Bonjour Bendigo Part 2: Where to Eat

The last thing you want to do, is NOT plan your trip to Bendigo to see the Paris: Impressions of Life 1880 – 1925 exhibition, especially if you’re keen to eat or stay as well. I’ve got recommendations of two brilliant spots you can’t miss when you visit and a couple of tips if you’re checking out other things as well.

There are two things you must make sure you check:

What day of the week you’re visiting
What else is on in Bendigo

Why does when you visit matter?

Bendigo has an amazing, but also very enormous, Easter festival. Check out what else is happening so you aren’t surprised by tourist traffic and books out hotels.

Why does the day of the week matter? The Bendigo Art Gallery is open every day, but the shops and eateries around are not. Mondays and Tuesdays in particular mean the street outside the gallery might feel like a ghost town because Mon-Tue is technically the weekend for hospo workers.

If you’re planning on visiting the places I’ve got in this blog post, they have particular opening hours:

Harvest
Tuesday – Saturday
9am – 5pm (plus late Fridays for dinner)

Treacy Pâtisserie
Fridays 11-5
Saturdays 10-3
(unless they sell out, then they close early)

If you are there on a Tuesday, then I guess french fries are kinda on theme? Check out my faves at Ghosty’s Diner down the bottom end of View St for burgers and vibes.

Harvest

What you are there for: croissants
What you aren’t there for: just coffee

Yes, I absolutely visited Bendigo and did an outfit change. I almost did 3 outfit changes. Outfit one had to be on theme in the style of the French word ‘cliché’. I dressed like a die-hard fan of Marcel Marceau with a striped black top, black tea-length skirt and my grandmother’s vintage hat. The best part of this outfit was that the staff at Harvest were all on theme as well and Evelyn and I looked like the work experience kids.

The reason I had to visit Harvest and think you should too is simple: croissants. Chef and owner Marsha Busse grew up around pastry, worked in her family pastry shop in Amsterdam for over 20 years, as well as her career taking her through Europe. It feels like luck that with such a career and catalogue of expertise her cafe/restaurant is a block away from the gallery. Read more about her here.

Now, why did I say you aren’t there for ‘just drinks’? Harvest is damn popular so they prioritise eating customers. It would also be such as bummer to go there and not eat their damn good food. Their coffee is delish, but grab it go if you’re having just that. You can also grab croissants and other pastries from their deli to take away too and if you want to eat just a croissant in their fine establishment, see if you can spy a free spot on the long share-table in the deli. And if you want to experience Harvest in full, don’t think croissants are the only thing that is good. I adore everything I have had on their menu, and if wine is your thing, their range is curated by award-winning sommelier Lincoln Riley.

Extra life hack: Marsha does classes for making croissants. If you want to do that when you visit as well, check the dates on the website and book in advance. They are incredibly popular and always book out. https://harvestbendigo.com.au/classes/

So, I guess it’s outfit detail time, where I remember to do this at the last minute, write something vague and can’t link to anything because it’s old or vintage or whatever.

Skirt: Zara a million years ago
Top: A boutique maker on Etsy who doesn’t make them anymore and I’m still mad about it.
Shoes: Mimco, but they are an outright copy of D&G which I will never own.
Hat: My grandmother’s.

Photos by Evelyn Zeven.

Treacy Pâtisserie

What you are there for: macarons
What you aren’t there for: boring sweets

Evelyn and I ended our visit by dropping in to Treacy Pâtisserie for macarons, the famed French sweet treat. Foodie fans may know of Daniel Treacy from his appearance on reality show Zumbo’s Just Desserts, but he’s been known around the Bendigo food scene much longer. Since his appearance on the show, he’s opened Treacy Pâtisserie.

When we dropped in I got chatting to Daniel Treacy who just happened to be on the counter. We talked about macarons and he started part of the conversation with “I don’t know if you’ve heard of a place in Paris called Laduree…” which sparked a fun chat that I ended up cutting short because I felt bad about the queuing customers.

So this part of the blog isn’t just to recommend going to Treacy Pâtisserie, it’s to continue the conversation I cut off because we got talking about what my sister and I had eaten there when we visited on our self-styled high tea tour of Paris and London in about 2012. After I told Daniel that my sister and I had gone to Paris specifically for Laduree, I described to him what we had eaten there and he started telling me the names of them and more details about them, going to show how much knowledge he’s got on what he does.

Again, make sure you check if they will be open! Treacy Pâtisserie opens on only Fridays and Saturdays and if they sell out of their stock earlier than closing time, that’s it! They’re also incredibly popular and each week bring in new flavours and cakes depending on the season and what else is happening. I got a hot crossed bun macaron because it’s coming up to easter. https://www.treacypatisserie.com.au/