It used to be that only surgeons held metal instruments, concentrating on the task at hand below them, pulling down lights for better views with a qualified team behind them. A single word uttered was enough to tell their assistants and nurses what they needed before it was quickly handed to them.
But not anymore as I sit in front of the open kitchen of Biota Dining watching chef James Viles and his team plating up food. The whole restaurant watches the concentration and how they place ingredients just so. Some hold tweezers, others carefully clean up plate edges and when the dish is ready, there’s a soft clap to the staff to let them know that they’ve completed their operation…I mean dish.
We’re here at Biota Dining, on our way home from our weekend at Berry. The drive to Bowral from Berry is about one hour and to get from Bowral to Sydney after lunch, it takes about another hour. The space at Biota is beautifully verdant with Scandinavian touches. Divided into a more casual area, bar area and more formal dining room which sits right in front of the enormous open kitchen window, even diners that sit in a private room get a view of the kitchen antics via a flatscreen television (including a large poster of a girl’s g-string clad torso covered in seaweed). It’s also situated right next to a motel.
Outside there is a kitchen garden and about 60% of produce used is from the local area. On the last Sunday of every month, they hold a farmer’s market where farmers through to home gardeners with excess produce can sell items. It started with 8 vendors and the last market featured 21 vendors. None of the vendors are charged to sell there.
At the Biota restaurant, diners can choose from two courses ($46), four courses ($84) or chef’s selection of seven courses at $124 per person which we chose or $188 with wine. Executive chef James Viles has worked around the world in the Middle East, London and Hong Kong and at young age of 23, he was awarded one chef’s hat. Biota Dining now has two chef’s hats.
The first bite comes out and it is a sheet of semi translucent ocean trout jerky on a slender stick anchored to a Himalayan salt rock. It’s divine, with a touch of lime salt sprinkled on top and I eat it slowly savouring the flavours all the while wondering why we can’t buy ocean trout jerky. Service is smooth, deferential and knowledgeable.
Bread
The bread is a house made whole wheat sourdough served with light smoked, cultured butter. We both love the quirky presentation of the butter on the rock.
Sheep’s milk curd, white asparagus, smoked rye, egg white, botarga
Our first menu course arrives and we watched James as he lowered one of the lamps onto the plates to use the heat to cook the top of the egg yolk. The dish is made up of paper thin silky pasta, neat piles of divinely crunchy smoked rye, tiny little balls of egg white, thinly sliced asparagus all draped on top of a soft mound of sheep’s milk curd. There are also little dark patches of ash and the aroma of truffle. It’s delicate and a textural delight especially when you break the creamy yolk on top of the rest of the dish.
Cuttlefish in its ink, celery, chilled oyster creme, sea lettuce, cucumber
This dish has three curls of tender cuttlefish, thinly sliced celery and dabs of chilled oyster creme, squid ink and a fold of jamon added to it to give a salty burst of flavour. Borage flowers from the garden completed the dish and again, it’s another one that’s almost too pretty to eat-almost! 
Slow cooked duck egg, celeriac, puffed grains, shaved duck ham
In the absence of a better description, this course reminded us of breakfast. First, there was the slow cooked duck egg with the enormous yolk hidden underneath amongst the crunchy puffed grain. The shaved duck ham was thinly sliced like prosciutto (which makes you also wonder why we don’t get duck ham more as it is divine) and there were also cloudy puffs of celeriac cream. It’s a strong, flavoursome dish that is incredibly rich-the giant duck egg yolk takes care of that.
Mulloway, onions, garden peas and shoots, morcilla, fried bone stock. Taken on a Sigma 17-50mm F2.8 EX DC OS lens, focal length 45 mm, ISO 400, 1/40s.
We both thought that perhaps this dish should have come before the above dish as the duck egg and duck ham dish was a strongly flavoured dish and this ebbed straight into delicate again. The mulloway was perfectly cooked and served with sweet, small garden peas and broad beans. A green pasta resembles snake beans and there’s a neat portion of morcilla to the side that adds a lot of flavour. Serving this dish also with a spoon would have been great to try the fried bone stock too.
Pork neck, soft leek, potato, blood orange, mushrooms, chick pea
Our last savoury dish is the pork neck and by this stage, we are getting rather full. The course sizes are the same as if you were ordering the two or four course menu so they’re substantial and we both thought that the chef’s menu was definitely the best value (we couldn’t even imagine the effort that goes into putting a plate like this together when you break the cost down per course). The pork neck is gelatinously soft, smokey and slightly sticky with cooked down sweetness. There is also potato cream, sliced potato with the texture having a little bite back and charred leeks. Along with this are marinated oyster mushrooms which have an almost Asian flavour to them like Chinese rice wine as well as charred blood orange. The whole dish is rich but well balanced too.
Pecora dairy bloomy white from Robertson with carrot marmalade, apple gel
We’re quickly learning that cheese isn’t just cheese here and there’s no serving of a wedge of cheese and some dried fruit. Here, the local Pecora Dairy bloomy cheese is lightly torched and served with apple gel, carrot marmalade. It sits on a thin layer of carotene and is topped with pine needles. I’m curious about carotene as I’ve only known of it as a vitamin, and they tell us of the many steps that they’ve taken a carrot through to arrive at the concentrated carrot flavour and colour at the bottom of the plate.
Mandarin, champagne and rose marshmallow, lemon curd, meringue
Our last course was a pretty one which involves two soft squirts of rose and champagne marshmallow on top of lemon curd and mandarin jelly, mandarin sorbet, slices of fresh mandarin, pistachio crumbs and thin sheets of meringue. It’s like a mandarin meringue pie deconstructed and the slightly tart fruit goes well with the sweet, perfumed marshmallows and crunchy meringue.
We can’t leave without a walk through the kitchen garden where a chef is busy cutting items for the kitchen. Along with ducks, there are two geese-one called foie and the other gras! We head towards Sydney all the while plotting about whom else we can make the return drive here with…
So tell me Dear Reader, do you like open kitchens where you can see what the chefs are doing? And would you or have you ever asked to go into a kitchen to talk to a chef?
NQN and Mr NQN dined as guests of Destination NSW
Biota Dining
18 Kangaloon Road, Bowral NSW 2576, Australia
Phone: (02)4862 2005
If you enjoyed this post, why not share it with your friends?
What is NQN up to now?
NQN on Facebook
RSS
38 Comments | Add your own
What an incredible experience, Lorraine. We were just at Barb’s (Profiteroles and Ponytails) and she had duck prosciutto which I suspect would be similar to the duck ham you described, absolutely wonderful! I adore a dish that uses egg yolk as the sauce, simple and wonderfully decadent. This looks like a place I would thoroughly enjoy.
I also enjoy and open kitchen and depending on the place, I have started a conversation with the chef. But often you don’t want to disturb them.
WOW 23 and has already worked in London and Hong Kong and awarded one chef’s hat
The chef James is definitely talented!
All dishes look great ~ It still amazes me how chefs are able to make dishes so beautiful that you feel bad digging into it
I like open kitchens and definitely like talking to Chef’s because I always like knowing where they get their inspiration hehe
I’m new to your very well run ‘Blog’. Thanks for bloging often, and to your attention to detail. Look forward to reading, and viewing more.
Are foie and gras of the same sex? If yes they will never produce foie gras:)
BTW fish jerky/dried fish is really popular in Russia, as a beer snack. Cheap and easily available. Its not trout though but you can find dried trout.
Great post. Will visit the next time I visit my mum. I think I prefer not seeing in and waiting for the surprise plate. Though would love to talk to the chef at a fine dining restaurant. Would recommend Milton Park in Bowral for exceptional food, dining, and spa treatments.
Biota is our favourite restaurant after we discovered it in 2011. We love the attention to detail, the open kitchen, service and amazing food. Nothing we have tried in Sydney comes close. They also do a wonderful breakfast of a weekend
I really enjoy watching the chefs as meals are prepared in a restaurant .
AND yes 20 years ago my wife and I were invited into the kitchen of “Hotel De Post” in the Loaire Valley France.
Why? Being from Australia we spoke so little French that the owner ushered us into the kitchen and we, and she, nodded, smiled and pointed at ingredients until she, the owner, gave a final smile and indicated she knew what we wanted .
It was one our most memorable meals and the fresh asparagus was AWESOME
Wow, every dish looks interesting & intriguing. It can’t be easy to come up with a menu like that!
That looks divine! I love tat you get to watch the chefs plating up, it’s such an art!
I’ll come! This place looks like it’s in such a beautiful setting and what a talented chef! The food is so pretty. Love the image of the ducks! xx
This looks like a very impressive meal, although I would struggle with all those eggs – they’re quite filling.
I love our modern restaurants with local sourcing and kitchen gardens. And this food, especially the rock, looks great. I don’t mind seeing what is going on in the kitchen, but don’t prefer it. And yes, I have asked to chat with a chef or two in my time…;)
Dear Lorraine,
I enjoyed the cuttlefish and looks like a funky way of presenting the butter since the old block of wood.
I feel positively ignorant! This restaurant is about 30 minutes from my home and I have not been
! I absolutely love the look of this place: it is SO Bowral, and tho’ not cheap I can see the value there! I’ll be honest in my opinion: your pictures are perfect and the plating is picture perfect – for me too Heston Blumenthal perfect! A very special meal no doubt, but I am somehow reverting to ‘real’ food and these dishes are too ‘organized’ for me! That does NOT mean I would not like to go 
! Oh, open kitchens: yes, I usually love them, but I would wait for the chef to come into the restaurant when able – I certainly would not be so presumptious as to ask to speak to him!!
PS Hmm: Bowral > Eastern Suburbs in 60/60: glad the police were on teabreak
!
What a pity we did not know about it when we went there recently, thanks will keep it on to do list for next visit.
This is the way restaurants should be. Serve me food there’s no way I could make at home. I’d love to visit Biota.
What lovely dishes indeed, TRUE!
I would want to savor the flavor experience S-L-O-W-L-Y too!
I love watching chefs cook in open kitchens, perhaps it is just me!
I have asked and have been taken in before I’ve asked by chefs…and have even had the pleasure of some sharing their “secret” recipe!
What a lovely write up! I had heard so many good things about biota but finally I read a review about it. Interestingly, I sat at the chefs table which is a front seat view of the kitchen at The Long Apron in Montville last night and I got to watch and talk with the chefs. It is a wonderful experience that many other restaurants should do. The desserts look so pretty by the way!
I don’t get the butter on a rock.
Oops! I thought the rock *was* the bread! Hah! Gorgeous, gorgeous meal.
I love an open kitchen! Especially at a high-end molecular gastronomy place like this. And I have never spoken to the chef, but there is a famous story of my Grandad having a few too many drinks, and going into the kitchen to tell the chefs to watch their language. Love him to bits.
Looks amazing. Really thoughtful food. A little like dining at Dunkeld in Victoria inspirational
Gosh, I’m amazed that they can serve all those dishes made up of so many elements for just $124!! What a bargain! It’s a shame we live in Melbourne. Great post and photos, thank you
Unfortunately I can not open most of the photographs today, but what I can see, of course, looks lovely. No doubt, Chef is an artist and yes I like his open kitchen and yes, I have asked to talk to Chef (if and when he has time!)- and yes, I have been asked to join the occasional one in their kitchen. Always fascinating! Hugs, Carina
Open kitchens are always a fantastic novelty- and I’d love to speak to a chef, if I had the guts to I guess.
I love how dishes like this are never what you expect them to be
I absolutely love open kitchens! The food here looks exquisite, especially the cuttlefish and Mulloway.
How are you finding the Sigma lens? I’m looking for a new zoom lens to replace my Pentax 18-55 at the moment, because it’s just crap, to be honest!
It is very pretty food – almost too pretty to eat.
Hi Jina! Me too, I love looking at what is happening in the kitchen. I love my Sigma lenses-definitely give them a go as I’ve been using them for years now!
The presentation of the food here is definitely pretty. I love to watch chefs at work too, find it very fascinating.
I’ve been lucky enough to go into a few kitchens to talk to the chef or watch them at work and that spoilt me and often makes me want to talk to them all of the time. But I know they are busy and I’m too shy to ask!
Hi Lorraine, we decided last night that we would do a day trip to Bowral today. I was looking up restaurants in the SMH Good Food Guide and saw Biota then went to your blog to see if you had reviewed it
I saw your post this morning before we headed off, such a coincidence! We just got back and just read your review properly, will have to book for our next trip as food looks fantastic. I really like your reviews Lorraine as they are always honest and describe food in a way that I understand 
What amazing works of art indeed! I think that was amazing value and would be just what I’d choose too
I love open kitchens, I try and pick up as many secret tips as I can! 
I’ve long wanted to try Biota. Twelve months ago I became a devout vegetarian which I shall be for the rest of my life, hence I sadly have not been. Your reporting on it however is just beautiful and makes me see what I sacrifice for my choices.
It must have been so cool to dine at a place where you could watch the chefs prepare your food and source the ingredients right then and there.
Everything looks so fresh and so beautifully prepared!
My eldest daughter Stephanie could not stop raving about Biota when she and her partner dined there, it really tastes as good as it looks! Lovely presentation of everything Lorraine and I’m happy in the knowledge that they have a Farmer’s market once a month, how exquisite.
Yes, I love open kitchens and if the chef has time , a little chat but not too long because he’s needed to prepare the lovely dishes that we order.
Do stop by for a drink or cuppa when you venture down the M5 next, I’m halfway there.
Your fine post has inspired me
oooh Lorraine! I always enjoy living vicariously through your dining adventures! Those duck eggs look great! I wonder if they taste very differently from chicken eggs!
Great pictures and lovely food styling!
I am looking forward to going here one day, hopefully before he gets another chefs hat and the price and waiting list goes up
Post a Comment