A tiny Yarra Valley town is now a day trip destination for hungry tourists

There’s a new wine bar with a wall of wine and locally themed board games; a pho and banh mi shop; and a specialist in tacos and Mexican chocolate. And it’s all in one picturesque patch.

Winter has blasted in with force, and few Victorian towns are better set to greet it than Yarra Ranges jewel Warburton. With its fern-filled forests and mountain vistas, the town’s already stellar reputation among nature lovers has recently been bolstered by the opening of an ambitious mountain bike park. Though it remains a divisive topic among locals, it’s brought a culinary gold rush rolling in with the mud-splattered tourists.

While always flush with crowd-friendly staples (pizzas, pies and cafe classics), Warburton has long lacked the dining diversity of neighbours like Healesville. Now, there is finally pho, tacos and a serious uptick in places to procure hyper-local produce.

In March, long-time Warburton visitor Katie Tran opened slick blue-and-white Vietnamese diner Camon Co. Initially tentative, she opened with lunch-only classics. Banh mi, fluffy bao and the vermicelli salads known as bun come loaded with fragrant lemongrass beef, smoky-sweet marinated tofu or crackling pork, all enlivened by house-made condiments. Drinks are many (and often layered), including iced matcha-coconut lattes and Vietnamese coffee. Two months in, Tran’s added the wintry win of steaming pho, and now has her sights set on weekend evenings.

Nights are already brighter thanks to Yarra Valley Wine Co. A slick retail-bar hybrid from former drinks rep Jim Mellor and wife Ri, its exclusively local focus brings the best of the Yarra Valley to your bar stool. The glowing, library-like wine wall that greets you celebrates more than 40 exclusively local producers, from Mac Forbes and Oakridge to smaller stars like East Warburton’s Mythmaker. Grab bottles to go, along with hyper-local spirits, beers, cheeses and even Yarra Valley Monopoly. Sticking around? Sink into a fireside booth or the dog-friendly riverside courtyard for cocktails, tasting flights and simple, smart snackage. Heaving cheese and charcuterie boards join sugo-slathered meatballs and warm, chewy pretzels slathered with apricot jam and salted honey cheese from local maker Stone and Crow.

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In neighbouring Wesburn, the gateway to the mountain bike park, environmentally focused community hub ECOSS has just added a monthly Saturday produce market to its weekly Friday agenda. Better yet, Fernando Ramirez’s on-site chocolaterie Tonantzin – maker of traditional