Map your way to dinner with gastronomy guide

FOLKS in search of new eateries to try in and around town could find plenty of tasty options on the Bendigo and region gastronomy guide.

Featuring an interactive map searchable by area or category, the guide can be used to create an itinerary for exploring restaurants and producers in the area.

Michelle Symes, gastronomy project officer for the City of Greater Bendigo, said the outer regions of the municipality were still being populated on the map, but people could now explore offerings in the central part of town.

“I think what it does it make it a bit easier for people to plan and to find these businesses,” she said.

“It kind of puts it all in one spot and being able to map it out for yourself is really useful.”

A good itinerary, Ms Symes said, could include the Bendigo Community Farmers Market, Masons for lunch, a treat at Indulge, and drinks at Wine Bank on View.

The guide sits within the Bendigo Gastronomy website and is accompanied by the producer’s guide, which Ms Symes said is useful for finding businesses that don’t have bricks and mortar stores.

“You can still access those businesses at farmers markets and online, so to have that there I think is a really nice complement,” she said.

Sonia Anthony from Masons of Bendigo said the guide had been useful for her customers to get a sense of the food miles related to local produce used in her restaurant.

“It’s kind of cool when people come to Masons, they can see who the producer is and can look on the map and go ‘we can see their farm is there, maybe we can go and visit’,” she said.

Ms Anthony said the gastronomy guide gave people an overview of the scope of the City of Gastronomy.

“Seeing how much is grown and what really cool stuff is happening here within a regional setting gets people really excited ‘going yep, we’re coming back’,” she said.