Orange is known for its established food scene and cool climate wines and it has been many years since my last visit there. With a population of 44,000 people there are always new things happening and so many fantastic places to eat and drink at. Come along as we visit five new restaurant and wineries. From wine bars, restaurants and cellar doors, I'll show you why Orange is a foodie's destination.
Summer St Wine Bar
The newest kid on the block is Summer St Wine Bar located in the centre of Orange on the street of the same name. This spacious wine bar seats around 60 people and is spread across two rooms. It's the first venture of hospitality couple Elizabeth Wittig who works front of house and Matthew Eustis the chef. Open late May 2025 it was an instant hit. It's the perfect place to stop for pre-dinner drinks at the bar or sit down for a full dinner.
We are here for snacks and pre-dinner drinks. I start with a Cruel Summer, a cocktail made with vodka, blueberry, strawberry liquor, lemon and topped with fairy floss. While this sounds sweet it is actually well balanced with a fruity tartness. Mr NQN has a glass of the local Chardonnay by Swinging Bridge called Mrs Payten.
We start with some hot - not warm, olives scented with cumin and fennel seed and garlic. I love warm olives but I like them even better when they're hot, especially on a chilly night. The taramasalata is smooth and silky and topped with red mullet roe. It is perfect spread over pita bread. And speaking of the pita, when I saw that the pita bread said 3 pieces I thought that it meant three triangles or wedges, not three entire rounds of pita. We're definitely not in Sydney at these reasonable prices. Tip: you want to order around 2 dips for this amount of bread.
Mindful of our upcoming dinner we also share one of the lamb empanadas. These have a crisp pastry and a delicious, soft centre of lamb shoulder, feta and cumin.
Swinging Bridge Winery
There are countless wineries in Orange as the region boasts some of NSW's best known cellar doors and for any wine to be considered an Orange wine, it must sit at least 600m/1968feet above sea level. The family-owned Swinging Bridge winery and cellar door is located 900 metres/2952feet above sea level. This elevation affects the profile of the wine making the grapes more tart and fresh with a ripe fruit profile rather than the jammy, super-ripe fruit profile that you can see in warmer climates.
Philippe points outside past the black cows outside the window towards the house of Tom Ward. He's the winemaker and owner at Swinging Bridge. They have two single vineyards, Hill Park just next to the cellar door and another one four kilometres from here.
Guests can book their "Savour" paired wine and canape tasting which is an 1 hour experience for $50 per person. We start with their 100% Chardonnay Blanc de Blanc bubbles that are 18 months on lees and paired with a lemon granita, mascarpone and grilled almonds on top. Then we segue into three of their white wines paired with bite sized snacks like salmon rillettes on potato crisp or a delicious truffled cauliflower soup with crisp fried shallots.
Most of their wines are named after members of the family with Tom wanting to pay tribute to his family from Tom's daughter Eliza to Mrs Payton, Tom's grandmother that is matured in French oak. After this we try three of their red wines paired including one of their hashtag series of wines that are designed to be easy drinking wines paired with fromage d'affanois, apple and prosciutto. Our last wine is a medium bodied William J. Shiraz matched with a beef brisket with onion jam and garlic.
Fiorini's Osteria Italiana
Fiorini's Osteria Italiana is a cozy Italian restaurant set in a cottage in Canobolas that is a destination in itself. The glow and service is warm from the moment you step in. Italian paintings, giant pumpkins and a cosy country feel inside belie the elevated rustic food coming out of the kitchen. Fiorini's is actually the sister restaurant of Il Baretto in Sydney's Paddington.
This agrarian location is more paddock to plate and foraged. Both restaurants are run by sister brother team Kelly and Gabriella Fedeli whose family hails from Rome, Italy. Kelly took over the longstanding restaurant from her aunt who had it for 25 years and retired last year. Kelly commutes from Sydney to Orange for the restaurant's opening days from Thursday to Sunday and he handles the Paddington restaurant. The head chef is formerly of Lolli Redini Simonn Hawke.
The bruschetta is a must order. Instead of using ciabatta they use their house baked focaccia. It comes out in petite, soft and downy rectangles topped with torn buffalo mozzarella, olives tapenade and sweet peperonata.
The salmon is cured in beetroot and Aperol with fennel, radish and apple. The Aperol gives it a nice spike of flavour and this has a beautiful freshness to it.
The burrata is incredible with thinly sliced crisp fuyu persimmon, sliced toasted focaccia, crisp pancetta with a truffled honey to tie it all together. I want this every day of my life.
For mains we share a pasta and a meat dish. The pappardelle with braised rabbit, wild pine mushrooms, hazelnuts and reggiano on top are a wintry delight. The pasta is rolled beautifully thin like a handkerchief and picks up the tender pieces of rabbi and mushroom well.
The Sommerlad roasted chicken is stuffed with truffle porcini mushroom and rolled and served with creamed polenta and sautéed Tuscan kale. The chicken is so moist and flavoursome while the creamed polenta is utterly comforting and perfectly seasoned.
The desserts are created by their sous chef Mirko Panciroli who is also a pastry chef and consists of cannolo, panna cotta and tiramisu. The tiramisu is a so popular that they will never take it off the menu and once you try it you'll see why.
The almond torta is one of the dessert specials. It's an almond and dark chocolate tart topped with poached quince and quince whipped mascarpone served warm. It's a combination I hadn't tried before but it works well with the tart sweet fruit and the buttery almond torta and chocolate layer.
Rowlee Wines
Near to Fiorini's and Swinging Bridge is Rowlee Wines where guests can drop in for a wine tasting. From Thursday to Sunday they are open for lunch and from Friday to Saturday for dinner for a full dining experience. You can also order snacks to go with your wine
We're here for a quick tasting in their cellar door. For $15 guests can taste a minimum of 5 wines. The elevation here at Rowlee Wines is 950m/3116feet above sea level. This area sits under an extinct volcano so the soil is volcanic basalt soil. We start with a Riesling that uses grapes grown here literally adjacent to the cellar door. Nicole at the cellar door tells us that if you are a gin lover, you may love the aromatics in this Riesling with hints of orange blossom.
The Gewurtztraminer is also grown on estate on just 5 rows. Their version is less sweet with dry finish with hints of lychee and ginger. It's a good food wine, particularly for foods that have a strong aromatics to them. If you're looking for a wine to pair with richer foods like creamy pastas, pork or oily fish try the Arneis aged in both a barrel and a tank.
The Schoolhouse At Union Bank
The Union Bank has a range of different settings to eat from the outdoor garden, private dining rooms to the former schoolhouse. The Union Bank is also open 7 days a week from 12pm-11pm so it's a good place to go on a quieter weeknight where other places are closed. It's a chilly winter's night so we sit ensconced in the former schoolhouse for dinner. We start with a mulled wine to help warm us up that does the job nicely.
The menu has some delicious sounding combinations like steak with miso bagna cauda and bone marrow green tomato, cornichon and English mustard. We start with some golden battered potato scallops which are nice and piping hot.
But in all honesty the other dishes hold our interest more. The beef tartare is served with house made potato crisps and is given an Asian flavour with katsuobushi skipjack tuna flakes, lemon oil and typhoon shelter garlic. It's one of the most moreish tartares I have ever tried and Mr NQN complains that I have failed to give him the requisite half.
Likewise, the corn dip is incredible with fresh juicy corn, sautéed leeks, sour cream, a showering of spring onions and salsa macha (like a chilli oil). It goes perfectly with the freshly baked loaf of white bread and sinks satisfyingly into every bite. I need to try and recreate it when I get home it's that delicious.
The sirloin steak is served cooked medium rare and it's a good size to share. It comes pre-sliced and covered and sitting in a pool of umami rich miso bagna cauda sauce that seasons it perfectly.
We share the steak with a couple of sides. The carrots are such a vivid orange and are coated in an nduja butter with toasted slivered almonds and garlic yoghurt. This is a robustly flavoured side that I also want to recreate when I get home.
The saffron milk cap mushrooms are foraged locally and are bathed in a baharat butter and shallots. The spices give the mushrooms a wonderful warmth and depth of flavour. For a moment Mr NQN and I consider foraging for more saffron milk cap mushrooms on the way home so that I can make this.
Ice cream sandwich is a sponge cake filled with macadamia praline and wattleseed ice cream, orange cream cheese icing and orange zest. It is like a semifreddo cake and makes great use of oranges in season now.
But my heart is won by the honey joy crème brûlée that is clever and nostalgic. It has malted honey cornflakes and a honey crème brulee underneath with a good dash of salt to balance it.
Where we stayed: We stayed at The Oriana in Orange, check out our review and the review of the Peacock Room restaurant.
So tell me Dear Reader, which restaurant would be your pick and why?
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