Biota Dining & Rooms

Had dinner at Biota on Valentines Day 2015 and it was amazing. Set menu of 5 courses matched with beautiful wines, most locally produced.
We were lucky enough to have a table near the kitchen, and with its open plan could watch the chef’s in action .
Food and service were both perfect and i can not think of anything they could have done better.
If you are in the area, do yourself a favour, book dinner at this restaurant, it is worth every cent.

Eating at Biota is a really unique experience that I highly recommend.
I visited Bowral over a long weekend, just an easy hour drive down south from Sydney, and was lucky enough to visit the 2 chef hatted Biota.
This restaurant specializes in their molecular gastronomy tasting menu. It is a block just outside of the main town and nothing special from the outside, but the inside has a very modernized cozy feel. The open kitchen allows you to feel like you are a part of the excitement of the creation of the incredible bites that are delivered in segments to your table. You can choose if you would like three, five or seven courses, and then pick out which options you would like to try. I chose to have three courses and felt completely full by the end of the show. Yes, I referred to it as a show because it was an experience. I went with my partner so luckily I was able to have a bite of each of his three dishes as well. Each table also got to try and little starter of salmon jerky, served on a wire floating out of a crystal of rock salt. Beautiful and delicious. The bread was warm and melted in your mouth with the freshly churned butter.
Here is what we had:
hen yolk — cooked curds — rye — chickpea
potato — onions — fresh cheese — pigs skin
pork — parsnip — squid arms — chestnut
beef — molasses — native berries — saltbush
lamb breast — dried lactose — fresh & cooked oats
malt sponge — milk icecream — burnt hay custard — camomile
Each of these dishes were very small portions just to give you a taste of these unique combinations. Although all were incredible, the lamb was truly out of this world, I closed my eyes and tasted every bite and couldn’t help but smile.
The dishes are made with fresh local produce, mainly grown in their garden, and you can taste the passion that goes into each plate.

I didn’t get to go the restaurant, but I did get to try some of Biota’s food at the NSW Food & Wine Festival. I had their braised beef brisket sandwich on a brioche bun with local cucumbers and biota garden lettuce. There was some sort of cheese on the sandwich, too, but it wasn’t mentioned on their sign so I don’t know what it was. For $ 10, this was a really, really good sandwich. Glad I randomly decided to try this place, not knowing they were a 5* business on Unilocal.Maybe I’ll have to go dine here sometime.

Biota is a dining experience not to be missed.
The menu is a series of small plates that are described by their ingredient, because it’s the ingredients that are the star. The restaurant has a huge garden where much of the produce is grown. They are all about showing of local and carefully selected produce.
We has made to trip out to Bowral, so we went for the gluttonous 7 courses with matching wines. Each dish was expertly matched with a generous pour of wine chosen from regions around the world. Higlights included the squid, burrawong duck and sheep’s milk curd (to be honest everything was divine).
The seven course experience was a leisurely 3 hour affair. It is great value for fine dining at $ 195 a head including the matching wines.
Book ahead if you want to do the fine dining thing, otherwise there is also a walk-​in bar area with a completely different menu — I’ll have to give that a go next time and report back.

Who would have thought a restaurant of such a high calibre would be out in Bowral. Loved everything about this restaurant especially our very attentive and helpful waiter. The restaurant was packed to capacity and although this was the case, it certainly did not affect the service provided by the waiters.
The food was unusual in pairing but surprisingly, all dishes ordered were delicious. I was glad I ordered the spatchcock, the most amazing paste consisting of hazelnuts and italian sherry, reduced to a very thick paste.
For dessert, I highly recommend the poached quince with yogurt gelato — just quietly, I was not coping in the slightest. I could have sat there all night slowly eating through that dessert.
I haven’t stopped recommending this restaurant to friends and family. Overall, I was thoroughly impressed and will certainly be back (perhaps in Summer).

Biota dining was a real revelation. We were travelling from Sydney to Canberra and wanted a nice place to eat, and happened to stumble upon Biota. It’s around ¹⁄₃ to ½ of the way to Canberra, you take an exit off the highway to Bowral, it’s just past the town center there.
Outside is a little lake, and a greenhouse where they grow their own little herby bits. There’s a bar section with a separate menu, we went into the main dining area where there’s an interesting atmosphere of minimalist art and sciencey looking glassware.
The food is a real highlight, it’s very modern, very pretty, and super tasty. We started with a bizarrely presented fried anchovy, on the end of a wire attached to a lump of pink quartz. More normal was the delicious break roll we got no, wait, the butter is served on a smooth rock with the butterknife embedded into it.
Thankfully the food lives up to this showmanship, delicious modern dishes cooked in an open kitchen right next to the dining area. My main was a jet-​black pork cheek, the sauce was a japanese stock reduction combined with squid ink for an amazing flavour.
This is great fine dining, and it’s not cheap except when you compare it to Sydney prices, you’ll get a great deal on a special meal if you’re up for one on the way to canberra (or if you live in the area!)