A late winter afternoon arrival at Biota Dining

We first went to Biota Dining in January (summer in Australia...) for lunch on our way back from a wedding in Canberra. I had heard of Biota at the SMH Growers Market in Pyrmont where they usually have a stand to promote their restaurant. I was intrigued by the fact they were trying to source ingredients from either their own garden or local growers in the Southern Highlands, an area rich in wineries, truffles and all sorts of fruits, vegetables and meat. The ocean is only an hour and a half away, so seafood would be easily available if needed. This is reflected in the name, Biota, which means "Animals and plant life of a particular region. Being a fervent advocate of buying local, I was very keen to investigate this all "locavore" gastronomic destination.
The main attraction is the restaurant and one can choose to come for dinner and stay in one of the twelve rooms on the property.
I had not done a lot of research on the menus or the style of food that James Viles, the owner and Chef, was preparing for his guests.
So, we rocked up around 1.30pm for a late lunch and on that first visit, things didn't go as well as I thought it would...
The menu is somehow cryptic and, at the time, the waiters were not very versed in the philosophy of the restaurant or the way the food was prepared and presented, and we were left to our own devices to pick three dishes out of a choice of about a dozen dishes.
This three course menu was very keenly price at $50 a head, now up to $75 - wine not included. The wine list is quite good and covers a lot of the local wineries and a wide range of prices, including a selection of wines by the glass.
Before I go into more details about our first meal at Biota, I just wanted to give you an idea of the place to put things into context.
The owner and Chef James Viles have built the place with his father and you can clearly see it as a labour of love. It is not extravagant and edges towards minimalist chic rather than luxury, and I think it fits the rural setting just outside Bowral. So, here some pictures!

So, now back to that first lunch and what were our reactions to James' food.

Bread made on the premises, butter stylishly presented on a porous stone - great taste, nice presentation - perfect...

Next came a small and very thin piece of smoked trout, presented on a metal stick, again original and very tasty

I had this fish dish and I can't remember all the ingredients now, but it was pretty good, although I am not a great fan of the foam. Nice flowers, more on these later...

My wife had this vegetarian dish: from memory, celery, beetroot and chickpeas and greens. Nice presentation, but the taste was probably on the bland side of things...

Well I like my lamb, and I am sure this one was organic and local, but there was so little of it and it was to salted, and all this dry lactose was not really my thing...

Potatoes - onions - fresh cheese - pig's skin, it looks and tasted quite ordinary, and it was too milky and salty - it didn't work for us...

Beautiful local pecora blue cheese with confit carrots. That was sublime and certainly one of the highlights of our meal

Owner and Chef James Viles in deep concentration plating a dish.

So to summarise this first experience at Biota, I would say that we were not really convinced by the results in our plates although we were convinced that the concept was aligned with our own "locavore" values and we were concerned that we may have missed the point. Besides, it was obvious that there was a lot of work and dedication in James' work and dedication to his art.
I decided to keep my judgement to myself until such a time when I could have a chance to discuss with the man himself and find out more about the philosophy behind his restaurant, the running of his own garden and the relationship with his local suppliers.
So, when the Pyrmont market resumed early february after the summer break, I introduced myself to the crew at the Biota stand and was very well received by Iain Viles, James' father, who suggested I wrote an email to his son about our disappointment. So I did...
And I received a reply soon after, with an invitation to return to Biota at a date to be agreed and to get to experience the whole Biota Dining concept and revisit the food as well. We eventually met at the Market in June and James kindly invited us for dinner and an overnight stay in one of the twelve rooms adjacent to and part of the Biota Dining estate. I proposed to pay for our accommodation and it was kindly refused. We also were asked to keep the next morning free for a bit of foraging and visit to a local supplier.
We eventually went on July 25th & 26th and here is our revised review of our experience. James had a few surprises in store for us...
Here are a few photos of the room we stayed in and of the surroundings in the Australian winter.

Entrance to the rooms at Biota Dining

The garden in winter

Our room - number ONE, what else???

Harvesting clover from the back of the rooms

We were booked for 7.30pm and the five course degustation menu and we arrived promptly to be seated by Ben the maitre d' and sommelier. We are generally not too keen on matching wines with that sort of menu, so we asked Ben to recommend something that would take us through the whole meal. Ben came up with an "out of the square" recommendation: a local Marsanne by Ravensworth, a winery from the Canberra District, a mere 90 minutes away. This wine did very well until we had the duck, where a more robust red would have been a better choice, but obviously this was not part of our brief , so no complaints whatsoever, more an observation.

The dining room - by night

Our wine for the night: Marsanne from Ravensworth near Canberra

First course: smoked roe - storm clam - charcoal - sea lettuce - arrives in "kit" form to conserve the juices of the clam until ready to eat. That had a surprising mix of textures and flavours and we liked it very much

And now in its "assembled" form...

Hen yolk - cooked curds - rye - chickpeas

Lamb breast - dried lactose - fresh and cooked oats - the lamb was cooked and seasoned to perfection, but another incarnation of a milk product didn't add anything interesting for me. more a visual treat than a flavour enhancer

Duck parts - pine - cauliflower - white raisins - One of the best dishes, interesting mix of textures and flavours and visually striking. A full-bodied red wine would have been a perfect match, however the Marsanne did "cut the mustard"...

James surprised us with this extra course, a kind of non-alcoholic "troy normans" that I will call a symphony for mandarine in four movements: confit, jelly, sorbet and marshmallow. This is one of the best things I ever tasted in my life! Up there with a cherry tomato "amuse-bouche" chez Guy Savoy decades ago. Again here James shows invention and mastery of textures, flavours and colours! Simply Sublime and Spectacular!

Chocolate - fermented apple juices - quince - pear. I wish I had some appetite left for this lovely dessert! That brings me to one comment: the portions are generally too big for a 7 or 5 course menu. It is perfect if you are going for 3 course, but I think it needs adjusting down for the longer menus. Ben tempted us with a taste of Two Meter Tall Cleansing Ale (!) from Tasmania, again a very much "out of the square" choice which worked very well with the chocolate

One could be tempted to continue the veining at the bar, where a lovely Cuban lady will entice you with more drinks. The bar also serves tapas and snacks including this beautiful "jamon" sitting on the corner of the bar.

The morning after...and, no, we didn't have jamon and eggs for breakfast

just a beautiful cup of coffee, or two...

Fruits and herbs - cleansing stuff much needed...

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The next morning, James had another surprise in store for us...and we went to Robertson, a short 20 mms drive south of Bowral to meet a wonderful couple and be treated to something very special indeed...James took his executive chef with us, Joel

Patricia, Barbara, Ted, James, Joel and...Jet, the truffle dog

Now you know...and you may recall that this is where the biggest truffle in Australian history was dug up

A very happy man indeed...1.172kg of goodness and nature's wonder

It was sold for a whopping 2500$ to the Centennial Vineyard Restaurant in Bowral, and you can get a taste there...

But we didn't have to go that far: best breakfast ever! I will write a separate post about truffles in Australia , as well as a story on Bowral, the Southern Highlands and its wineries very soon. stay tuned!

On the way back to Bowral, we stopped for a bit of foraging, and found some mustard flowers

And we ended up visiting the brand new "tunnel" where James grows all his herbs, oats etc...

And after giving us the grand tour of the pantry where we had a chance to see all the ingredients and been told where they were coming from, and the kitchen where we were privy of the preparation of that beautiful mandarin symphony, it was back to business as usual for James, Joel and the rest of the crew as they had a full house for Saturday lunch...

In  conclusion

.MagnOur second visit helped us to understand more about the philosophy of the restaurant and the structure of the menu and the objectives of the food being prepared by James and his crew. We had the chance to connect with Ben the very knowledgeable sommelier and Serena, one of the longest serving waitress who was very articulate about the way the food was prepared and structured and that was a welcome change from our first visit. Some of the dishes were outstanding like the duck and obviously the mandarin dessert. We believe that there is still room for improvement and fine tuning - for instance, reducing the size of the portions for the 5 and 7 course menus, as well reducing the amount of dairy products, overwhelmingly present in each dish, but there is no doubt that the combination of the local ingredients, the technical skills and passion of James and the hard work put in by the whole crew can produce fantastic results. James' passion, dedication and integrity have already triggered a raft of prestigious awards and he is regularly invited to cook with other famous Chefs or for special events like the Archibald Prize dinner the week before we visited.
We would like to thank him and his team for their hospitality and the time they took out of their busy schedule to entertain us, feed us and make us share their enthusiasm and philosophy which we are completely in tune with. So, go and get your own opinion and enjoy the ride with this group of amiable and talented people! Thank you again for giving us a wonderful time.
​Update December 2015: James Viles has just published a magnificent book which describe his journey and his philosophy of cooking with local ingredients called GROW. GATHER. COOK. I highly recommend it. Fabulous photos by Jason Loucas