There are two main towns that serve as entry points to the Grampians national park — Dunkeld in the south and Halls Gap in the north. The Royal Mail Hotel in Dunkeld is a destination in itself. Rooms overlook the arresting Mount Sturgeon, and landscaped gardens overflow with native plants and wildflowers. Guests can take a tour of the hotel’s incredible 1.2-hectare kitchen garden managed with organic practices — the largest restaurant kitchen garden in the country. A tour and tasting in the hotel’s 29,000-bottle cellar will reveal the largest collection of Bordeaux and Burgundy wines in the Southern Hemisphere. For a casual meal, the Parker Street Project has a popular ‘Feed Me’ menu with a chef’s daily selection of plates. We’re told that the Old Dunkeld Bakery sourdough cob loaf with whipped vegemite butter is such a winner that it cannot be taken off the menu. The hotel’s fine dining and hatted restaurant Wickens overlooks the mountain. Sitting at tables made of local sandstone, patrons can see head chef Robin Wickens in the floor-to-ceiling glass kitchen plating meals with precision. Wickens and staff source 80 per cent of their produce from the hotel’s kitchen garden.

Serving breads and pastries to locals since 1887, the menu at Dunkeld Old Bakery is focused on rustic, artisan breads baked in their vintage wood fired oven, one of only a few that are still operational in Australia. In the morning, there’s a busy queue of people coming in to the little cottage for croissants, sausage rolls, cakes and sourdough. You can also sit inside at the Wild Plum Café in front of a log fire and order breakfast and lunch, surrounded by brightly coloured paintings by local artists. Owners Belinda and Geoff Walsh are all about fresh, local, house-made and homegrown. The smashed avocado with poached eggs, fetta, pumpkin on sourdough toast comes with their own house-made dukkah, giving a little kick of spice in the morning. The hot chocolates from Grounded Pleasures, a family-owned business in Ballarat, are also available in store to purchase. Don’t leave without one of Belinda’s crisp chocolate croissants for the road.

Owned by young husband and wife Richard and Carly Flecknoe, this cosy café is located in Halls Gap in the north, considered the heart of the Grampians and the town from which many of the lookouts, waterfalls and hikes are accessed. Have a chat to the very-friendly Carly from seating either out front, inside or on the back deck. A specials blackboard reveals daily pasta, soup and gluten free options in addition to an extensive menu with pies, salads and baguettes. They offer a healthy mini grazing plate for kids too. The Flecknoes aim to source as many of their ingredients from the local Grampians region as possible. In their Provedore section, they stock local artisan butters, olives, oils, spices, condiments, beer and wine available for purchase.

Guitars are proudly mounted on walls and chandeliers made of sticks dangle above hardwood tables at this café with a distinct artistic vibe. Clearly popular with locals, diners can eat indoors or outside in the sunshine by the small stream. In the hub of town, it’s a great place to grab a coffee or hearty feed before heading off on your day’s activities in the national park. Coffees and Grounded Pleasures hot chocolates are served in sustainable, repurpose waste HuskeeCups, created from discarded coffee husks. For breakfast, you can’t go wrong with the sticky date pancakes or zucchini, dill and buffalo fetta fritters — although the smashed avocado with goat’s cheese, lemon, dukkah and a beetroot trio (paste, greens and crisps) has to be one of the prettiest smashed avos we’ve seen.

In the foothills of Mount William the local hotel is pumping with activity on a Saturday night. In winter, there are several fireplaces and wood heaters dotted throughout keeping patrons toasty. Kids zip around on the indoor and outdoor playing equipment. The family-friendly bistro also has an adults-only dining area. Come here for good, hearty pub grub such as chicken schnitzel, battered fish and chips or pizza — while other dishes make the most of regional produce such as saltbush-crusted lamb backstrap with beetroot puree, potato wedges, seasonal vegetables and shiraz jus.

A visit to the Brambuk National Park and Cultural Centre provides a thorough overview of the culture of the Jardwadjali and Djab Wurrung Abboriginal communities of south-western Victoria. As well as viewing the symbolic design of the building, which represents a cockatoo with its wings outstretched in flight (the totem for the area), visitors can also dine at the Bushfoods Café which fuses traditional Aboriginal recipes and indigenous ingredients with contemporary dishes. Monthly bush food tasting platters have little morsels that represent the region, and can include kangaroo striploin, crocodile tail, wattleseed damper, tomato native thyme relish, pepper berries, riberries, native currants, lemon aspen, finger lime and salad with lemon Myrtle dressing. Save room for sweets, with muffin flavours such as chocolate wattleseed with strawberry gum cream incorporating a sweet taste of the bush.