Stay, Dine & Explore Ballarat
Dine & Stay Package: 10% Off Both Hotel Vera & Babae
Enjoy the ultimate Ballarat getaway with our Dine & Stay package. Stay at Hotel Vera and savour contemporary Australian cuisine at Babae, our renowned on-site restaurant.
Hotel Vera offers beautifully designed rooms, exceptional amenities and personalised service for a memorable stay. Elevate your stay with a meal at Babae, Chef Hatted restaurant featured in The Age Good Food Guide and led by acclaimed culinary director Tim Foster.
Book now and use code DINESTAY10 to secure your special offer.
Stay Vera
Boasting seven colour coded luxury suites, each heritage room has its own personality and decor – some with dramatic bathtubs. Hotel Vera is a one-of-kind offering in the Ballarat accommodation space built into an ornate 19th-century mansion – a former surgeon’s quarters – on the quiet end of the city’s main drag.
Enjoy one-of-a-kind Ballarat luxury accomodation with guaranteed comforts for you: king beds with plush linen, spacious ensuites with designer amenities, gourmet breakfast featuring hyper-regional produce and a personalised check-in service, without queues or desks.
Stay and dine at Babae and save 10% off both.
Dine at Chef’s Hatted Babae
Babae’s menu offers ever-changing seasonal dishes developed with a creative approach to place, produce, flavour and technique which celebrates contemporary Australian Cuisine. Offering an intimate fine dining experience with only 26 seats, Babae’s menu champions the growers and producers from around the region, including an abundance from our garden.
Babae places a strong emphasis on the provenance of the food we serve. It is all about the origin and sustainable source of the produce. Our menu is very much crafted in partnership with the farmers, breeders and providores from across the Goldfields region and further afield. We work closely together to bring you the best of Australian food and wine.
Babae embraces the best in season from both local producers and our kitchen farm’s garden. With this seasonality we create menus with a keen eye on the approaching seasons harvest, working hand-in-glove with producers and our own gardeners to develop ingredients unique and tailored to menus at Babae.
Striving to be the best restaurant in Ballarat, we offer a seasonally inspired degustation menu to all guests. The Seasonal Dining Dinner Experience at Babae is $190.00 per person (food only). The Seasonal Lunch Experience at Vera $90.00 per person (food only). A wine match option is also available.
Meet Tim Foster
Tim Foster is the Culinary Director and Executive Chef of Babae Ballarat and was recently awarded a Chef’s Hat from The Age Good Food Guide for 2025.
Tim has spent a significant part of his hospitality career in regional South Australia. He migrated to the regional Victoria hospitality scene almost 14 years ago, working at the Healesville Hotel and then co-owning and cooking at the award winning Kyneton restaurant Source Dining, which held a chefs hat for nine consecutive years in The Age Good Food Guide. More recently he has owned and run one of Victoria’s top hotels, The Gold Mines Hotel and recently launched restaurant Terrae at Hotel Ernest, Vera’s companion hotel in Bendigo.
The desire to be hospitable is what shapes our service philosophy across all food and beverage operations, and particularly Babae, the “jewel in the crown” of our dining spaces. This desire to become one of the best places to eat in Ballarat, coupled with passion, knowledge and the experience gained from a lifetime in the hospitality industry combines to create the dining experience offered today. When creating menus each season, it all starts with the produce sourced from around us and from our garden. The source of all products is so important.
“My passion for cooking and the love that good food can bring was instilled in me by my maternal grandmother. She was a wonderful source of information on all the basic principles of cookery that are still with me today. My style of food is influenced by what is available around me and a genuine desire to be generous and showcase quality local produce.”
Tim is constantly exploring new ideas, ingredients, and cooking techniques in both his kitchen and garden. This approach can lead to creative and innovative dishes that draw from a wide range of natural elements. His cooking is driven by a passion for nature’s bounty and a desire to constantly evolve his skills and broaden the knowledge of his staff.
Ballarat’s only pet friendly hotel
So often, we feel ourselves yearning to catch a break from the hustle and bustle to immerse ourselves in a world of luxury. To simply take a minute and relax, leaving the world and its busyness behind us. But travelling with pets can be a challenge, and it’s often difficult to find pet-friendly accommodation that welcomes our four-legged friends along for a holiday. Enter Hotel Vera and its dedicated pet-friendly suite – The Lonarch.
Having one’s pet by your side will further relieve stress and ensure that you will enjoy your stay to the fullest.
We won’t blame you if you want to spend your entire holiday hunkered down beneath the luxe Hotel Vera linens with your pet beside you. But should you want to explore Ballarat’s tourist offerings, there is a wealth of pet-friendly attractions to discover.
For outdoor adventures, make sure to check out the iconic Lake Wendouree with its six-kilometre Steve Moneghetti Track. Walk the dog, grab a coffee by one of the lakeside cafes, or sit down at Pipers by the Lake and ask about the dog-friendly menu of puppuccinos, doggy biscuits and dog-friendly ice cream. Following your lake ventures, head across the road to the Ballarat Botanical Gardens and meander through the tracks as you admire the vibrant blooms, historic statues and towering oaks. Just make sure your dog is on a lead.
Other dog-friendly outdoor sites worth checking out with your pet include the picturesque Mount Buninyong and the lush Woowookarung Regional Park.
Your outdoor explorations will surely have you feeling famished, but luckily there are numerous pet-friendly cafes and restaurants ready to serve you and your pup all the fuel you deserve. Outdoor seating is available at local faves including Johnny Alloo, L’espresso, Fika and The Turret, or if you travel a little further outside of town, cafe and nursery The Greenhouse will allow you to take your dog inside with a lead and through to the back courtyard for a wholesome all-day brekky or lunch.
Ballarat may only be a short ninety-minute drive from Melbourne but that doesn't mean you shouldn't spend the night - or two. Here's a brilliant excuse to spend an indulgent weekend in Victoria's most dynamic inland city.
Stay at Hotel Vera on Friday, Saturday or Sunday night and get 10% off accommodation and lunch or dinner at Babae.
Terms And Conditions
Deal dates: 03 January – 3 June 2025
10% off excludes any alcohol consumption and any additional dishes at Babae.
10% off excludes any Vera mini bar and other incidentals.
Advance notice is essential for all dietary requirements. Although we do our best to accommodate dietary requirements, we cannot guarantee all requests can be catered and we require a minimum 24 hours notice. We are unable to offer a vegan or dairy free menu at this time. Our restaurant team will be in touch should we need to discuss any of your requests.