McIvor Farm Berkshire pork and Huntly pheasant, Inglewood beef and Yupunya chicken – in the heart of historic Bendigo, you’ll find a roll call of the Goldfields’ best producers shown off to excellent effect at Masons.

Within a stylish, cleverly demarcated dining room, Nick and Sonia Anthony serve an extensive share-style menu on which every plate is a multi-faceted celebration of produce and region.

Holy Goat’s excellent fromage frais is the creamy foil to kataifi-pastry wrapped Camboer goat cigars; wild rabbit – seared loin, leg fritters – comes as a sculpture park of potato wafers and pancetta; while Moreton bay bugs get an elegant tempura treatment.

Wildly generous at every turn, a plate of that McIvor Farm pork features fillet, crisp belly, breaded shoulder, morcilla and crackling, while an equally abundant rendition of lamb many ways that’s finished with beetroot crackers is a virtuosic display that never forgets to be completely delicious. Simpler dishes, such as roasted pumpkin with melted cheddar and roasted hazelnuts, or broccoli with miso butter, shine equally bright.

Drinks, too, are a clever celebration of local heroes. Sweet and welcoming service could do with a keener eye (empty glasses left on the table throughout the meal), though no faulting the dessert platter of 10 tastes that continues the theme of abundance or the local heroes on the drinks list. With Mason’s, Bendigo has struck gold, yet again.

Must-eat dish: Roast Wanbi Plains lamb
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