"An Australian icon where the beautiful rhythm of life
is emphasised and honoured."
— Luxury Travel Magazine
Enter your details below to join our waitlist. We'll be sure to reach out should any availability open for your chosen event.
Thanks for submitting, your enquiry was successful.
Pre-order now… Relax later.
Made right here in Daylesford, this is a dense pudding with rich abundant fruit; raisins, sultanas, currants, orange, lemon, and grapefruit peel and segments, apples, ginger, spices, and a generous dose of dark ale, rum, sherry & Madeira.
900g | $59.50
"An Australian icon where the beautiful rhythm of life
is emphasised and honoured."
— Luxury Travel Magazine
Lake House Restaurant
Two Chefs Hats
Lunch Friday - Monday | 210pp | Multi course a la carte menu
The Spring Table - Tuesday Lunch in Spring | 165pp | Three course set Chefs Menu ( last session 26.11)
Summer - Guests attending Monday Lunch are invited to join an optional tour of our Dairy Flat Farm with our compliments.
Dinner each evening | 225pp | Multi course a la carte menu
Beverage Pairing | 95pp - 125pp
“The OG of destination dining in Victoria, Lake House continues to shine as a beacon of how to do it right”
Gourmet Traveller Annual Restaurant Guide 2024 – 2025
Lake House is located on the shores of lake Daylesford within 6 acres of country gardens that also house the iconic hotel and spa.
The dining room holds 2 Chefs Hats from the national Good Food Guide and multiple awards for it’s cellar and service.
A team passionate about hospitality delivers beautiful, modern, seasonal food matched with wines from one of Australia’s best wine lists. Under the direction of Culinary Director Alla Wolf-Tasker AM, the kitchen work with great Australian produce including a raft of excellent small scale local suppliers and growers and their own Dairy Flat Farm. The latter with almost 40 acres is located within 10 minutes of the flagship restaurant and includes 5 acres of productive vegetable gardens (where produce is handpicked for morning deliveries) olive grove, heirloom orchard, vineyard and a bake house specializing in slow fermented sourdough for Lake House guests.
The restaurant offers magnificent views through wonderfully large windows to the treetops and shores of the lake. Large expanses of outdoor deck also offer the opportunity for aperitif with beautiful views.
Guests enjoying drinks at dusk will likely witness the daily ritual of the resident kookaburra family flying in to be fed and the flocks of cockatoos circling the 40 year old gums, silver birch and poplars looking for their evening perch.
Regular guests will tell you of their favourite season and of memorable dishes. Perhaps the butter poached pheasant with chestnuts and Farrow in Autumn, the spring lamb with asparagus and morels. The duck with orange braised witlof; the golden roasted free range chicken of summer with corn and yabbies, or the truffled Pecorino tart with artichokes Barigoule, eel, Murray Cod and trout; rabbit and hare, speak of local waterways and fields.
Wild damsons, Winter Nealis pears, quinces and yellow crab apples feature in fabulous desserts and, in time honoured country fashion, are also made into delicious preserves for enhancing leaner seasons. Each seasonal menu takes you on a trip down country lanes, through the orchards and across the farm paddocks of the region.
THE SPRING TABLE LUNCH– THREE COURSE CHEFS MENU
Tuesdays in Spring – at Lake House and includes an optional tour of our beautiful Dairy Flat Farm, just a few minutes down the road
From Kohlrabi to Kale, Asparagus to Artichokes, Celeriac to Cider and everything in between, we welcome you to our patch of culinary heaven in Daylesford.
40 years on, Lake House menus are still largely driven by the region’s seasonal produce and even more so now, being influenced by the abundance of produce grown on our own regenerative Dairy Flat Farm.
Book a table for our special 3 course Chefs Menu – inspired by the season.
You may have opted to enjoy the optional included tour of our Dairy Flat Farm, Vineyard, Olive Grove and Bake House before lunch (please select tour when booking) in which case you’re likely to recognise many of the seasonal ingredients on our table.
JOINING US FOR MONDAY LUNCH THIS SUMMER?
Make it a real farm to table experience with an optional, complimentary guided tour of our beautiful Dairy Flat Farm – just minutes away – followed by a multi course a la carte lunch in our beautiful dining room overlooking the lake.
We now produce wine, cider, honey, olive oil , pesticide free vegetables, fruit, herbs and of course all our sourdough and baked goods from our beautiful farm.
Your 45 minute tour, commencing at 11.30am comprehensively covers all our regenerative practices and offers insights into our learnings.
You’ll meet our bakers and probably run into our guinea fowl, geese, peacocks, alpacas and British White cows from our friends at Brooklands Regenerative Farm.
Please select “farm tour” when making your Lunch Reservation, and please note: Your selected restaurant reservation time will still apply.
Available from Monday December 2 – Monday 24 February.
Please note the tour may be subject to weather or similar circumstance and you will be notified in the event of unavoidable cancelation. Children are welcome. Please be aware that this is a working farm and that all children must be supervised by their guardians at all times. No pets allowed.
In the four decades since Alla Wolf-Tasker and husband Allan set up shop in the then-neglected Central Victorian backwater of Daylesford they’ve run the gamut from being dismissed as deluded dreamers to being lauded and awarded as visionaries who pioneered destination dining in Australia.
The trajectory of Lake House from small, self-built restaurant carved from a blackberry-infested plot in a depressed town to internationally recognised resort championing regional food, art, wine, spa culture and a unique style of relaxed luxury accommodation is well documented. It’s become one of the origin stories of the Australian hospitality industry. A trophy cabinet overflowing with awards and accolades, not least for the original restaurant’s unfailingly impeccable achievements, is recognition of that.
But for all the professional and critical acclaim, perhaps the pinnacle of Lake House’s success is best measured by the way it has so consistently resonated with the non-professionals, those who choose to come and spend their time and money here year after year and increasingly, from generation to generation.
Winning Gourmet Traveller’s Readers’ Choice Icon Award, the only award decided by popular vote, is proof that Lake House’s pursuit of excellence has always been – and continues to be – in service of keeping the enjoyment of its customers central to everything it does.
Lake House has never rested on its laurels. Every one of its 40 years of operation has seen change, even though the dreamy, other-worldly effect it exudes the moment you drive through the front gates has never wavered. Even when the changes have been major, such as the recent addition of a working farm that loads the restaurant’s menu with ingredients pulled from the ground mere hours before they appear on your plate, these changes are made with one particular purpose.
That purpose is hospitality, the most obvious of terms that’s also the hardest to get right. It’s the sense of being cared for, that you’re genuinely welcomed and appreciated. These days it is daughter Larissa and her husband Robin Wilson who lead that welcome, maintaining the warmth and commitment to quality that has been a Lake House signature since the beginning.
In a troubled world, Lake House offers an oasis of calm, a place where you can eat, drink and sleep beautifully, and be reminded that life can be good too. And that’s truly iconic.
Gourmet Traveller Annual Restaurant Guide 2024 – 2025
Enjoy a multi course a la carte lunch or dinner in the award-winning Lake House restaurant for two.
Restaurant Vouchers are a monetary amount of $450 towards lunch or dinner in the Lake House Restaurant.
If you would like to increase the amount to cover additional courses, beverages, an overnight stay etc: you may select a Bespoke Voucher which can be for any prescribed amount.
In this book, Alla Wolf-Tasker shares her love for the region and Lake House, her admiration for great producers both local and across Australia, with wonderful recipes, captivating stories and magnificent imagery.
The Good Food Guide
Icon Award
Gourmet Traveller Restaurant Awards
The Australian Wine List of the Year Awards
Cancellation Policy
All reservations require a credit card number to secure the booking. No deposit is taken, however, a cancellation policy does apply. Click here to view our cancellation policy.
Children at Lake House
In the Lake House restaurant, we try to accommodate children where possible. Special menus are designed for our younger clientele in mind should they not wish to try the a la carte menus. Families, please note that premium evening sittings in the restaurant over weekends are fixed price of $225 per person. If you are travelling with children, there are several options if you wish to avoid this per person price for young ones. Children’s Menus are offered at lunch or in the evening delivered to the comfort of your room. Babysitters can, of course, be arranged with notice.
When dining in the restaurant we ask patrons to remember that waiters are working with hot food & liquid and we require all children to remain seated throughout the meal.
A Note on Allergies
Food Allergies: Lake House makes every effort to do whatever is possible to accommodate guests with food allergies.
Please note: Flour, dairy, fructose, onion, garlic, and other similar traditional cooking ingredients are routinely used in our kitchen as part of our normal daily preparation. As a result, a complete lack of any trace of any of these routine ingredients cannot be guaranteed.
Please also note: Not all dietary preferences are able to be accommodated.
Parking at Lake House: We offer free car parking on site for hotel and restaurant guests.
Vehicles are left at guests’ own risk, Lake House does not take responsibility for any damage, theft or incidents. By making a reservation, you agree to these conditions.
Credit Card Surcharges
Visa & Mastercard 1%, Amex & Diners Club 1.75%. No surcharge for EFTPOS.
