Ex-Rockpool chef brings comfort food and White Russians to Warrnambool​on January 21, 2025 at 6:00 pm

Ranch dressing, White Russians and baked custard with fruit aren’t all that common on menus in Australia. However, Lost Cat has the trifecta.

“I like ranch dressing,” says chef and co-owner Zac Nicholson. “That’s why I put most things on the menu.”

Lost Cat is an airy new 55-seat restaurant in Warrnambool, three hours from Melbourne. Nicholson is making his ranch with quark from nearby Schulz Dairy and serving it with crunchy crudites from a local farm. Although the chef is using tricks picked up in fine-dining, Lost Cat is all about familiarity and comfort.

“It’s not fancy, it’s not stuffy, we want it to be somewhere you can come three nights a week,” he says.

Nicholson opened the venue on January 2 with his wife, Jasmine Leung, after a head-spinning renovation completed in 2½ half weeks.

Named for their family’s missing cat Larry, Lost Cat is three doors away from where Nicholson did the apprenticeship that propelled him to Rockpool Bar & Grill, where he was head chef for five years. Hatted CBD restaurant Hazel followed and, most recently, Jamsheed Wines in Preston (Syrian-Venezuelan restaurant Clara Luna is there now).

Dark-gold focaccia that ferments for 48 hours is baked just before the restaurant opens, and served with a butter featuring caramelised onion, garlic powder, onion powder and fried shallots for an all-out allium assault.

“Everything is really full-flavoured,” says Nicholson.

Perhaps it’s no surprise after cooking thousands of steaks at Rockpool, but Nicholson says the dry-aged scotch fillet, currently served with a kombu-rich “umami butter”, has been a “pretty big hit”.

Wood-grilled cabbage with cashew cream, and baked custard with seasonal fruit celebrate produce from local grower Merri Banks. More local names will be added to the menu as Nicholson builds relationships in the region.

Drinks cover western Victorian wines, gins and beer from locals Noodledoof, and crowd-pleasing cocktails such as whisky sours. And the White Russian? It’s made with Schulz milk, of course.

Lunch Friday-Saturday; dinner Tuesday-Saturday (hours change seasonally)

69 Liebig Street, Warrnambool, lostcatdining.com

Nearby, Babche Wines in Timboon has opened a cellar door where Radiohead records spin while guests sip on fiano, rose and grenache. Fruit is farmed organically by Niki Nikolovski and Tim Byrne, who named their winery after the affectionate Slavic term for grandmother – a nod to Nikolovski’s Macedonian heritage and old ways of making wine. Snacks come from fellow mindful makers such as Apostles Whey cheesemakers and Crackling Smallgoods.

3/9 Main Street, Timboon, babchewines.com

Those road-tripping down to Lost Cat and Babche might first call into Anglesea, soon to be home to the second location of hit wine shop and deli Winespeake, founded in Daylesford by Jen and Owen Latta (Eastern Peake Vineyard). Come March, the team will bring some favourite central Victorian drops to a retail edit that will also champion locals such as Lethbridge and Bannockburn. The deli will be loaded with cheese, pâté, caviar and toasties for dine-in or takeaway.

2/141 Great Ocean Road, Anglesea, winespeake.com.au