Homemade and hyperlocal. Seasonal and sustainable. Hurstbridge’s two-person run Greasy Zoe’s ticks all of the above in tiny, suburban 15-seater.

Whether chef Zoe Birch is serving Yarra Valley beer washed-rind camembert or Gippsland beef short rib, brined and coal-smoked to perfection – trust everything is made from the freshest and best of the week.

Greasy Zoe’s eight-course feast has no written menu, and for the first course, no cutlery. A small-bite smorgasboard might include a cloud-like pumpkin puff, mackerel mousse on a wafer-thin potato and addictive salt and vinegar purple potato crisps before moving onto a delicious mushroom broth bearing a sole tapioca gnocco, and cabbage-leaf wrapped sardine.

Drinks also take a go-local approach, with front-of-house’s Lachlan Gardner pouring Punch wine from St Andrews just up the road.

Back-to-basics cooking at its finest, at $85 a head with matching wine an extra $65 ($85 for premium wines), Greasy Zoe’s is exceptionally good value. 

Must Eat Dish: Gippsland beef short rib