A destination-worthy winery restaurant, Yellow Billy celebrates flame-grilled meat and house-grown produce in a picturesque vineyard setting paired with local and global wines.
This prized local is one of the Hunter’s red-hot diners. It made a name for itself with fiery feasts and a fiendishly good drinks list, so it’s no surprise it claimed a chef’s hat in the Good Food Guide 2023. Chef Sam Alexander and sommelier Pat Hester have been keeping locals and visitors fed and watered since they opened Yellow Billy in 2018.
The restaurant is named after a “gentleman bushranger” named William White – Yellow Billy to his light-fingered colleagues – who reputedly roamed the Hunter Valley during the 1860s, sleeping in caves under the Brokenback Range. Legend has it he was an early forager, living off the land and cooking over an open fire to survive. Alexander and Hester have immortalised the notorious character by celebrating flame-grilled meat and house-grown produce in a picturesque vineyard setting that’s sure to stoke your embers.
While Yellow Billy spotlights food cooked over fire as the star, the supporting cast – the globetrotting wine list – nearly steals the show. Want to try a wine from Armenia? No problem. Lebanon, Chile, Argentina or Greece? You can try them all here in the heart of the Hunter. It’s a wow-factor wine list cherry-picked by sommelier Pat Hester with a whopping 290 wines by the bottle and around 45 by the glass. If that makes choosing a wine tricky, Pat’s on hand to talk you through it.
Each month he dedicates a page to a unique or interesting producer whose wine he loves to drink. That might be Hungarian winemaking duo Attila Homonna and Zoltán Jakab from Tokaj, for instance. There’s also a What We’re Drinking Now page of wines offering two half-glasses of Hester’s local faves to try. If you’re into white, Thomas Wines “Braemore” and “Like a Version” sémillons are on pour. Like a red instead? Opt for David Hook’s savoury nebbiolo or sagrantino. If wine isn't your thing, there are 22 beers and ciders and Pat also makes killer cocktails using ingredients from the kitchen garden. The Bush Tucker Mule made with Earp Distilling Co gin, limoncello, spiced honey syrup, lime juice, Strangelove ginger beer and native pepperberry is a showstopper.
