Voor Ouker feels like a scene from a Luca Guadagnino movie. People wander into a sunlit restaurant with white tablecloths. Glasses of chilled wine and limoncello Mojitos are on hand as jazz mingles with Brazilian beats. The picturesque scene continues into the private courtyard, hidden behind green hedges.

The new restaurant is in Temperance House, a historic guesthouse in Castlemaine, 90 minutes from Melbourne. It previously hosted pop-ups by Ratbag Food and Wine and a residency with former Public Wine Shop head chef Ali Currey-Voumard of A Table.

“Our menu is inspired by Dutch and Indonesian influences,” Voor Ouker founder and head chef Katrina Dunnett de Jong tells Broadsheet. “While not strictly traditional, [the dishes are] creations that use flavours and techniques from the food I grew up with.” Specifically, Dunnett de Jong draws inspiration from her Dutch grandfather and her Indonesian grandmother, Ouker and Nora Christina de Jong, respectively.

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Dunnett recently moved to Castlemaine from Beechworth, where she grew up on her family’s farm Beechworth Berries. “We only ate from the farm. That lifestyle really influences where I source ingredients from now,” she says. At Voor Ouker, she works with suppliers including Clifford’s Butcher, Daylesford Meat Co, Sprout Bakery, Bundarra, Long Paddock Cheese and Castlemaine Fresh.

Dunnett wants dining here to feel effortless, like “a night out where you don’t have to think too hard about getting another wine,” she says. Prices reflect that: starters are $10 to $14, mains are under $38 and there’s a $69 set menu.

The menu is built for sharing. To start, there are oysters topped with ginger and lemongrass, lemper (a savoury glutenous rice snack with shredded turmeric chicken) and pangsit goreng (fried beef and pork dumplings) drizzled with chilli sauce. Larger plates include grilled whole fish with sambal and rice, and rich beef rendang. For dessert, ontbijtkoek (a spiced Dutch cake) is served with fried banana and a coconut crumb.

To drink, the house specialty is a spicy Margarita served on ice with fresh chilli. The wine list spotlights local producers from Castlemaine and Beechworth, starring pet-nats and orange wines as well as bold Aussie chardonnays and shiraz.

It’s been a long journey to get here. Dunnett used to save money when she was at university to throw dinner parties, which evolved into a pop-up, a catering business, and now, a full-fledged restaurant. “I was doing a pop-up a month, transforming old halls with commercial kitchens, designing menus, hiring friends and serving up to 2100 people in a weekend,” she says.

The pop-up spirit lives on. “We’ll try to do one event a month to keep things creative and exciting,” Dunnett says. Voor Ouker has hosted a taverna-style pop-up with Greek menus and music and there are plans for an official opening party with DJs, specialty cocktails and Indonesian street food.

Voor Ouker
68 Mostyn Street, Castlemaine
No phone

Hours:
Thur & Fri 3pm–late
Sat midday–late
Sun midday–5pm

voorouker.com.au