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The Tea Rooms at Yarck are situated in a rural patch just outside Yea in north-east Victoria.

But don't be fooled by the bucolic outlook, the quaint timber restaurant with a misleading name: no pots of Earl Grey tea and scones here, although in its previous incarnation it was such a place. Nowadays, the Tea Rooms at Yarck is a fabulous Italian trattoria with Sardinian undertones.

Just like Da Noi in South Yarra, some of you might say. That's no coincidence, considering its chef/owner, Sardinian-born Pietro Porcu, decided to open a country equivalent of sorts. He divides his time between the two restaurants.

Porcu longed for a farm and searched for years to find the right place. A couple of years ago, he discovered Yarck and it reminded him of Sardinia. They are not physically similar but he felt a connection.

So apart from buying the restaurant, with two friends from Da Noi, he also bought a 52-hectare property nearby and set about building the dream farm to breed Boer goats and Dorper sheep, both South African animals that produce sweet, lovely tasting meat. He has planted olive and fruit trees and vegetables, all organic produce for the Tea Rooms.

Of course, like any farm, the drought and difficult weather conditions have limited or eliminated crops. What he can't harvest for the restaurant, Porcu sources from like-minded producers, locally where possible. Tea Rooms is a true example of regionality and seasonality.

Lamb and kid are a speciality, but you'll have to wait another few months before they appear on the menu. However, there's much to appreciate and savour here in any season. At the moment, rich meat dishes feature: osso buco ($32), a wet-roast rabbit fragrant with truffles ($43). More on that shortly.

There are always pasta dishes, maybe pappardelle al ragu di cervo ($28) - that is venison ragu - while earlier this year soon after opening, I savoured ravioli filled with pecorino and a buttery sage topping ($22).

Tea Rooms is also completely unpretentious. That's the Sardinian approach to life and food. Cooking that uses a main ingredient with a couple of flavours merely acting as highlights. It's simple cooking but must be done properly. Porcu doesn't muck around with dishes that have been made for hundreds of years, perfectly, such as the Sardinian way with lamb - beautifully roasted and served with lemon, or suckling pig, unadulterated

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