Sardine Eatery & Bar

“From Forge Creek free-range eggs to Lightfoot & Sons winery, from using Lakes Entrance seafood, to a collaborative beer with Orbost brewery Sailor’s Grave – telling the story of where our produce comes from is the essence of our menu.”

Lakes Entrance sardines with finger lime and coriander; smoked mackerel pâté with beach herbs; and braised beef shin with broccoli and cipollini onions.

It’s one of the ironies of waterfront towns: good seafood can be hard to find. Sardine is here to save the day. Opened by a former head chef of high-flying Melbourne restaurant Vue de Monde, it brings a smart, modern sensibility to the East Gippsland town of Paynesville, with a menu pretty much based around the day’s catch. The namesake sardines, hailing from nearby Lakes Entrance, are served silvery, charry, and perfect, with pops of finger lime and coriander, or brined, hot-smoked and turned into pâté to slather on toasted crumpets. Take locality as a given when it comes to flathead pan-roasted in butter served on pearl barley orzotto with samphire; bugs with grapefruit and rocket; or octopus, charred and served warm in a winter salad with pork belly and kipfler potatoes. Sardine – it’s the little fish that can.

"While Briggs likes the produce to do the talking, he doesn't hide his mastery of modern fine-dining technique, so expect beautifully finished dishes based on a lifetime perfecting technique." –Richard Cornish, Good Food