Diamond House Restaurant - STAWELL

Having arrived from The Grampians tired and hungry, we were delighted to find this restaurant. It's crazy exterior opens up to a bar area that's reminiscent of a pub in the UK and the dining room houses a fascinating collection of photographs from Stawell's past. In walks Dave who, with casual aplomb, produces a mouthwatering steak and a delicious fish dish. His cooking is superb and quite simply the best in town. We had a great time chatting to Dave who has lead a colourful life and has a wealth of culinary experiences. Book on popular evenings to avoid disappointment.

I asked David if he would serve a luncheon, as there would be young children in the group. Usually, David caters for an evening meal, but for the right number of people, he said he would do a luncheon. We ordered from the menu. Delicious food as usual, excellent service, of course. Drank a local sparkling wine. We had a wonderful meal. Orders ranged across the menu, some of the younger children had a special meal - suggested by Ben. Steak ( always a winner ), kangaroo, chicken, fish. Some of us even indulged ourselves with dessert ! Many thanks to David and Ben for catering for our lunch.

Not many options in stawell for dinner and thr food os fine. The waiter, i think his name is Ben is lovely but the manager is hilariously terrible. Five of us went for dinner, and he was angry and aggressive in the background . Pethaps he could spend less time being narky and a little more time painting the decrepit restaurant.

8 of us arrived late evening and were made very welcome. The food was delicious and portions were big. We all selected different meals from the menu and we were all very satisfied with our choice. Our waiter was great, he was engaging and attentive. There really isn't much else you could ask for.

In the area to visit the Seppelt’s Great Western Cellars before they (sadly) close down, we stayed at Diamond House as a matter of convenience. Although the room was basic, it was clean and warm … and cheap! But this review is all about the restaurant… With a fairly limited selection of places to eat in Stawell and seeing the steaks here got rave reviews, we played the “Occam’s Razor” card and dined in at the motel restaurant. Owner David is an entertaining character who clearly loves a good debate – we found him to be convivial and lively. Ably assisted by son Ben at front of house, the duo provide a friendly but very efficient experience. We started with drinks at the cute bar and sampled a couple of starters as snacks – the pork pie was great, the damper was tasty too but a bit on the dry side. We all opted for the Angus steak and it absolutely swept us away! Tenderness, flavour and perfect cooking don’t always go hand in hand – but this meal scored all three. The steak was to-die-for tender, cooked to perfection (we all ate ours rare) and the flavour was a-maze-ing (yes, I know there’s no “e” in amazing!) The huge chunky chips that came with the steak were pronounced by all of us to be the best we’d ever tasted. The veggies were traditional but well executed. A decent bottle of wine, recommended by David, washed it all down nicely .. I’d have loved to try a dessert but we practically rolled out of the place as it was. It’s an unexpected gem of an experience to eat food this good – despite the many positive reviews on Trip Advisor, I have to admit our expectations were not overly high and we were so glad to be caught out!