The Villa's restaurant is in the hands of Emma Handley, a fabulously clever chef with a fine cooking pedigree. Our restaurant is what is known in Italy as a L'osteria which means a small Inn serving regional and seasonal food with local wines - l'osteria!!  This is the most important style of cooking in Italy; the produce must be fresh and the cooking traditional.

For a broader understanding of our kitchen consult the Age Good Food Guide - awarded a Chef Hat four times.  We serve a 5 course degustation menu that changes daily.  No two menus have ever been the same….in 9 years!

The key focus in our menus is the outstanding regional produce.  Full of old fashioned flavour - remember when tomatoes tasted like tomatoes!...and we grow our own!!  As well as 10 different herbs, up to 14 different vegetables, lemons and limes and many chestnut trees.  We even have our own hen-house, supplying chook eggs daily.

On the menu, expect to find local Ovens Valley beef, lamb or veal, or perhaps Kiewa Valley pork, 'Treiste Park' prosciutto, Roberts Creek squab and duck, Mountain Fresh trout & salmon & Milawa free range quail.

A recent survey by VECCI stated: “Villa Gusto is by far the most engaged in Sustainable Hospitality”. This recognition came about because we grow much of what we serve.

We buy nothing from supermarkets. Our ingredients are used to create delicious hand-made agnolotti, tortellini and ravioli or perhaps to flavour a risotto or used in a slow cooked ragu. The chef’s team of local producers, butchers and market gardeners enjoy her demand for quality; there is a real team effort - a sense of pride. And once the meal is prepared, each guest can sit in the Villa restaurant on hand-made chairs from The Veneto...enjoying true Italian l'osteria style cooking!

The Villa’s dining room seats 30 guests. We are open for our degustation menu four nights per week - Thursday to Sunday. Cost $75.00 a head.