Top 80.
Jana Langhorst
