Byron Bay’s food offerings have really hit their stride, first with the opening of The Farm and now with the relaunch of Balcony Bar, as Balcony Bar & Oyster Co.. Featuring a fresh new beach house look complete with whitewashed walls and tropical ferns, new owners award-winning executive chef Sean Connolly (The Morrison, Sean’s Kitchen, The Grill) and business partner Fraser Short of The Sydney Collective (Watsons Bay Hotel, The Morrison, Daniel San, Beachside Dojo, Northies, Mona Vale Hotel) are bringing laid-back beach vibes with a splash of Sydney-chic to one of Byron’s most iconic locations.

So what to expect from the new-look Balcony Bar? Gone are the tapas-style dishes, replaced by a seasonally-focused menu showcasing produce from local suppliers including The Farm Gate Providore, Borrowdale Free-range Pork, Barcoo Beef, Richmond Valley Free-range eggs, Cultur’d Butter and Bread Social. At the lighter end, diners can expect Yamba prawns with tomato mayo and crab and lettuce tacos, while heartier dishes include a rich mushroom ricotta gnocchi, grass-fed eye fillet with peppercorn sauce and free-range lamb shoulder. The extensive drinks menu has kept the much-loved original cocktails including Chilli Coconut – chilli-infused dark rum served in a coconut, as well as jugs of lychee martini and Bloody Mary for those wanting to settle in for the afternoon.

NSW’s Hunter Valley has long been a favourite weekend escape for food and wine lovers, and now there’s reason to return with recently opened restaurant EXP by Frank Fawkner, who’s worked along side Troy Rhoades-Brown at two-hatted Muse and Tom Aikens in the UK.

At EXP, the kitchen grow much of what is on offer on the elegant five and eight course degustation menus ($80 & $100/pp), and produce reigns supreme in dishes such as duck ham with roasted fig and goat’s curd, Fraser Island spanner crab with gnocchi and nettle, Pyengana cheddar panna cotta with quince and sourdough. The restaurant is nestled on Oakvale Winery, Pokolbin, and Oakvale wines – many of them minimal intervention, along with other big-hitting Hunter stars are on the menu.

With front row views of the River Derwent, Hobart’s sleek new waterfront restaurant Aloft is the city’s hottest ticket for dinner, alongside recently opened neighbourhood diner Templo and David Moyle’s Franklin, which lead the casual fine-dining charge just over a year ago when it opened in the historic Mercury newspaper building. Aloft co-head chefs Glenn Byrnes (ex-Taxi Dining Room, Garagistes and Vue de Monde) and Christian Ryan (ex-Taxi Dining Room, Pilgrim and Gordon Ramsay’s Savoy Grill, UK) have teamed up to showcase Tassie produce with an elegant Asian flavour bent in a Scandi-chic loft setting at the end of the new steel and glass Brooke Street Pier. It’s one hell of a mash-up and it works.

Nestled at the tip of Brooke Street Pier, Aloft is a sleek Scandi-inspired restaurant with uninterrupted water views over the River Derwent through floor-to-ceiling windows. Come for dinner and sit at the bar or at one of the generously spaced tables and dine on the Asian-accented menu from chefs Christian Ryan and Glenn Byrnes. Wood ear mushroom dumplings are perfect umami pillows to start, followed by the signature master stock pig’s ear and coconutty yellow fish curry. The banquet menus are a great way to relinquish control, and the kitchen delivers pescatarian, vegetarian and vegan options. Brooke Street Pier, Hobart, aloftrestaurant.com

The addition of six luxury suites to Dan Hunter’s Brae in tiny, almost off-the-grid Birregurra, has completed the picture for the regional restaurant in The Otways. Winding 90 minutes along the coastal road is no easy feat at the best of times, and better avoided if you intend to take advantage of their impressive wine list. The suites are in keeping with the original vision for the property with recycled materials, solar energy, harvested rainwater and handmade finishes. Not only does a reservation include lunch or dinner at Brae, the suites – designed for two by Six Degrees Architects – are as luxury as they get, with views of the rural surrounds, skylights for star-gazing and touches such as a Thorens turntable in each suite (with a record collection including Johnny Cash, Grace Jones, David Bowie, Bjork, Nick Cave, Beck and Miles Davis, to name a few). Throw in a stacked cocktail bar, wine fridge, bath and private outdoor area and time to stroll in the extensive garden and a long weekend away couldn’t have a better highlight.

Just one of the produce-focus dishes you might find at Brae: watermelon with snow pea, rhubarb and rose.

For a weekend out of the big city, newly opened Igni in Geelong is a perfect excuse to get away. After spending some years in a kind of fried-chicken wilderness after closing acclaimed Loam in Drysdale (and working at Noma and El Celler de Can Roca – currently sitting atop the World’s 50 Best Restaurants list) chef Aaron Turner is back with some of his original crew, offering a produce-driven degustation-only menu (5 or 8-courses) that differs from table to table.

More on Igni: the open kitchen (complete with ‘fire-pit) sends out a changing roster of dishes that could range from a single oyster dressed with aged goose fat and acorn, to a dish of raw beef with mustard and finger lime, or even raw squid, cut into delicate ribbons and served with marron and chicken fat. A single-page wine list demonstrates diversity, as does their commitment to running monthly events with a guest chef and wine producer or distributor (Pinbone and Black Market Sake are next on the list for April). Lock it in to the travel list and make a weekend of it. Extra points to anyone who can knock off a Brae-Igni double.

Hermitage Lodge is a multi award winning boutique hotel nestled on 10 hectares in the very heart of Hunter Valley wine country. The Lodge’s 20 Studios and Suites offer both 4 and 4.5 star boutique Hunter Valley accommodation along with personal attentive service rarely found today. Guests of Hermitage Lodge have easy access to many of the areas major attractions including cellar doors, golf courses and Hunter Valley Gardens. Numerous cellar doors are within easy walking distance including First Creek Wines, Scarborough, Constable Estate, Vinden Estate, Roche Wines and Brokenwood.

Hermitage Lodge’s award winning on-site restaurant ‘Il Cacciatore’ offers diners Northern Italian inspired cuisine and a wine list featuring the best of what the Hunter has to offer. Il Cacciatore also conducts cooking classes during the day by prior arrangement. The seasonal menu takes advantage of fresh local produce, authentic Italian ingredients and house made pastas. With dishes including slow cooked duck ragu with paccheri, forest mushroom and mascarpone arancini and New Zealend diamond clam and garlic prawn saffron linguine, Il Cacciatore is a must-do whenever visiting the Hunter Valley.