Worda and images by Richard Cornish.

It was a day planned for many months — a chance for the team at Pipi’s Kiosk in Albert Park to head down the coast to the Mornington Peninsula to meet farmers and food producers, enjoy a truffle hunt, and taste some cool-climate wines. Pipi’s Kiosk is an award-winning restaurant right on the shore of Port Phillip, specialising in fresh seafood with a take away window for coffee and snacks. Along for the ride were owner Tom Hunter, front-of-house legend James Mayne, and Rome-born chef and truffle lover Alessandro Bonfigli. Leading the team was local lad and food writer Richard Cornish, driving his trusty Hilux.

First stop was Tuerong Farm, where Jason Cotter showed the team the newly sprouted traditional strains of wheat he’s growing for the 2025 harvest. He grows old and interesting varieties of cool-climate wheat, mills the grain into flour on-site, and bakes sourdough and pastries several times a week. They left with a bag of Rouge de Bordeaux flour — ochre-pink in colour and full of flavour.

Next it was on to Torello Farm, where owners Sophie and Mark showed them around the market gardens, flower beds, and chicken pastures — all owned and run by small independent farmers who supply the farm gate at Torello. Into the esky went some Torello lamb and a punnet of microgreens grown by Sean at Wildgrain.

Climbing the hill to Red Hill Truffles, the crew were greeted by owner Jenny McAuley and Maddie the truffle dog. Chef Alessandro was in heaven, regaling all with stories of Italian truffle hunts. Within an hour, they had found and harvested a third of a kilo of the black gold, with a sizeable haul heading back to Pipi’s Kiosk.

A quick drop into Merricks Store to try the range of Baillieu and Elgee Park cool-climate wines rounded out the day before heading home.

“It was a great day,” says Pipi’s Tom Hunter. “It was eye-opening to see such diverse produce being grown so close to Melbourne,” he says. “We’re using Red Hill Truffles in a toastie made with Le Conquérant Camembert from The Studd Siblings, and Alessandro is testing the flour from Tuerong Farm in the kitchen. We saw so much at Torello Farm we could utilise in the kitchen throughout the year. Oh — I cooked the Torello lamb for dinner for the family. It was delicious.”