Spicers Peak Lodge, perched atop a mountain in Queensland’s Scenic Rim, has welcomed a new Executive Chef who shares a passion for the land, people and produce. Gareth Newburn has fully embraced The Lodge and The Peak Restaurant.
Gareth’s career and taste for travel has led him into the kitchens of the finest lodges and retreats across Australia and New Zealand, including the Wilderness Lodge at Arthur’s Pass and Braemar Lodge and Spa in Hammer Springs on the South Island of New Zealand. Newburn comes to Spicers Peak Lodge from the remote El Questro Homestead in Western Australia’s Kimberley region, which along with Spicers Peak Lodge, is one of the esteemed Luxury Lodges of Australia.
Newburn wants to introduce guests to flavours and ingredients they may never have experienced previously through the menus at Spicers Peak Lodge. Vegetables feature at The Peak, and the kitchen garden grows a wealth of herbs and vegetables, including society garlic, heirloom tomatoes, rosemary, bronze fennel, red orach, lovage, marigold, lemon verbena, salt bush, green purslane, and carrots.
“It’s such a beautiful property and we are creating a fabulous garden here at The Peak,” says Newburn, “the more food we grow ourselves the better the experience for the customer and the more sustainable the business will be in the long run,” Newburn says.
“What we don’t grow we source from the Scenic Rim region, Australia has some of the best producers and products in the world, Newburn says. “To be able to protect and support our local farmers and producers is an honour and a responsibility.”
Newburn and The Peak Restaurant are champions of many producers and suppliers, but Gareth calls out some favourites from the Scenic Rim.
“The Van Velzen family grow redclaw crayfish on their 120-acre farm near Beaudesert. They’re completely off grid using solar energy, practising regenerative agriculture, and don’t use any chemicals, antibiotics or animal products.”
Executive Chef Newburn also praises 9Dorf Farms in the fertile Lockyer Valley for their eggs, free range chicken and sustainably grown Murry Cod, as well as the Scenic Rim Farm Box initiative that home-delivers the region’s best produce and products to customers in Brisbane and beyond.
Fresh, sustainable and in-season
Spicers Peak Lodge is celebrating its 20th anniversary this year and for Newburn, the remit is to showcase the best ingredients Australia has to offer.
“There’s a sense of exclusivity at the Lodge,” says Gareth, “we engage with our guests on a very personal level, which really appeals to me, and we have the freedom to be creative.”
The Peak Restaurant kitchen team ensure the ingredients sourced are fresh, sustainable and in-season, and for a chef working in regional and remote location, however magnificent, that means building a unique supplier network and adjusting menus to what’s available.
Newburn explains his love of Indigenous ingredients, “There’s so much food in our backyards that can help create a much more sustainable food industry. One of my go-to cookbooks ‘First Nations Food Companion’ by Damien Coulthard and Creative Native Foods supplies some inspirational native Australian ingredients.”
Working at the 400,000 hectare El Questro Homestead in the Kimberley, Newburn sourced bush foods including green ants, kapok and rosella flowers, and quandong fruit, following the advice of the local Traditional Owners.
Discover The Peak dining experience
The Peak is open to guests for breakfast, lunch and dinner, and to the public for lunch all week between 12pm and 2pm, offering a four-course chef’s tasting menu at $165pp. The menus are succinct but diverse, each course is a unique dish, and together they show respect for the natural ingredient above all else, and a sense of innovation where nutrition and flavour aren’t sacrificed for appearance.
Diners might see a dish like Spencer Gulf kingfish, apple, cucumber, wasabi or Salted camel’s milk ice cream, lemon aspen, rosella and pepperberry.
The Lodge has a generously stocked wine cellar with Chef’s Tasting Menus offering matched wines with each course – Aussie Favourites wine pairing $80, Aussie Premium pairing $160 and Foreign Friends $130.
For instance, the Hunter Valley duck breast with duck leg croquette, smoked beetroot and Davison plum is paired with the 2023 Stoney Rise Pinot Noir from Tasmania or the 2022 Eastern Peake Intrinsic Pinot Noir from Victoria.
From The Peak dinner menu, Gareth recommends the mushroom with parmesan custard, wild garlic, buckwheat and truffle sourced from local supplier Scenic Rim Mushrooms and matched with the 2023 Aphelion Welkin Grenache from South Australia’s McLaren Vale.
Newburn has spent some of his time discovering the joy of The Lodge’s wine cellar and the nearby Granite Belt wine region. “Our Food and Beverage Manager has introduced me to some amazing wines, and he’s slowly expanding my understanding of the different grape varieties.”
Inspired by the dining experience
Growing up in a foodie household in New Zealand, Gareth Newburn’s interest in the art of fine dining was sparked at an early age. One of his formative experiences was dining at The French Cafe in Auckland with his family as a teenager and being blown away by everything from the food and presentation to the flash restaurant.
Newburn recalls, “Simon Wright was the chef and owner, and I remember him standing at the pass making sure everything was perfect before it went out to the customers. I was inspired to try and recreate dishes out of The French Cafe Cookbook for family dinner parties.”
After completing his training at the Sheraton in Rotorua, he apprenticed under Rob Wilson (formerly of the two Michelin-starred Gleneagles in Scotland) at The White House and ENQ restaurants in Hamilton where he learned the art of menu design and creating culinary experiences from the ground up.
“Gaining a position as chef in a restaurant of that calibre in Hamilton was incredible luck in itself, let alone being able to spend two years working under him,” says Newburn.
Departing New Zealand, some of his best learning experiences were as commis chef at the Hayman Island Resort working with a range of different cuisines and cooking styles, and on a six-star cruise ship travelling around South America and Antarctica.
“Personally, I love eating Indian, Thai and Japanese cuisine, where fermentation is central pillar,” says Newburn. “The Noma Guide to Fermentation is a bible to me,” he says. “I love the depth of flavour and different profiles fermenting can give to food, it’s little bit the same with dry aging to help preserve meat while also intensifying flavour.”
Relaxed luxury on a mountain peak
Overlooking the world heritage-listed Main Range National Park, the award-winning Peak Restaurant is a two-hour drive from Brisbane along the Cunningham Highway and sits close to the Granite Belt wine region. Accommodation at Spicers Peak Lodge includes ten suites and two private lodges, with exquisite individual touches, from fireplaces to outdoor spas.
Open for breakfast and dinner to in-house guests, and lunch to all, the bar and dining room are filled with superb comfortable furnishing and are punctuated by the stone open fireplace plus an outdoor dining terrace that offers uninterrupted views of the Scenic Rim.
