The Agrarian Kitchen

You’ve done farm-to-table. You’ve strolled through heritage sites. But how many can say they’ve ticked both boxes in a single sitting? When Severine Demanet and Rodney Dunn left Sydney in 2008 to chase their dream of a cooking school powered by its own kitchen garden, heritage healthcare was hardly part of the plan. Yet a decade later, their Agrarian vision found a new home at Willow Court in New Norfolk—a 19th-century mental asylum turned extraordinary restaurant and garden.

There’s method in the madness: the asylum’s walled grounds have become an unexpectedly perfect cradle for abundance. Today, some 95 per cent of what’s plated comes from within those very walls. The cooking moves beyond the predictable paddock-to-plate narrative—elegant, deeply seasonal, yet international in sensibility. A green-corn tostada carries crayfish and avocado with effortless poise; a delicate scoop of delicata-squash gelato meets dulce de leche in a finale both nostalgic and new.

Tatler Tip

Book well ahead—and if you can, time your visit for a guided garden tour before lunch. It’s the perfect prelude to what unfolds at the table.

Missed out? Don’t despair. The Kiosk on the lawns offers a more relaxed taste of the Agrarian magic from 11am to 2pm on restaurant days—proof that even the casual can be sublime.