Lockington Hotel goes from strength to strength

“I became an apprentice chef when I was 21, so that’ll be 31 years this year,” Mr Poynting said.

“People want more honesty with their food these days because of all the cooking shows.

“So many diners want to be able to experience food that’s honest and down to earth. And at the end of the day, your customers are a lot happier.

“It’s important to follow the seasons. It’s when you get your best produce. We use what is in season and source as much locally as we can, and put homemade food on the plate.”

Mr Poynting was asked what drives him in an industry that can at times be brutal in terms of long hours and the negative impact to family life.

“My family drives me, they give me immense joy, and makes it easy to come to work where I’m lucky I chose a career that I actually love doing,” Mr Poynting said.

“I’ve always said the day that I stop loving what I do it that I fall out of love with cooking is the day I stop.”

The brigade of seasoned and junior chefs also makes full use of the many cuts of meat, including primary and secondary cuts.

“Some of the recipes can take up to 24 hours in an oven. A meal like beef cheek ragu, where all the flavours marry together and enhance the dining experience,” Mr Poynting said.

“Other meals may only need five or six hours to achieve incredible flavour.

“When you cook from the heart, you will have people just coming back for your food time and time again.”

Mr Poynting shared where some of the diners have travelled from.

“Over previous weekends people from as far as Bendigo have come for a meal. The other week, we had a table drive up from Melbourne they’d heard about us on 3AW,” he said.

“I told them to try a steak sandwich, so we had a table of five from Melbourne sit down and eat five steak sandwiches thanks because (Tony Leonard) raved about it on the radio.”

An equally important part of the successful business are pub manager Linda Neville and Danielle Usherwood who provide excellent service to the countless guests from near and far.

Mrs Neville spoke of the ongoing success of the popular hub and the locals who invested in the venture.

“A gentleman by the name of Terry Malone, along with a dozen farmers got together and presented a business plan and it grew from there,” Mrs Neville said.

“The previous owner of the pub tried to sell but couldn’t. So, the community decided to come together and decided to invest in the pub. People were able to invest $5000 a share.

“We invested knowing that we didn’t want the pub to close. Then along came COVID and we had to shut down and then the floods and that’s when the community came together.”

Despite the pandemic and last year’s floods, the community pulled together to prevent the closure of a local institution.

“It was positive right from the word go. Everybody was just positive. They didn’t want the pub to shut. And yes, and they all support it. And it’s been great,” Mrs Neville said.

The renowned pub does a brisk trade serving locals while also serving patrons from further afield.

“Yes, we have visitors from Melbourne and Bendigo. We’re finding that people just come up for the weekend supporting the town,” Mrs Neville said.

“We probably average 550 meals a week. Only in the past few weeks, we did over 700 meals for the week. And were only open Wednesday, Thursday, Friday and Saturday and Sunday night.

While the master chef has had over three decades in the kitchen, Simon is keen to develop the skills and knowledge of the next generation of chefs.

“I get so much joy teaching juniors creating new dishes and just hearing feedback from customers when you walk out at the end of the night. It makes it all worthwhile,” the head chef said.

Teenage apprentice Lincoln Cameron has only had eight months in the kitchen working under Mr Poynting.

“Simon is an excellent teacher and ensures I learn the many aspects of becoming a great chef in my own right,” he said.

“The staff love working here, and everyone is like one big family.”