Little Picket at Lorne's Bowls Club is paving the way for the Sustainable Food practises

From transforming Yarra Valley’s Oakridge Wines to running Melbourne’s zero-waste Future Food System, Jo Barrett is one of Australia’s best credentialled chefs, and has just opened a sustainable restaurant at the Lorne Bowls Club.

Barrett, who studied at The Gordon TAFE in Geelong, is trained as both chef and pâtissier. Her CV is impressive, including representing Australia in the world’s most prestigious pastry competition in 2019 to being named in the global 2021 50 Next list as someone who is “shaping the future of gastronomy”.

From 2016 to 2020 Barrett earned a Good Food Guide hat for Oakridge Wines, and went on to run the Future Food System alongside fellow chef Matt Stone.

Last year, before moving to the Surf Coast, Barrett lived and worked at Melbourne’s zero-waste Future Food System, alongside fellow chef Matt Stone. Photo: JOSH ROBENSTONE

Despite her impressive accomplishments, Barrett’s vision for life and for cooking is down to earth – she isn’t interested in being involved in an industry that doesn’t take sustainability seriously.

She has now brought her sustainable vision to the Surf Coast with a newly-opened restaurant at the Lorne Bowls Club and a market garden.

Little Picket is named after the venue’s picket fence and a nod to picking home-grown produce, as the diner is exclusively serving produce grown locally and sustainable, and often at small-scale.

“The food system can be quite damaging, and we don’t want to be,” Barrett said.

“We wanted to serve local food, support local producers, and have a place where people can come and eat and taste the Surf Coast.”

Barrett said her vision was to create a locally focused community space where food was all grown in small-scale local market farms or homes, and championing a sustainable food industry and multi-generational community space.

“Our mission is to create a welcoming space for locals, and people visiting the area.

“We hope that they can connect over food and bowling.

“I moved here to be a part of this community, so I guess my aim is producing nourishing food and honing my cooking techniques and moving closer and closer to more sustainable practices.”

Barrett ‘s vision is to create a locally focused community space where food is all grown in small-scale local market farms or homes, championing a sustainable food industry and multi-generational community space. Photo: LITTLE PICKET

The bar at Little Picket is run by Barrett’s partner, craft beer professional David Osgood. Barrett will be cooking alongside good friend Louise Daily, who made the move to the coast with Barrett after the two previously worked together at Oakridge and Future Food System.

Barrett said she and Osgood dreamed of moving to the Surf Coast and starting a small market garden in Deans Marsh, so they didn’t hesitate when they heard about the opportunity to open a place at the Bowls Club.

The couple started their market garden this winter and are working alongside several other local market gardens, including Kinsfolk farm in Moriac, while they wait for theirs to grow, as well as sourcing dairy, meats and produce from local suppliers.

“We’ve just started to harvest from [our garden], and we’ve had an incredible amount of support from the locals who drop in lemons, and lettuce and herbs and that’s been incredible.

“And we have the continued goal of finding local suppliers and producers and draw from the region.”

Each week, Barrett writes up the Little Picket menu based on what they will receive from local market farms.

“On the weekend Kinsfolk just send a list of what they’ll be picking, and I write the menu.

“And we’re really close to Schultz so we’re making cheese again… we’re just about to kick off our charcuterie program, so making salamis and different things like that.”