A new room has given new life to Michael Ryan’s Japanese-accented fine diner in Beechworth, which now looks as smart as the cooking and wonderful regional wine list.

With American indie-folk on the stereo, Norwegian pale ale in the glass and Myrrhee goat on the plate, a meal here within the one-time Bank of Australasia is quirky, interesting and delicious.

Though the menu is scattered with yuzu, dashi and umeboshi, this is less Japanese restaurant and more regional venue with timeshare in the Land of the Rising Sun.

You might order the Japanese oden of beef tongue, slivers of grill-branded meat in an earthy mushroom stock, and follow with ruby-breasted duck amped with furikake and served alongside a shredded duck congee finished with umebosi. You should definitely begin with fried cured garfish and eat too much sourdough with smoky miso butter. Finish with an elegant crostoli that sandwiches the finest apple dice and sharp raspberries. And drink deeply from the wine list – it’s an on-point collection of this boutique region that produces some of the state’s finest.

For a unique and inspired celebration of the north-east, with cooking that’s smart and delicious, all roads lead to Beechworth.

Must eat dish: Maremma duck-roasted breast, brown rice congee, umeboshi