Region a foodie haven as restaurants named in good food guide

Chef and co-owner Sonia Anthony said the award was great recognition and would hopefully entice people to check out what the region's food offerings.

"Being in a regional City of Gastronomy, it's a really great way of highlighting what's in our region food wise that we bring to our plates at Masons," she said.

"It's just great recognition of all the hard work that our team do every day. It's not all about just that one moment, maintaining that consistency is really important for us.

"To receive the hat is and being in the publication means that people then have a look at what's in the region."

Anthony said Masons of Bendigo was the only Bendigo restaurant to be nominated one hat by The Age's Good Food Guide, while several other restaurants within the UNESCO City of Gastronomy region received hats from the Australian Good Food Guide.

Other restaurants include Bendigo's Alium Dining and The Woodhouse, and Heathcote's Chauncy.

"The more success we have within an industry means that more people will want to come into the industry and work in it and continue to grow it," Anthony said.

She said Bendigo was the perfect location for a "foodie adventure".

"We're not far from Melbourne and we just went to, took a train trip down in Melbourne and it was $7.20 return, that's so cheap.

"So come on people, get on the train, hop up, walk down the road, and come and have a great experience."