“There’s something special about cooking with produce that’s been grown metres from the kitchen." Former Icebergs chef Alex Prichard gets back to nature at his new Berry destination diner Sara.
If you’ve ever dreamed of a treechange, Sara Dining might just be the tipping point that has you googling country real estate.
Chef Alex Prichard has traded the waves of Bondi for the paddocks of the NSW South Coast, departing Icebergs Dining Room and Bar after 11 years to start his dream regional restaurant – and first solo venture – Sara Dining, in Berry.
Taking paddock-to-plate to its natural conclusion, Prichard and his wife Angie have established Sara Dining on site at Moraea Farm, a working farm and luxury farmhouse stay from private retreat specialists Linnaeus Collection.
The five-acre farm shapes what lands on the plate day-to-day. Since having his own treechange to the coast a few years ago, Prichard has been able to dabble in what he calls “amateur gardening”, but now has gotten his hands dirty expanding two growing kitchen gardens, with the help of a qualified on-staff agronomist, and aiming to become increasingly self-sustaining.
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“We have two gardens, and if we can end up growing 80 percent of the fruit, vegetables and herbs that we use in the restaurant, I will be very happy,” Prichard says. “The biggest thing for me, more so, is more just a connection to the actual produce. So I like being able to walk guests through… and show them things that they’ve just eaten between main and dessert.”
Despite advertising the official opening date as August 1, Prichard and team opened with surprise early services – at least in part to give locals the first welcome. “We’ve thought about how do we not only have a successful restaurant, but also make it a restaurant that locals love,” he says. The community reaction so far has, in a word, been “phenomenal”.
Tapping into the expertise Prichard gained while heading up one of Australia’s best seafood restaurants, South Coast seafood also takes pride of place on the plate, with dairy and meats from the lush surrounding farmland adding to the wealth of ingredients at his fingertips.
The menu reads like a checklist of Australia’s best producers, from Margra Lamb and Burraduc Buffalo cheese to Westholme Wagyu and Chris Bolton seafood. Relaxed, farmhouse-style dining embraces plates like retired dairy cow, seared and served with tableside condiments, and a jewel-like plate of mixed crudo.
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The 60-seat restaurant was fashioned out of the homestead’s garage and workshop by Studio XOX, with an outdoor woodfired oven and open grill and light-festooned courtyard that has us all urging summer to arrive faster.
Respected bartender Evan Stroeve has departed The Waratah in Sydney’s Darlinghurst (where Prichard helped establish the launch menu) to chase greener pastures, shaping a 500-strong wine list – including more than 30 pours by the glass, and pages dedicated to NSW drops. Cocktails lean into the botanical bounty growing steps from the bar.
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