Eat & Drink
The property was purchased in 2014 by Edward and Jeanie Rawlings. The couple had returned to Australia in 2011 after years of living abroad in Sri Lanka, South East Asia and England. This homecoming was to act as a trial run, testing their ideas around sustainability and regenerative farming, or perhaps more appropriately, testing whether or not they were cut out for a farming lifestyle in general. They soon discovered they loved it, and the investment in Nashua was made.
Inspired by their time in Europe, where restaurants paid close attention to provenance, artisanship and food ethics. The Rawlings soon realised the next natural step was to progress the farm into a restaurant with the intent of showcasing food that tastes amazing, but is also farmed in a manner that actively fights to reverse climate change.
Byron Bay born and bred, Daniel Medcalf’s career has earned him many spent passport pages, from yachts in Spain to New Zealand’s ski fields. He would soon be making a name for himself with Sydney’s Iceberg Group, adding many a notch to his cooking belt with stints at Bondi Beach’s Icebergs Dining Room, The Dolphin in Surry Hills and most recently The Slow in Canggu, Bali.
Medcalf’s style is fresh and clean, fuss-free slow food with an emphasis on sustainability – which aligns perfectly with the Rawlings’ vision for Frida’s Field.
Housed in an architecturally designed barn, the eatery focuses on contemporary country dining. Menus crafted from ingredients sustainably grown onsite range from the Wagyu-Angus beef, raised in the surrounding paddocks, to fruit and vegetables, plucked from the kitchen garden and orchards neighbouring the barn.
The dining concept will function differently to the traditional restaurant, with a duo of separate offerings hosted within the barn. First and foremost are the long lunches, held twice a month on Saturdays. Picture lengthy communal tables where heaped plates of local produce, cooked over an open fire, will be served to small groups. This menu, like everything at Frida’s Field, will change with the seasons.
On Friday evenings, Frida’s Field will offer more casual dining, with locally farmed meat cooked over coals, alongside buckets of beers and local wines to be enjoyed with friends and neighbours alike.
Frida’s Field will officially open on Saturday, September 26, serving the property’s own sustainably grown ingredients across Friday dinners and Saturday long lunches. Reservations are now open and can be made via their website.
