This bustling country town in central west New South Wales is as well known for its beautiful scenery as it is for cool-climate wines and award-winning restaurants. As one of Australia’s most celebrated wine regions, it’s unsurprising that the hospitality industry is thriving. Hospitality rounds up some of the finest that Orange has to offer.
Hey Rosey
Barely three meters wide, this tiny bar is dishing up small plates and larger than life wines. Chef Hugh Piper (formerly head chef at Sydney’s Dear Sainte Eloise) works with local producers to craft Hey Rosey’s regional menu, which is served up alongside a range of international cheeses, meats, and tinned seafood. The Summer Street venue is taking fun wines seriously, with a range of hyper-local and international wines on the menu. The newest edition of the bar’s own wine, Hey Rosé, was developed by nearby Renzaglia Wines and blends 50 per cent gris, 25 per cent chardonnay and 25 per cent Riesling.
Fiorini’s Osteria Italiana
Fiorini’s is one of Orange’s most exclusive locations. The menu is minimal, with perfectly executed classics, like antipasti including marinated Sicilian olives or fritto misto with calamari, tiger prawns, sage leaves, and lemon and caper mayo. The few pastas cover all bases, with the likes of gnocchi al gorgonzola, pappardelle al ragu, and spaghetti alle vongole. Operating since 2007, the restaurant recently had a brief hiatus before reopening in June this year, and bookings have since been hard to come by.
Spilt Milk bar
Touted as Aussie gelato that’s “cow to cone”, Spilt Milk churns its ice-cream in-house daily. Made from local, Australian ingredients, the shop’s ever-changing experimental flavours include the likes of banana maple gelato with a white chocolate ganache, roasted hazelnuts, and meringue; Hillside Harvest pear gelato with Fourjay Farms roasted hazelnuts; and local cumquat marmalade with custard gelato and dark chocolate. For the classics, there’s lemon sorbet, tiramisu gelato, and milk chocolate gelato.
Rowlee Wines
In Nashdale, just a few minutes outside Orange, Rowlee Dining and Bar opened earlier this year on the grounds of the Rowlee Wines estate. Head Chef Simon Furley, originally from Bath, England, brings his experience working in Michelin star and hatted restaurants to deliver a menu with local produce and sustainability at its core, which compliments the winery’s high altitude, cool climate wines. The restaurant is listed in the GoodFish Guide to sustainable seafood.
Ferment
The countryside surrounding Orange is speckled with dozens of vineyards. In the heart of town, Ferment compiles many of the producers to act as 19 cellar doors in one spot. Under a sweeping ceiling, patrons can sample a wide range of local wines from Orange to the Central Ranges of NSW and beyond.
Laura Box
