Tim Foster has always wanted to be a chef. From as young as five he would visit his maternal grandmother every Saturday morning, mowing her lawns and doing a spot of gardening before being allowed to cook whatever he wanted for the rest of the day.

She taught Tim all the basics, from puff pastry to scones, in an old-timey wood oven. "I remember her putting her hand in the oven, saying, 'It's not hot enough yet' and putting another log on the fire," he recalls. "To use your intuition, not just a recipe, was something I came across at a very young age."

Tim's paternal grandma lived on a farm, and together with his mum, dad and brother, he ate whatever animal was slaughtered: sheep, lamb, geese and chickens, together with seasonal produce from the veggie garden. "We might have broad beans five nights a week for six weeks, but then we wouldn't have them again," he says. "We never ate a tomato in winter; it was what was in the garden, and if it wasn't there, you chose something else."

Part of a generation where nothing was wasted, Tim's grandma also preserved everything. "She made jams and preserved fruit, and taught me about how to make the most of everything using different preservation methods," he says. "I remember when she passed away and we were cleaning out her house, there were 20 year-old preserves in the back of the cupboard."

These combined childhood experiences shaped Tim's career - and in this case, the proof really is in the pudding. As culinary director and executive chef of new Ballarat restaurant Babae and soon-to-be sister restaurant, Terrae, in Bendigo his menus feature food that has been preserved, dehydrated and pickled, in the same spirit as his grandmothers: "It's just always what I wanted to do."

Born in South Australia, Tim lived in the Coonawarra wine region for the best part of 30 years, before being lured by Victoria's burgeoning food and wine scene and relocating in 2010. He was head chef at The Healesville Hotel in the Yarra Valley, before opening his hatted restaurant, Source Dining, in Kyneton.

A true fan of regional areas, Tim now lives on a 25-acre farm in Sedgwick (between Ballarat and Bendigo) with his partner, Peter. An acre of the property is garden, which helps stock the restaurant. "We're in an awesome position to grow something that's uniquely regional," he says, noting the location puts them within arm's reach of Ballarat, Bendigo, Heathcote, Macedon Ranges, Pyrenees, Beechworth and other rich food bowls.

This story is from the new autumn edition of ACM's Eat Play Stay magazine. Click here to read the entire magazine online.

Partnering with Goldfields Hospitality Group's David Cook-Doulton and Martin Shew, it was last year that their social connection turned into a business opportunity. Babae opened in Ballarat's Hotel Vera in January and Terrae will open in Bendigo's Hotel Ernest this autumn.

"It's very much a personal project for David and Martin, you're treated like you're in their home," says Tim of Hotel Vera, which he describes as "seven suites of absolute perfection". Tim says Terrae will have the same ethos as Babae, but the food will be quite different.

"Ballarat is degustation only and very much contemporary fi ne dining, whereas Bendigo will be a la carte," he explains. "I'll be in the kitchen for at least the first six months and we'll be focusing on modern European food. We're going to buy a pasta extruder so we can make fresh pasta every day and we'll be using food from the farm."

The common thread running through both venues? Ultimately it's about storytelling with food. "It's not about just coming to our restaurant ... we want to give them a regional experience," Tim says. "So that means a majority of what we use comes from regional suppliers, our garden where we can, as well as locally sourced wine (75 per cent of the wine list at Babae is Victorian), beer and whisky.

"We have so many regional producers - I thought I had my finger on the pulse and then last year started doing a bit more research before we opened Babae, and you realise just how many more producers there are."

In preparation for this autumn, Tim has cultivated lush produce such as quinces, kumquats, Jerusalem artichokes, crab apples, pomegranates, two different fig varieties and raspberries. "We don't change our menus with the seasons, they're basically dictated by mother nature," he says. "The point of the restaurant had to be that it was like coming into our home and our kitchen. It's very much an extension of our lives."

Tim says at the end of the day, old school hospitality is what they're aiming to achieve. "We encourage banter with the staff; we're having fun while we're on the floor and we hope people will as well.

"It's about beautiful food and wine in a stunning room, but there's no ego, it's really warm. We want things to just be done right."