Who We Are
About Aranya Acres
A native Australian restaurant, cocktail bar and events venue on twenty-five acres at Wamboin — thirty minutes from Canberra, and a world away from the ordinary.
The Short Version
A Vineyard Property With Three Businesses On It
Aranya Acres is a restaurant, wine bar and cocktail bar set on a twenty-five acre vineyard property at 810 Norton Rd, Wamboin. We are open Thursday to Sunday for lunch and dinner, and on every public holiday Monday. The property also carries a working winery and cellar door, and a vineyard — but these are separate operations, and we think it is worth being clear about which is which.
25
Acres of Vines & Gums
70
Seats in the Restaurant
30 min
From Central Canberra
Thu–Sun
Lunch & Dinner
The Kitchen
Native Ingredients, Multicultural Hands
Our kitchen is led by Chef de Cuisine Praneel Singh, who builds the menu around native Australian ingredients — lemon myrtle, wattleseed, Dorrigo pepper, finger lime, Davidson plum, macadamia, river mint — run through a kitchen with a multicultural backbone. It is not bush tucker as a novelty. It is a working pantry of ingredients that happen to be indigenous to this country, cooked by people who trained elsewhere and brought their technique with them.
That shows up as Clair de Luna oysters with mountain pepperberry and finger lime caviar, a bouillabaisse finished with native plum salsa, a sticky date pudding built on wattleseed butterscotch. Woodfire pizzas come out on Thursday and Sunday nights. The menu moves with the seasons.
The Bar
The Cellar List & the Sub Zero Native Series
We pour an ever-changing list of Canberra District wines — the region on our doorstep, and one of the most interesting cool-climate areas in the country. Alongside it sits the Sub Zero Native Series, our own cocktail list built on native botanicals. The bar sits inside the dining room rather than off to one side, which is deliberate: you can eat a full menu at it, or drink without eating at all.
Being Precise About It
Three Separate Entities, One Property
Aranya Acres
The restaurant, wine bar and cocktail bar, and the events and functions business. Operated by Vi Avenues Pty Ltd. This is us.
Sapling Yard Wines
A separate business running the production facility downstairs and a cellar door alongside us. Their wines are their own — we are neighbours and hosts, not the winemaker.
The Vineyard
Separately managed and currently undergoing a rejuvenation program. The wines we pour are not made from these vines — they come from the wider Canberra District.
Why We Spell This Out
Plenty of venues blur the line between “there are vines here” and “we made this wine”. We would rather tell you exactly what is what.
Beyond Dinner
What Else Happens Here
Trivia runs every Thursday from 7pm, free to enter. Live music — jazz, gypsy jazz, Celtic folk — takes over Friday nights. Through the year we host ticketed events, from guided painting sessions to sculpture on the Queanbeyan-Palerang Arts Trail. The restaurant and the lawn also host weddings and private functions for up to seventy seated, or a hundred and fifty among the vines.
Finding Us
810 Norton Rd, Wamboin NSW 2620
Thirty minutes east of central Canberra, fifteen from Bungendore, with free on-site parking. Open Thursday to Sunday for lunch and dinner and on public holiday Mondays. Call 0481 911 122 or email hello@aranyaacres.com.au.