HOT50RESTAURANTAWARDS 2012

ContentsForeword

the wine

the MusiC

the design

the winner

AustrALiAn CAPitAL territorYThe ArTisAn

new south wALes BenTLeYBiOTA DininGBODeGAFOUr in hAnDGOwinGs BAr & GriLLGrAZinGhArTsYArDiZAKAYA FUJiYAMAMOMOFUKU seiOBOneiLD AVenUenO 2 OAK sTreeTOsCiLLATe wiLDLYQUAYsePiA

siXPennYsUBOTeTsuya’sThe APOLLOThe BriDGe rOOMThree BLUe DUCKs

QueensLAnd esQUireOrTiGAseADUCTiOnTAnKUrBAne

south AustrALiA FerMenTAsiAnFinOPress FOOD & wineVINCeNZO’s CuCINa VeRa

tAsMAniAGArAGisTes

ViCtoriAATTiCABUiLDers ArMs BisTrOCAFe Di sTAsiOCAsA CiUCCiOChin ChinesTeLLe

FLOwer DrUMGOLDen FieLDshAre & GrACeLAKe hOUseLOAMMOOn UnDer wATernewMArKeT hOTeLPei MODernrOCKPOOL BAr & GriLLrOYAL MAiL hOTeL

western AustrALiA AMUséeL PUBLiCOGreenhOUse

Foreword

By John Lethlean and Necia Wilden

T his collection of the 50 hottest restaurants goes as close to defining the energy and style of Australian dining in 2012 as you’ll find.Some of you will disagree with our list - we hope you do. By

our definition, a hot restaurant excels in two categories: food and fun. These are the places that are must-visits for anyone interested in food and eating out in this country. This is a list for people who are passionate about restaurants, who are tapped into the dining zeitgeist and hungry for intelligence on the subject. The things that matter to us: we admire places that take their work seriously, but we disdain places that take themselves too seriously, that veer into the realm of pretentiousness. “Fun” does not just mean casual: a fine-dining restaurant can be just as pleasurable and stimulating as a boisterous, no-bookings, bare-table affair. But we don’t

want stiff, starchy places that have no awareness of contemporary food and wine culture, either.

how we Chose the List

We look for restaurants with individuality, personality and a sense of place. A restaurant that has no sense of its environment, its surroundings or its food culture is not a Hot 50 restaurant. We look for experiences that give us a total enjoyment package in food, wine, service, environment and value. There must be an absence of significant negatives. Dining must be anxiety-free.

We look for consistency, though of course this is not possible to gauge from an isolated visit. For that reason, we take feedback from many sources, including our well-informed readers. A restaurant does not have to be new to be on the list. Older, established restaurants can be and are contenders, if they continue to refresh their offering while not discarding the things that matter.

It’s important to point out that we’re not presuming to rate the 50 “best” restaurants - how do you compare apples with pears? - and this is not a popularity contest. While many of our Hot 50 restaurants are commercially successful, for us that’s almost incidental. Some may be ridiculously hard to get into, or at least require patience at the door; others are just a phone call away. What they share is a commitment to great food and hospitality.

Our list aims to provide a good mix of restaurant styles and price points. Not everyone wants to go to loud, Gen-Y restaurants trotting out sliders and dude food. We recognise that many of our readers look for high levels of comfort, refinement and dependability, and our list reflects that. That said, we’re not trying to be all things to all people. This is a country with a dining culture that is alive and kicking, and this is a list for the people who celebrate it.

Hot 50 reviews by John Lethlean, Necia Walden, Simon Thomsen, Karen Miliner and Simon Wilkinson.

PIG’S EARS AND OTHER EMERGING TRENDS

Times are hard. A significant number of high-end restaurants/groups have taken a tumble over the past 12 months, particularly in Sydney. Others are either struggling to put bums on seats, or scrambling to reinvent themselves. Restaurateurs are losing the will, and the means, to maintain traditional-style high-end restaurants.

People are still going out - Perhaps even more than ever - but they’re spending less. So the restaurants that are canny about how their prices are perceived - and parlayed on the social media grapevine - are thriving.

Part of the industry’s struggle to keep its head above water is the no-bookings phenomenon. At the more casual end of the market, it simply makes more business sense for the restaurant to manage demand this way and as long as the public plays the game, it won’t change.

The digital world is changing the way some restaurants operate. Chefs are now plugged in before plating up, reaching out in cyberspace to let people know about new dishes, special dinners and discount deals. More diners are booking tables online, and the web is awash with meal deal sites offering incentives such as midweek discounts, which are changing the way diners “shop” for restaurants.

The line between formal and informal is being blurred. Some of the best restaurant food in Australia is served at bare tables with a rock’n’roll soundtrack. Cooking creatively is a young person’s game and that’s being reflected in the dining rooms they run.

The tricky economics behind small, chef-run dining rooms has ushered in a renewed impetus for degustation-style dining. Set menus save money.

Wood is the word: whether it be cooking over charcoal or coal, smoking all kinds of ingredients or indeed adding smoke to dishes for the big “reveal” at the table, wood and its smoke are hot, smouldering even.

The Mugaritz-Noma effect: Spain and Denmark have replaced Paris

and London as the Mt Olympus of the 21st century, for chefs anyway.

At the pointy end of dining, the pervasiveness of food gods Andoni Aduriz and Rene Redzepi has been phenomenal in Australia. From Hobart to Brisbane, Perth to Sydney and many points in between, you’ll find great Australian chefs inspired to forage, plant kitchen gardens, discover edible flowers and generally celebrate the virtues of naturalist cuisine.

And what have we seen on our plates? A litter of pig’s ears; a Babel of tongues; a school of mackerel; a bed of Rottnest scallops; ovens of housemade bread; herds of hanger steak, rump cap and a whole lot of secondary cuts your butcher has never heard of (Wagyu has jumped the shark); and salt mines of saline caramel. Oh, and chicken that tastes like real chicken (because it is).

The importance of correct lighting is being reinforced by its absence: too many restaurants are confusing one-dimensional low lighting with mood, leaving too many of us in the dark.

The Scandinavian aesthetic has jumped off the plate and into the dining room as never before: we’re seeing lots of blond wood, Danish-designed furniture and an overall look of Nordic reserve.

And what are we drinking? Less, but more frequently: the trend towards smaller by-the-glass pours mirrors the smaller-portion trend on the menu. It helps soften sticker shock, and diners can cast their drinking net a little wider. Those by-the-glass lists are getting longer, while the bottle lists get shorter; a great idea in principle, provided what they’re selling is kept fresh. We’re drinking more “natural” wines, more sake, cider and small-brewery beers.

And who is serving us? Sometimes, it’s the chefs themselves (another trend out of Denmark) but too often it’s a generation of fairly clueless, undertrained waitstaff. Australia’s pool of first-class waiter talent stays within the inner circle of elite restaurants and restaurateurs: for the rest, it’s slim pickings.

the wineA GOOD sOMMeLier CAn Be As iMPOrTAnT As The CheF.

Greg Plowes, wine director of Tetsuya’s

By Max Allen

T here’s a moment towards the end of the 14-course degustation dinner at Momofuku Seiobo when I realise how clever and appropriate the wine selection has been.

A small bowl is placed in front of me containing finely grated C2 cheese from Bruny Island and a thin sheet of crackling-like honey licorice. A glass appears at my elbow and the next wine is poured. Except it’s not wine. Rather than choose a fine sauternes or late-harvest riesling to accompany the dish, sommelier Charles Leong has given me a pear cider. Admittedly,

this is a very fancy pear cider - Eric Bordelet’s Poire Granit, made from biodynamically farmed, 300-year-old pear trees in Normandy - but the earthy, artisan, agricultural connection is clear. As if on cue, the loud and sometimes raucous playlist suddenly shifts to the spare, country-tinged sounds of Bruce Springsteen’s Nebraska. And I have a food-and-drink epiphany.

The wine served in restaurants can be just as important to the overall experience as the food. For some of us, it can be more important. Either way, our interaction with the sommelier is more immediate than our relationship with the chef. The best restaurateurs understand this and put an enormous amount of effort into making sure the drinking in their establishments is as finely tuned as the eating, the design, the lighting and the music. That’s why, for our Hot 50 restaurants feature this year, we decided to move beyond simply reviewing wine lists and look at the wine experience as a whole. So here is an account of my wine experiences in the past month at three of the hottest Hot 50 restaurants: overall winner Momofuku Seiobo, Sydney; Hottest Classic Cafe di Stasio, Melbourne; and Hottest Wine Experience Tetsuya’s, Sydney.

Momofuku: In keeping with the eclectic culinary influences, informality and deep sense of cool that permeate the place, the wine offering is equally eclectic and, well, super-cool. Head sommelier Richard Hargreave and Leong have three wine lists: a single-page selection offering two beers, one cider (the Bordelet), five sakes and around 60 wines, ranging from rare biodynamic champagnes and whites from Italy to preservative-free Barossa shiraz and Austrian blaufrankisch; a short selection of expensive, show-off bottles such as the 1995 Krug Clos d’Ambonnay ($7200) and 1996 Grange ($2360); and, finally, a list of “odds and sods” - a selection of challenging bottles from the gods of natural winemaking in Jura, Loire, Beaujolais and the Rhone aimed at trend-conscious wine geeks.

So, if you’re dining here in a group, there’s plenty of by-the-bottle choice to see you through the 14-course feast. But if you’re on your own or with

a partner, I’d opt for the beverage pairing, which consists of eight or nine glasses for a reasonable $95 (there’s a $55 juice pairing for teetotallers).

Echoing the individuality of the menu, the drinks cover a wide and playful spectrum and spark a loud and lively conversation with the food. The Didi Giallo - a cloudy, wild sauvignon blanc from the Adelaide Hills - is exactly the right choice for the bitter/rough notes of pomelo and saltbush on kingfish; the sweetish, pink, Mukai Shuzo red-rice sake seems a natural fit for shaved radish, wagyu and fermented black bean; the Pyramid Valley Marlborough pinot blanc, all creamy richness and tongue-coating texture, is right at home with congee and egg yolk. And the dark, treacly flavours of a 1985 Toro Albala Pedro Ximenez linger on my tongue when the post-dessert plate of sugar-roasted pork shoulder lands in front of me.

Melbourne’s Cafe Di Stasio provides a very different wine experience. More traditional. A little more formal. Not cutting-edge or trendy in the slightest. But just as appropriate to the restaurant and the setting. Walking into Di Stasio in 2012 feels almost exactly the same as when I first visited 20 years ago. Which is, of course, the point. Back then, I drank wine from the Yarra Valley so this time I decide I want to drink from the Yarra again - a chardonnay and pinot noir from owner Ronnie Di Stasio’s hillside vineyard.

As soon as we arrive we are asked if we would like a glass of champagne or prosecco to start. It’s very Italian. Eventually, the wine list appears. It’s a 20-page tome with a heavy emphasis on Italy, especially well-known names (Gaia, Sassicaia, Pio Cesare), and a deep selection of back vintages. The choice of wines by the glass is rather average: an obligatory Kiwi sav blanc, a good Clare Valley shiraz, a passable Chianti and a smattering of other Italians, all at fairly hefty mark-ups.

But this isn’t a by-the-glass kind of restaurant: the wine list is aimed at big spenders on a big night out.

However, even though the Di Stasio wines are not the most expensive on the list, when I order the boss’s 2010 Chardonnay (a deliciously lemony

and refined match with my seared tuna and pancetta), the waiter swings into action, whisking away the standard glasses and replacing them with varietal-specific, large-bowled glasses from Plumm. It’s a classic example of the theatre of Italian fine dining.

Tetsuya’s: The wine experience here is the best of all worlds. There’s theatre galore, albeit understated. There’s formality in the fine Riedel stemware, gleaming crystal decanters and 35-page list dripping with trophy bottles. There’s a brilliantly chosen combination of the traditional and the cutting-edge in the nine glasses of wine and sake (good value at $95) matching the 10-course degustation. And there is extraordinary attention to detail in the personalised service.

Every diner at Tetsuya’s has a multi-course dego; wine director Greg Plowes and his team tailor the wine offering to each table and to each diner. So while my partner and I enjoy a selection of glasses that includes some challenging and rare matches such as a feral, forest-floor-scented Morgon from Jean Foillard and a gloriously sweet Kijoshu sake from Masuizumi, the tables around us are steered down different routes.

One of the highlights is the breadth and depth of wines produced especially for the restaurant. Plowes and his team have blended their own pinot noir at leading wineries such as Felton Road, and Margaret River winery Pierro has been bottling a chardonnay for Tetsuya’s since 2001: Plowes proudly pours the 2007 vintage as a rich and satisfying match for the signature ocean trout confit dish.

The clincher for me, though, is the attention to detail in the food-and-wine matching. Early in the meal, after pairing a light, Avruga-sprinkled custard with a Daiginjo sake (another exclusive bottling), Plowes pours a 2009 Tunkalilla riesling from Oregon. On its own, the wine is, well, nice: fresh, crisp, citrusy, grapey but simple. But drinking it with the next two dishes is a revelation. With the “Salad of the sea”, a delicate array of raw and gently cured fish, leaves and herbs, the wine appears to lose all its acidity, revealing a complex sweet fruitiness that echoes the sweetness of

the seafood. Then, with a richer dish of scampi and chicken liver parfait, the wine’s fruit is swallowed by the white flesh, leaving a perfect amount of acidity to balance the sweetness. It is like drinking two different wines.

I have rarely encountered such a sophisticated wine experience.

the MusiCA weLL-ChOsen PLAYLisT seTs The TOne

Chefs and restaurateurs Ben Milgate and elvis Abrahanowicz

By John Lethlean

A long dinner at Sydney’s Oscillate Wildly - and the music set the night on fire. Stimulating, appropriate to the environment (small, intimate dining room), unpredictable, mostly contemporary and

chosen by someone with an obvious ear for mood and context. I was happy.

The food was lovely, the wine as strong and the service exemplary. All this in a restaurant that takes its name from a song by a band that, well ... like most Smiths fans (yes, I’m over 50), I’m particularly partisan about.

I believe music is important, and some of our favourite restaurants do too.

They range from raucous, good-times haunts where the urge to air-guitar a Jack White solo might be as compelling as the need to croon along to an Al Green classic, to places where the focus on food and the chef’s craft lend themselves to the atmospheric landscapes of Bon Iver.

Music’s an opportunity, I reckon. So does James Sexton, maitre d’ at Oscillate. “When people come to a restaurant, there is an expectation of having their senses enlightened,” he says. “They taste the food, smell the wine and see the space. Having the right music ... can control the atmosphere for the evening and give the place its own personality.”

It is “almost” the most essential aspect of a dining room, says Chris Lucas, of ChinChin, Melbourne. “Of course the food is pre-eminent but the music sets the tone and the feel of a space, which in today’s world is absolutely essential. It’s interwoven with the ethos of your restaurant, and in my view, bookends the food.”

It helps that chefs and restaurateurs Elvis Abrahanowicz and Ben Milgate (Bodega and Porteno) look like musicians. “We are a busy, high-energy restaurant and we like the music to reflect that,” says Milgate. “Sometimes just before we open the doors, we play a favourite song and it gets all the staff happy and sets a pace to then welcome our guests,” he says. Ryan Squires, the chef and proprietor at Brisbane’s Esquire, agrees. “Music, like food, is very personal,” he says. “I don’t believe it’s essential to a restaurant but also feel things may not work without it.”

At Press, in Adelaide, devising playlists for both of its restaurant areas was perhaps the trickiest aspect, says the restaurant’s Tim White. “On the one hand we want to create a buzzy, energised feel for those walking in off the street, especially patrons who’ve popped in for a quick glass of wine. On the other there are those who may have booked for a large party upstairs for a more formal gathering whose aural requirements might be quite different.” As ever, the best restaurants have a soundtrack that matches the many moods of the dining experience.

the designneiLD AVenUe, siMPLe YeT GrAnD

By David Meagher and Jan van Schaik

Neild Avenue manages to be a highly inventive space that is a simultaneously grand and intimate interior. Its design is clever enough to really work as a restaurant and eclectic enough to

allow you to believe that each moment you experience is yours alone.

So it’s interesting to discover that Maurice Terzini’s initial brief to his architect had almost nothing to do with design. He commissioned Carl Pickering, the Rome-based Australian-born architect from the firm Lazzarini Pickering, to design his latest Sydney venture by simply showing him the menu. “At the end of the day that’s what we’re serving and what we

are selling,” says Terzini of his Rushcutters Bay restaurant Neild Avenue, which opened late last year. “Carl had a look at the menu, the wine list, the waiter’s uniforms and the graphics we were going to use and then after that we started to talk about the actual design element of the restaurant.”

Lazzarini Pickering had designed Terzini’s 10-year-old Icebergs Dining Room & Bar at Sydney’s Bondi Beach. And Terzini, then in partnership with Robert Marchetti, worked with the firm on the design of Melbourne restaurant Giuseppe, Arnaldo & Sons and Sydney butchery La Macelleria.

In the dining area of Neild Avenue the “roof” is suspended above on a sophisticated pulley system that can be lowered or raised to create more intimate spaces if required. The underside of the roof features artwork by Anthony Lister depicting graffiti-style women, animals and a rainbow sky.

Neild Avenue doesn’t pretend to be a fine-dining restaurant. “It’s trattoria, casual, cutlery-on-the-table style of dining,” says Terzini. Pickering’s design reflects that by using simple, everyday materials such as untreated wood, polished concrete and exposed brickwork. On its own, each element is simple and rudimentary; but, like the best trattoria food, the combination of elements adds up to something special.

the winnersyDNey sWINGs INTO MaNHaTTaN’s MOMOFuKu

By John Lethlean and Necia Wilden

In his private moments, David Chang must laugh at the irony of it all. Here he is, captain of a ship that includes what is undoubtedly one of Australia’s finest restaurants - and certainly its hottest - as well as

several of New York’s best.

He has a highly respected book; a quarterly “magazine” (Lucky Peach) and a number of subsidiary businesses, such as bakeries. And all named after the man who invented the instant noodle, Momofuku Ando.

Indeed, a sense of humour has characterised the rise and rise of Chang, the preppy Korean-American chef who fuses the flavours, textures and

ingredients of his upbringing with the street food of his family’s adopted home. You can see it in his New York restaurants (Momofuku Ssam Bar, Momofuku Ko and Ma Peche); you can see it within the iconoclastic pages of Lucky Peach; and you can see it in his food. Who else would attempt braised pork as a petit four?

Chang has become not only a chef with an original style, but also the hottest restaurateur in Manhattan, if not the world. The leap to repeating the success in Australia, of all places, with Momofuku Seiobo, must have seemed huge and unlikely. It seems the company behind Sydney’s Star casino made him an offer he couldn’t refuse. Sure, he likes the place and has spent a lot of time here, but why open a restaurant halfway across the world? “We have more freedom at Seiobo than we have at any of my restaurants in NYC,” Chang says. “We were offered so much more space [than in New York] - Seiobo was the first restaurant I’ve had where the space was built especially for us.”

Unlike some restaurateurs, Chang had no reservations about opening in a casino. “I think there is a perception that a casino restaurant is not going to be that restaurant’s best effort, and we wanted to dispel that notion,” he says.

An unintended consequence of the Momofuku migration south has been making head chef, Briton Ben Greeno, an official import, quite possibly for good. “My girlfriend’s from Sydney,” says the quietly spoken 32-year-old. “She’s been gone 10 years [in London] and now she’s back home. I’ll be staying in Australia.”

Greeno has played a pivotal role in the success of Seiobo, translating Chang’s meticulous attention to detail to Sydney and interpreting local tastes and produce through the Momofuku filter. A year in, Greeno, who moved to Momofuku in New York after working at Copenhagen restaurants, including Noma, and in London, can see the issues here. “Getting to grips with the produce has been the difficult thing. And also the seasons. That’s the main difference between the cities, really.” Coming from the US, where

the small grower-supplier scene is more mature, Greeno finds Australian vegetables “in general” poor. The fish, on the other hand, he cannot praise enough. What’s made him most happy working here, though, has been the Australian diner, whom he describes as “very open-minded.”

At $175 a head for the set-price degustation, plus wine - Seiobo customers will see something like 15 different dishes over the course of dinner - the Sydney restaurant is about 20-30 per cent more expensive than New York’s Momofuku Ko. Why? “Labour costs and food costs here are so much higher than in America,” Chang says. “If I buy breakfast in Sydney, I can’t get out of it for under $40 for two people. You could buy breakfast for four for the same money in New York.” He argues that their degustation is a bargain compared with similar high-end restaurants serving a la carte. “We try our best not to make it cost-prohibitive. We want people to leave our restaurants thinking they’ve had a wonderful time and thinking it was good value.”

momofuku.com/sydney/seiobo/

AustrALiAn CAPitAL

territorYhOTTesT resTAUrAnTs

the ArtisAnnArrABUnDAh, ACT

sam McGeechan and David Black of The Artisan in Canberra

16 iluka street, narrabundah, Canberra, ACt

In the two years since David Black and Sam McGeechan opened this suburban Canberra restaurant, it’s flown a little below the radar - but not for diners passionate about their assured cooking, which results in outstanding entrees such as red pepper consomme surrounding a small island of braised beef cheek with coriander.

Anchoring their style in classical French, these lads take it seriously, right down to suggesting two wine options with every dish, but their team also knows how to have fun, while tending tables regimentally lined up along the banquette stretching down one side of the long, thin room.

The impressive wine list, packed with Australian marques, remains approachable: the local Lark Hill shiraz-viognier is suggested for spice-

crusted lamb rack with aubergine relish, while Mr Riggs tempranillo is offered with a refined spatchcock coq au vin.

Although the banana tarte tatin is more miss than hit, a creme brulee leaves no doubt the classics are still hot.

Must-eat: spanner crab and saffron tortellini with lobster and chive beurre blanc

theartisanrestaurant.com.au

Phone: (02) 6232 6482

new south wALes

hOTTesT resTAUrAnTs

BentLeYsUrrY hiLLs, sYDneY

320 Crown street, surry hills, sydney, nsw

Chef Brent Savage delights in letting his imagination run riot, but doesn’t lose sight of flavour as a priority. Few can imagine Balmain bugs with sweetbreads, black bean and coconut, let alone pull it off with aplomb.

In sommelier Nick Hildebrandt, he has found Lennon to his McCartney, since a key part of the joy of dining here is letting Hildebrandt share the latest discoveries on his 600-bin list, whether it’s the house pinot noir by Lucy Margaux or a small biodynamic producer from Europe. Like Savage, he enjoys exploring the new-wave edges of his craft. If wine’s your preferred option, just sit at the bar with saucisson, Spanish salami and pickled rhubarb for company.

A slinky 2010 revamp of The Bentley’s interior by Melbourne designer

Pascale Gomes-McNabb gave this compact space a new elegance worthy of Savage’s tongue-twisting food. And while the cured kingfish with pickled beetroot and buttermilk is an impressive opener, Savage’s vegetarian options are just as strong.

Must-eat: pork cheek with black garlic, fennel and calamari

thebentley.com.au

Phone: (02) 9332 2344

BiotA diningBOwrAL, nsw

18 Kangaloon road, Bowral, nsw

Australia is blessed with great regional restaurants. James Viles’ Biota Dining, in the Southern Highlands 90 minutes from Sydney, stands alongside Dan Hunter’s Royal Mail Hotel (Dunkeld, Victoria) as a remarkable destination restaurant in the style of Spain’s acclaimed Mugaritz.

An elegantly designed space, from the sleekly spacious dining room to the chilled lounge bar, all filled with art and inviting, natural bric-a-brac, it’s a one-stop culinary spot with a strong sense of place. Viles is a chef at the peak of his culinary prowess, transforming produce he’s often grown, or sourced locally, into something remarkable via the latest techniques and fashions. Thankfully, he’s no mimic, his distinctive voice revealed in the burnt toffee-coated pork cheek with turnips, cauliflower and fig; and cured

mackerel with lettuce hearts, nashi, lime and grapes. It’s pretty and poised, part of a splendidly polished package that amply rewards those who seek it out.

Must-eat: duck ham with duck egg, puffed grains, celeriac and brassica

biotadining.com

Phone: (02) 4862 2005

BodegAsUrrY hiLLs, sYDneY

216 Commonwealth street, surry hills, sydney, nsw

While their South American char-grill, Porteno, has become the bright, shiny new plaything for fashionable foodies, Bodega - the no-bookings tapas bar where tattoo-loving chefs Ben Milgate and Elvis Abrahanowicz began their ascendancy - has gained further momentum out of the spotlight.

Its flavour-packed tapas have evolved into sophisticated morsels - rivalling the Chang and Nobu styles - without losing their whimsy, from steamed milk buns with barbecue tongue and crab to smoked lamb ribs with creamed corn and cola-chilli glaze.

The music’s loud, the crowd is rocking, the chorizo is house-made and the impressive and exclusively Spanish and South American wine list also includes Estrella Damm beer on tap and Spanish sidra.

Expect even better things in future: following a major revamp, Bodega is due to reopen brighter and slicker.

Must-eat: fish fingers - sashimi kingfish on garlic toast with cuttlefish ceviche and mojama

bodegatapas.com

Phone: (02) 9212 7766

Four in hAndPADDinGTOn, sYDneY

105 sutherland street, Paddington, sydney, nsw

Dublin-born Colin Fassnidge kisses the Blarney stone with the best of them, but thankfully, the outspoken chef puts his meals where your mouth is in this reborn pub restaurant, balancing his earthy Irish heritage with a deft touch.

While there’s a homely underpinning to corned beef with split peas, mussels, peas and feta, the execution is far smarter than the bistro surrounds suggest. An offal advocate, Fassnidge’s pig’s ear schnitzel with a crab and sprout salad is a strong case for the prosecution. His great skill is bringing out the best in secondary cuts and unfashionable fish, such as the ethereal prosciutto broth with Spanish mackerel, squid and saffron gnocchi, while the wine list is first rate, punching well above pub surrounds with a strong French focus and the best of small local producers. And like all good

Irishmen, Fassnidge knows how to tell a joke, as the chocolate “Snickers” dessert shows.

Must-eat: beef rump with tongue, bone marrow and crumbed brisket

fourinhand.com.au/restaurant

Phone: (02) 9362 1999

gowings BAr & griLLsYDneY nsw

49 Market street, sydney, nsw

Hotels in Australia aren’t known for their restaurants; the new QT, a boutique operation where Gowings department store was an icon, is having a red hot go, and behind a very naked kitchen “pass” is Paul Easson, former head at Rockpool Melbourne. He’s a savvy choice for a restaurant working the same kind of inventive, produce-driven mix of grilled meats, poultry and seafood with a faintly Mediterranean accent that Perry’s operations nail.

Directing the creative side of food is Rob Marchetti. His extensive menu is inspired - from chilled crustaceans to substantial salads, rotisseried birds, a variety of proteins cooked in two wood ovens, fish and steaks from the grill and “other dishes” such as “stockbroker flat omelette” or a Wiener schnitzel with egg and Ortiz anchovy. Rarely will you see such a pretence-free collection of dishes expressed in a manner that just gets you going.

A tartare of yellowfin tuna, cut from a whole fish hanging in the open kitchen, is perfect. It is speckled with fresh horseradish and served on monogrammed classic crockery with house-made sesame bread, a crinkle-cut lemon half and a touch of preserved lemon oil.

An aluminium oyster tray filled with ice is home to a sensational collection of raw, live molluscs (plus steamed periwinkles) dressed with a tangy combo of rice wine vinegar, lemon juice, coriander and parsley stalks. It’s expensive; it’s also refreshingly pure and utterly memorable, one of the most enjoyable starters this year.

And if you needed any convincing about the virtues of wood roasting, you only need meet Gowings’ quail: two dark, almost lacquered birdies with a sage, ham and barley bread stuffing on wilted butter lettuce. Pink, slippery flesh, aromatic innards and crisp skin.

Must-eat: raw and poached shellfish with coriander salsa

qtsydney.com.au

Phone: (02) 8262 0000

grAZingGUnDArOO

Corner Cork and harp streets, gundaroo, nsw

This restored 1865 pub could provoke a state-of-origin stoush: Gundaroo is a small NSW farming village just 20 minutes from Canberra and counts as part of the ACT wine region, as the adjacent cellar door in the former stables attests.

Long before it became fashionable, Grazing did what country people naturally do and planted a kitchen garden. What Grazing offers, aside from the charm of dining beside an open fire and an admirably child-friendly approach, is a strong sense of place in a menu full of no-nonsense country heartiness, from a fine charcuterie plate to lemon-crusted lamb’s brains with parmesan custard, or deboned rabbit wrapped in cos from the garden with a pear cider beurre blanc.

The wine list, too, is a roll-call of locals, right down to the custom-brewed, on-tap beers and cider.

The warm hospitality sets a rather relaxed pace, but it does serve as a reminder of country values. And in summer, when the garden’s at its peak, beware the spell of bush-change dreams that Grazing casts.

Must-eat: kangaroo tail and beetroot tortellini with goat’s cheese and wattle-seed burnt butter

grazing.com.au

Phone: (02) 6236 8777

hArtsYArdnewTOwn, sYDneY

33 enmore road, newtown, nsw

Dude food doesn’t mean dumb. As implausible as it sounds, Gregory Llewellyn turns the trailer trash of Canadian dining, poutine - traditionally chips, gravy and cheese - into something cleverly appealing by adding shredded beef, oxtail gravy and beer sauce to fat chips. It’s like an ode to the best bits scraped from a roasting pan.

Hartsyard is cool, funky, buzzing, noisy and irresistibly delicious. Yes, there are lamb ribs smothered in sweet, smoky barbecue sauce with cornbread and pickled chillies; fried chicken; and an oyster po’ boy - an English muffin with a fried oyster, mayo and ‘slaw - but in contrast, a finely sliced raw globe artichoke and mushroom salad with celery hearts and parmesan crisp is inspired and delicate.

Add boutique beers on tap, clever lighting, a small bar feel, smart service from Llewellyn’s wife Naomi Hart and a wicked peanut butter and banana sundae with banana donuts, salted fudge and pretzel ice-cream and you’ve got a dinner that’s crazy, exciting and enormous fun.

Must-eat: chocolate cake with bacon candy, pear and ale ice-cream

hartsyard.com.au

Phone: (02) 8068 1473

iZAKAYA FuJiYAMAsUrrY hiLLs, sYDneY

shop g09, 38-52 waterloo street, surry hills, sydney, nsw

Izakaya, a Japanese bar with food, became the new tapas in 2011, so it’s serendipitous that Kenji Maenaka, a former chef at Surry Hills tapas bar Bodega, should open an equally cool Japanese version nearby.

Unsurprisingly, it’s food to share and graze on, from pristine sashimi and sushi to fatty booze-sops such as tempura and karaage chicken, rebranded as Kenji’s Fried Chicken.

Maenaka’s previous experience makes a cameo in the limey kingfish nuta with fried tortilla; fish namban, a fried snapper escabeche; and beef kalbi, grilled rib with a chimichurri-like green chilli relish.

Izakaya Fujiyama is a rowdy, loud and exhilarating place: sit at the sake bottle-lined bar to watch the cocktail action, or take your luck at the no-

bookings tables.

There’s a small wine list, but the real fun is dabbling in the 85 sakes and Japanese beers, including a red rice ale and draught Sapporo. If you can remember how the night ended, you’re not doing it right.

Must-eat: ponzu-glazed grilled fish head

izakayafujiyama.com

Phone: (02) 9698 2797

MoMoFuKu seioBoPYrMOnT, sYDneY

hottest restaurant nsw

hottest restaurant

the star, 80 Pyrmont street, sydney, nsw

Yes, we know getting a booking is a pain. Persist. Walk in, offer a bribe. But somehow find yourself a chair at this ground-breaking outpost of the church of David Chang, and be prepared to eat, pray (and pay), love.

MS is a generational watershed, a place that says more eloquently than any other Australian restaurant that noise, informality and egalitarianism are not inconsistent with great service, sublime food and a dining experience to cherish for years.

It’s a place of extraordinary focus and almost no pretension, a combination that makes it the hottest restaurant in Australia today. What are they

cooking tonight? Who knows? But almost certainly there will be snacks with an Asian perspective: shiitake crisps, sticky rice/kimchi lollipops. The steamed pork bun, Chang’s Korean/American dude food classic. There will be a sashimi idea somewhere up the front, with a twist. Then, marron with squid ink mousse? Lamb with pickled mustard seeds? Fish - stripey trumpeter, perhaps - with grilled cos and smoked roe. A pasta idea that somehow embraces Seoul, Soho and Sydney. Spicy mud crab with an individual Yorkshire pudding.

A complete trip, and an utter “must” for the dedicated food traveller.

Must-eat: everything

momofuku.com/sydney/seiobo/

neiLd AVenuerUshCUTTers BAY, sYDneY

hottest Design

10 neild Avenue, rushcutters Bay, sydney, nsw

There is more distraction on the menu here than is fair for any restaurant. The bold and original interior design of an old garage that nurtures intense dining theatre; the graffiti-as-art installations by artist Anthony Lister; the crowd, following that pied piper of Sydney style, proprietor Maurice Terzini. Even a bebop soundtrack can take you out of yourself.

But ultimately, it’s the food that will grab you by the scruff and demand attention. Mediterranean food that has nowhere to hide, and doesn’t need to. The freshest seafood and meats cooked over smoking coals; garnishes and sauces made with outstanding herbs, citrus juices and golden olive oils; the best vegetables a chef can buy for his salads.

We love the mere suggestion of Greece and the Middle East; we love prime produce like the Queensland buffalo milk haloumi or a barbecued, seasoned fish that rises or falls on its freshness. It rises spectacularly. Even a cheeky dessert called Pomegranate Everything melds simplicity, great produce and kitchen skill. It’s real food, done really well.

Must-eat: coal-grilled John Dory

idrb.com

Phone: (02) 8353 4400

no 2 oAK streetBeLLinGen, nsw

2 oak street, Bellingen, nsw

Restaurant lifespans all too often mimic those of March flies, which makes this gem’s 17 years in a small dairy-and-hippie town on the NSW mid-north coast all the more remarkable. Equally remarkable is that the second generation of the Urquhart family, chef Michael and his front-of-house sister Shani - just nippers when it opened - have stepped into the breach, taking over the roles of their parents, Ray and Toni, after illness intervened last year.

Set in a charming, century-old timber cottage, it offers remarkable value for its sophisticated yet earthy food, anchored in the local produce. From duck sausage on braised borlotti beans to oxtail ravioli with bone marrow and jus, or the local Milly Hill lamb, barbecued, on black quinoa, to service that sweeps you up in its friendliness, No. 2 Oak Street is a remarkable achievement.

Must-eat: Positano seafood stew

no2oakst.com.au

Phone: (02) 6655 9000

osCiLLAte wiLdLYnewTOwn, sYDneY

275 Australia street, newtown, nsw

Yeah, yeah, funny name (unless you’re a Smiths fan) and an unlikely location in Sydney’s Newtown, too. Not much to look at either, just a single-fronted shop space tarted up for food. But. The chief Oscillator, Karl Firla, is a chef doing lovely work. Unique work, even. And with his buddy James Sexton orchestrating proceedings out front, this compact unit was one of the big surprises for us in 2012.

From an amazing tartare of raw scampi with finger lime, peppery leaves and flowers, yuzu and radish pods to Firla’s take on steak and eggs (not what you’d expect), and then to a dessert of pandan ice cream with toasted milk skin, popcorn and the chef’s version of dulce de leche (“milk jam”, he calls it), a meal here is unpredictable without being wacky, comforting without in any sense being homely.

Firla’s very modern food can loosely be bracketed with the naturalists, but it’s no Noma clone, either. He follows his own muse. With only a small dining room to serve, his food is amazingly focused and refined, and Sexton adds a delightfully informed, warm and unpretentious air to the occasion. It’s wild. Really wild.

Must-eat: duck with black garlic custard

oscillatewildly.com.au

Phone: (02) 9517 4700

QuAYThe rOCKs, sYDneY

hottest Dish (tied)

Quay’s Peter Gilmore with his winning dish, smoked and confit pig cheek, shiitake, shaved scallop, Jerusalem artichoke leaves, juniper, bay.

upper Level, overseas Passenger terminal, the rocks, sydney, nsw

What do you expect from one of the world’s greatest dining experiences? Maybe not a chef who says he just wants the produce at Quay to speak for itself, as if he were a bistro cook grilling prawns over charcoal.

In fact, the modest Peter Gilmore is one of the few true originals of the Australian dining scene, a chef who spends an absurd amount of time on the produce - growing it, sourcing it, seeking out stuff unique to a handful of elite restaurants - and then even longer in the kitchen, working to transform his ingredients into something ravishing on the plate.

Gilmore kick-started the trend for combining pork and scallops several years

ago. The dish we’ve chosen as the joint winner - smoked and confit pig cheek, shiitake, shaved scallop, Jerusalem artichoke leaves, juniper, bay - is his latest version and best yet. It’s a complex pairing that sees the scallop take on the mouthfeel of pork fat while the crispy Jerusalem artichoke stands in for pork crackling.

The heroes of Gilmore’s dishes are luxuries (southern rock lobster, poached Wagyu beef, mud crab), their co-stars often exotic and obscure (Korean black sesame oil, warrigals and periwinkles), yet in the hands of the master a dinner here always seems effortlessly natural, elegant and understated.

On paper, the food might seem at odds with the glitz of the Sydney Harbour setting - that visual orgy of bridge, Opera House and water, courtesy of huge windows - but at Quay, it all adds up to pure, uninterrupted pleasure.

Service, too, is more focused and personal than it has been in the past, and the wine list shows relevance and modernity.

quay.com.au

Phone: (02) 9251 5600

sePiAsYDneY CBD

201 sussex street, sydney, nsw

There are few Sydney restaurants where the first priority is deciding on dessert. Sepia is one, although Martin Benn’s savoury courses are just as brilliant and compelling, from the deconstructed “scallop sushi” - rapidly becoming his signature dish - to venison flavoured with cocoa and sancho pepper, sweetened by baby beetroots, cut by the bitterness of rhubarb and given earthiness from a boudin noir crumb.

Benn’s sophisticated exploration of Japanese flavours and ingredients, combined with modern cooking techniques, makes Sepia an exciting destination, despite its businesslike surrounds and clubby New York boardroom feel. Benn’s partner, Vicki Wild, plays gracious host, and a strong global wine list - and the occasional intelligent sake pairing - add to the pleasure.

Does Sepia offer some of the most electrifying food in Australia right now? Quite probably. Just remember you’re saving yourself for the spectacular coconut and salt milk ice cream with yuzu, white chocolate and elderflower, pickled elderberries, sherbet and crystallised seaweed.

Must-eat: ask for the Japanese stones (it’s not on the menu) for dessert

sepiarestaurant.com.au

Phone: (02) 9283 1990

siXPennYsTAnMOre, sYDneY

hottest service

83 Percival rd, stanmore, sydney, nsw

As the line between party and dinner gets ever thinner, it’s satisfying to discover a restaurant like Sixpenny - a focused dining room that convincingly reminds us that quiet, elegant and mannered can still be fun.

How do the remarkably ambitious and prodigiously talented chefs, Daniel Puskas and James Parry, manage it? With an approach that is all about building a direct relationship between garden, kitchen and diner. With food that is serious without taking itself too seriously. With dishes that come at you from who-knows-where yet never fail to rivet, surprise and satisfy.

This pair produce unique, modernist food inspired by the usual suspects (Noma, Mugaritz) yet with a personal, Australian perspective. Gentle

flavours, a philosophy of doing as much as they can themselves and a service ethos that takes chefs right to the diner to explain the sometimes highly unconventional preparations.

Ultimately, it is delicious, thought-provoking and, yes, fun.

Must-eat: the dessert of pure Jersey milk ice cream with burnt butter

sixpenny.com.au

Phone: (02) 9572 6666

suBonewCAsTLe, nsw

551 hunter street, newcastle west, nsw

Beau Vincent was head chef at Melbourne’s Bistro Guillaume before launching his own small, neat, modern bistro on Newcastle’s main drag. In six months it’s become something of a cult favourite, with just a handful of tables overseen by his wife, Suzie, who also trained as a chef.

Inspired by French bistronomy, Vincent’s approach is bold yet elegant, as a dish such as beer-braised oxtail terrine with pickled onion rings and nasturtium leaves demonstrates. He can even make a silk purse out of silverbeet by covering it in Jerusalem artichoke veloute and almond foam. The marriage of contemporary techniques, such as milks, foams and dehydration, with assertive flavours - Weber-barbecued Wagyu tri-tip with anchovy crumbs and garlic puree - is ruggedly sassy, even if onion perhaps makes too many appearances on the precise, 12-dish menu.

With a small, affordable global wine list, mostly offered by the glass, Subo is cheerily amenable destination dining.

Must-eat: rhubarb and ginger jelly with caramelised yoghurt and pomegranate molasses sorbet

subo.com.au

Phone: (02) 4023 4048

TETSuyA’SCBD sYDneY

hottest wine experience

Greg Plowes, wine director of Tetsuya’s,

529 Kent street, sydney, nsw

Is Tetsuya’s the comeback king of 2012? It certainly looks that way. The crown did slip for a while: although the restaurant was still renowned as a temple of high gastronomy, perhaps the world wasn’t so keen on worshipping in sedate, serious temples any more.

Whatever: what is undeniable is the change of mood, the surge of energy, that is making the place seem new again. The staff are upbeat, confident and infectiously enthusiastic. The wine experience - the impressive house wine program, the sake list, the enlightened BYO policy - is exhilarating. And the 10-course degustation? To some, Wakuda’s food might seem pared-back, but in restraint lies power.

He flirts with Japanese flavours - wasabi with Cape Grim grass-fed beef, junsai with Queensland spanner crab - and does a savoury custard with Avruga that’s like an exalted chawanmushi - but his purely European excursions, say, loin of venison with beetroot, chocolate and hazelnuts, are just as convincing. And then there’s a dessert like the floating island with praline and creme anglaise.

Must-eat: steamed tian of Queensland spanner crab with curd, foie gras, junsai

tetsuyas.com

Phone: (02) 9267 2900

the APoLLoPOTTs POinT, sYDneY

44 Macleay street, Potts Point, sydney, nsw

Melbourne reckons it’s the Greek capital, so answer this: why are so many Melbourne Greek foodies in love with Sydney’s The Apollo? Simple answer: there is nothing like this modern take on Hellenic eating anywhere down south, let alone the rest of the country.

Sure, it looks like a hot Athenian warehouse on a Sydney street, no cliches, no committee-approved “concepts”. And yes, it pulses with energy and enthusiasm, run with precision by a restaurateur and floor man (Sam Christie) with great professional attitude. But ultimately it’s Jonathan Barthelmess’s food that must make the Greeks feel proud again. This young chef takes simple standards - say, tarama and pita - and invests them with more flavour and style than most of us had thought possible. And he does it across the board. He conjures life from a Greek cheese and greens pie; does

pasta with oxtail and skordalia to make a Calabrian mother weep; chargrills octopus and lamb as if he’s been doing it all his life (he is in fact, despite Greek roots, one of the great Sydney exponents of modern Italian food). And it’s that modern sensibility - watermelon, ouzo and grapefruit sorbet, for example - that lifts the spirit here. Ultimately, it is the brio Barthelmess brings to his food that makes it so simple, yet so memorable. Apollo is the Greek Porteo. And that’s a good thing.

Must-eat: pasta with oxtail

theapollo.com.au

Phone: (02) 8354 0888

the Bridge rooMsYDneY CBD

44 Bridge street, sydney, nsw

Sydney went without Ross Lusted’s alluring approach to food during the Noughties, when he toured the kitchens of Amanresorts, but now he’s making up for lost time.

The Bridge Room is his triumphant homecoming (he was Rockpool’s executive chef in the ‘90s), combining relaxed elegance - a room of warm timbers and sleek design - with a global wine list that’s both intriguing and complementary to the menu of Japanese influences and robata grill cooking.

While there’s a strong Asian accent, Lusted’s food defies description in its globetrotting interplay of flavours and deft textures. He presents complex ideas in a simple, straightforward fashion, from spanner crab with bonito cream and apple salad to spiced, slow-grilled duck with figs, raisins and

candied cedro. It’s a sensual restaurant, as the raku porcelain (designed by Lusted) demonstrates. And it feels good to be somewhere more Zen than ego.

Must-eat: raw Wagyu, grilled enoki mushrooms & mustard seed dressing

thebridgeroom.com.au

Phone: (02) 9247 7000

three BLue duCKsBrOnTe, sYDneY

141-143 Macpherson street, Bronte, sydney, nsw

It’s a cafe, but not as we know it. A trio of blokes with a love of surfing and snowboarding run this seaside cafe as a collective, beginning the day with scrambled eggs and black sausage before chilli crab with roti for lunch.

Come evening the food morphs into a casually smart style of French bistronomy, with sophisticated combinations such as slow-cooked duck with poached rhubarb and liquorice; pickled ox tongue with kimchi and black cake (pudding) with duck egg, apples and beets.

The smaller-than-entree-sized dishes are $17 each. Four to five make a meal, so it’s not the bargain the graffiti-garnished cafe surrounds suggest, especially when the wine list rises quickly above $50 and there are only two sittings, early or late, for no more than 150 minutes.

Nonetheless, there’s undoubtedly precocious talent on show, inspired by their kitchen garden, and with a new adjacent bar, the buzz is palpable. The trio have also opened a Three Blue Ducks in Falls Creek for ski season. Who said cooking wasn’t a lifestyle choice?

Must-eat: parsnips, artichokes, milk and honey

threeblueducks.com

Phone: (02) 9389 0010

QueensLAnd hOTTesT resTAUrAnTs

esQuireBrisBAne CBD

hottest restaurant QLD

145 eagle street, Brisbane, Qld

Ryan Squires is a keen angler. You can see it in the respect he pays fish at his riverside CBD restaurant; coral trout sashimi with perilla and fresh wasabi leaf, or fragile cuttlefish curls cooked in seawater, served with baby peas and a Meyer lemon gel. And Squires is a bit of a fish out of water himself, too; Esquire is so not your typical Brisbane restaurant. Only a chef would create something like this, for himself, knowing the popularity prize would always go elsewhere. Lean, spare, elegant and very Scandinavian, Squires’ food takes similar cues. He’s studied the form at all the influential internationals, but his whimsical style is his own. Because, while Squires likes to play with your head a bit, he’s not having a lend.

This post-molecular, laterally thought tucker (Campari communion wafer,

anyone?) is as delicious as it is modern. Squires is an envelope-pusher who can actually cook. The dining room reflects the individual. Which is to say, this may not be a place to take grandma on Mother’s Day. Unless, of course, grandma can’t stop talking about her visits to Noma, Mugaritz and WD-50.

Must-eat: curds and whey ice cream

esquire.net.au

Phone: (07) 3220 2123

ortigAFOrTiTUDe VALLeY, BrisBAne

446 Brunswick street, Fortitude Valley, Brisbane, Qld

What’s not to admire about this corner of Spain in Brisbane?

At entry, it’s a smart tapas bar with clusters of chairs and stools around a case of charcuterie. Then descend to something more fancy: a brick-walled urban design cave, with double-draped tables and exposed kitchen.

It’s no theatrical centrepiece, though; there are no shouted greetings or flashing knives. Just a focused crew at work, led by Spanish expat chef Pablo Tordesillas, dishing up the rustic and the refined, often in playful juxtaposition. Plates of jamon, croquetas, slow-cooked whole lamb shoulder and grilled aged rib-eye on the bone fulfil the first, while a succession of artfully presented share tastes satisfy the second. Whether it’s veal sweetbreads with squid and blobs of squid ink alioli, or escabeche of rabbit,

or oysters with pig’s trotters and stinging-nettle picada, it’s an immensely satisfying Spanish sojourn.

Without English translations for all menu items plus owner Simon Hill’s brimming wine list, you need well-versed staff. The Ortiga brigade delivers, with patience and courtesy.

Must-eat: pork cheeks, eggplant and pisto manchego

ortiga.com.au

Phone: (07) 3852 1155

seAduCtionsUrFers PAriDise, QLD

8 the esplanade, surfers Paradise, Qld

A luxe interior, exotic-sounding pig’s ear and Guinness “bubbles” on the plate, and outside a parade of thonged, bare-bodied beachgoers and cruising hotrods. Such is the experience at Seaduction in the new Sea Temple Surfers Paradise resort, perched above street level with unrivalled views to the ocean - so close there’s spray on the floor-to-ceiling glass.

Within one of the upmarket towers rejuvenating the Glitter Strip around the Cavill Mall precinct, Seaduction is classy, not brassy, from its bronzed leather chairs to smartly attired staff. You’d expect no less from a restaurant presided over by Steve Szabo, formerly of Palazzo Versace.

The menu’s not large, but neither are prices, and the sophisticated food reflects the modern gadgetry in the kitchen.

Szabo is equally at ease putting together challenging combinations such as goat’s cheese tortellini with baby beetroot gel, crushed walnuts, mandarin and burnt butter, or more conservative dishes such as poached veal fillet with potato and pancetta gratin.

Desserts and petits fours threaten to steal the show, however, wowing with their playfulness and presentation. Popping candy with pineapple marshmallow and pistachio dust, anyone?

Must-eat: lemon curd tart with gingersnap biscuit and olive dust

seaduction.com.au

Phone: (07) 5635 5728

tAnKBrisBAne CBD

31 tank street, Brisbane, Qld

Tiny in dimensions, big on architectural edge, Tank sits in an obscure laneway in the legal precinct of Brisbane’s CBD. By Brissie standards the location may seem odd, but there’s nothing strange about this restaurant, which takes the road less travelled as it weaves Western tastes and techniques into a Japanese sensibility.

A little soubise here and sous vide there, with the miso, shiso and shichimi. And using, as the menu boasts, produce of Queensland provenance. Pork from Helidon is slow-cooked for the ramen, heart of palm from Innisfail shares a plate with smoked onion, fried parrotfish fillets and a rectangle of choux pastry topped with toasted nori.

Tank mixes straight Japanese renditions (sashimi) with contemporary

textural elements (soils, for example) and edible unusual suspects (flowers, succulents) to impressive effect. And the imaginative cultural crossover extends to desserts such as a glass of rich vanilla “cheesecake” with kiwifruit, grapes and sake-honeydew-melon granita. With knowledgeable and outgoing staff, and a smart wine list, Tank is a sleek surprise.

Must-eat: deep-fried mushroom dumplings, red miso, quinoa and shiso

tankrestaurant.com.au

Phone: (07) 3003 1993

urBAneBrisBAne CBD

181 Mary street, Brisbane, Qld

We admire risk-takers and Urbane continues to wave a proud flag for boundary-pushing cuisine in Australia. In a small market like Brisbane it’s almost certainly the path of greater resistance.

Enter Alejandro Cancino, a young Argentine schooled, in the culinary sense, at Mugaritz in Spain and Le Manoir aux Quat’Saisons in England. He brings with him a bold approach to flavour landscapes and to ingredient possibilities. His take on a ponzu sauce, for example, with charry, marinated octopus, avocado puree and rye crumbs, is like the chef’s CV on a plate, and all the more successful for it.

Some of his dishes are profoundly exciting. And with more time at the helm, the backing of his bosses and a better handle on local produce - which takes

time and effort - Cancino is set to make an impact.

While it could loosen up a little, Urbane, with its serious wine collection, is a sophisticated, contemporary space, well run and ageing nicely. New blood helps.

Must-eat: duck tongue and anise duck consomme

urbanerestaurant.com

Phone: (07) 3229 2271

south AustrALiA hOTTesT resTAUrAnTs

FerMentAsiAnTAnUnDA, sOUTh AUsTrALiA

Tuoi Do is the chef-owner at FermentAsian. husband Grant Dickson, of rockford wines, designed the wine list for the restaurant.

90 Murray street, tanunda, sA

Eating at FermentAsian is like finding an exotic orchid in the middle of your rose garden. Open the door of an old Barossa villa and take a deep breath of galangal, garlic and chilli that’s completely at odds with the world outside. Start with a plate of “miang”, the betel leaf wrappers topped with caramelised pork and “incendiary” accompaniments chopped in minute detail.

There are powerful flavours at work, but the combination is balanced and elegant. It’s a theme that continues throughout as chef-owner Tuoi Do melds the Vietnamese cooking of her upbringing with other southeast Asian influences in dishes such as grilled prawns on galangal and a lovely Malay curry of beef ribs and peanuts. Tuoi still works extraordinary hours, grinding

every paste from scratch, tending her garden, tracking down the best local produce. Partner Grant Dickson’s eclectic wine list is a monumental work, generously priced, perfectly tuned to the food and proof that this wonderful restaurant is, indeed, now an integral part of the Barossa story.

Must-eat: betel leaves with caramelised pork and incendiary components

fermentasian.com.au

Phone: (08) 8563 0765

FinowiLLUnGA, sOUTh AUsTrALiA

8 hill street, willunga, sA

If you like dinner to come with a back-story, and who doesn’t these days, then Fino will be your kind of restaurant. From the first dish of pickled veg, made by co-owner Sharon Romeo’s dad, to the blood plums from another waiter’s backyard, a meal at this humble white-walled cottage south of Adelaide is a celebration of person as much as place.

While Sharon is the public face - and pulls together Fino’s cracker short wine list - it’s chef David Swain’s uncluttered, why-didn’t-I-think-of-that combinations that have made the restaurant a fixture in lists such as this. Fillets of tommy ruff come with chickpeas, olives and sliced green beans. Simple but perfect. There’s more technique in a wild rabbit sausage with braised capsicum and Padron peppers.

A short menu is supplemented with specials (including lambs delivered from a nearby property, if you’re lucky). On our visit impossibly tender loin had been wrapped in a farce of lamb breast, tongue and sweetbread.

Must-eat: anything with little fish such as tommy ruff or mullet

fino.net.au

Phone: (08) 8556 4488

Press Food & wineADeLAiDe CBD

hottest restaurant sA

hottest Value

40 waymouth street, Adelaide, sA

Less than a year since opening, this smart, split-level eatery is red-lining on all the gauges. With an eye for the times and a mantra of “this is how we like to eat”, chef Andrew Davies and Midas-touch restaurateur Simon Kardachi have created a dining experience that’s inclusive, flexible and fun.

The same extensive menu applies upstairs (retro elegance) and down (benches, no bookings), starting with smaller snacks and salads, making good use of a charcoal grill and even finding room for half a dozen offal choices (honey and anise-roasted sweetbreads). You’ll be made equally welcome having a sneaky mid-afternoon pork bun as sharing the suckling

pig feast.

All this is underpinned by principles that see whole beasts butchered on site, school fish preferred to those that are less sustainable and produce from an organic garden coming on stream.

The wine list makes it worth visiting just for a drink - which, of course, you can.

Must-eat: grilled calves tongue, beetroot and horseradish

pressfoodandwine.com.au

Phone: (08) 8211 8048

VINCENZO’S CuCINA VERAPArKsiDe, ADeLAiDe

Lara Marro and Vincenzo LaMontagna at Vincenzo’s Cucina Vera

77 unley road, Parkside, sA

The wild porcini and hare, we’re told at dinner, arrived at the back door that morning, delivered by hunters and gatherers from the nearby hills. That would be the Adelaide Hills.

These pinch-me moments are part and parcel of a meal at this small suburban restaurant, where there’s no menu and the chef, Vincenzo LaMontagna, makes all the rules.

It might be the timeless pleasure of meaty, fried slices of that mushroom, the hare braised in a rich ragu and strewn through hand-pressed orecchiette or - the one constant - a peerless selection of house-made salumi, including prosciutto aged for up to four years. But just when you have him pegged as a traditionalist, Vincenzo will come up with sublime milk-fed pork belly,

with blackened shreds of leek and violet sugar.

The high-wire act is not risk-free - choosing a wine is difficult with no idea of what’s coming up, and the occasional experiment shouldn’t make it out of the kitchen - but Vincenzo’s partner Lara Marro is a constant voice of reassurance.

Equal measures idiosyncratic and awesome, this is a highly recommended leap into the unknown.

Must-eat: salumi and any pasta dish

Phone: (08) 8271 1000

tAsMAniAhOTTesT resTAUrAnTs

gArAgisteshOBArT CBD

hottest restaurant TAs

103 Murray street, hobart, tas

It would be simple to lionise Hobart’s Garagistes for location alone. In a state that supports little in the way of progressive restaurant culture, this converted motor garage in the capital’s central business district defines big fish/small pond syndrome. But qualification is unnecessary. How many times do we speak to mainlanders just back from Hobart (usually visiting MONA) who ask, rhetorically: “How good is Garagistes?” Really good, we agree.

Quirky, fun, youthful but never ageist, particularly bold in the context of its marketplace, and truly satisfying as a place to eat and drink when running with the pack seems oh-so-dreary. Luke Burgess is a free-thinker, a forager and a naturalist chef who transforms the unloved, wild and indeed premium

of Tasmanian produce into unusual dishes that reflect his admiration for Denmark’s Noma, but don’t seek to merely copy. A wood oven and a wood-burning grill are more important to Burgess than any immersion circulator or blast chiller; doing things from scratch is more the rule than the exception.

Garagistes’ food has soul, and so has the striking, largely communal dining room. This place was ahead of the curve from the get-go, and remains there. Comfortably.

Must-eat: Robbins Island Wagyu tartare, native oyster emulsion, pickles, sheep sorrel

garagistes.com.au

Phone: (03) 6231 0558

ViCtoriAhOTTesT resTAUrAnTs

AttiCAriPPOnLeA, MeLBOUrne

74 glen eira road, ripponlea, Melbourne, Vic

A walnut arrives at the table in a ceramic bowl filled with oak barrel shavings; dessert is served in a miniature wooden beehive, with accompanying rock; chocolate eggs nestle in a basket of foraged grasses. It’s dinner, but not as we know it.

And it could only be the product of Ben Shewry, earth father of Australian cuisine, whose rise to the ranks of the world’s best chefs has been well documented since his brave suburban restaurant opened in 2006. His food showed a commitment to foraging and grow-your-own that kicked off well before Nordic chef Rene Redzepi made it the hottest trend in high-end dining.

So shiitake dashi broth gets bite from the likes of white nasturtium, society

garlic and liquorice; a pristine circle of pearl meat is given a final sprinkling of horseradish, red radish and leek ash; and Flinders Island wallaby is sauced with native currants and finished with wattleseed salt. Hedonistic diners hoping for richness at meal’s end will appreciate the “Plight of the Bees”, lush with wild thyme honey-scented lemon cream and crunchy with meringue.

Must-eat: meat from the pearl oyster, served in a butter emulsion seasoned with white verjuice and finger lime

attica.com.au

Phone: (03) 9530 0111

BuiLders ArMs BistroFiTZrOY, MeLBOUrne

211 gertrude street Fitzroy, Melbourne, Vic

In the Cole Porter classic Let’s Do It, Let’s Fall In Love, Ella Fitzgerald insists on shad roe. At the Builders, you may well find yourself delivering the line, straight-faced: “Waiter, bring me cod roe.” The whipped roe, dressed with salmon caviar, served with Turkish bread fingers, almost floats out the window it’s so light.

It’s one of those little Andrew McConnell talking points that this clever chef creates whenever he opens a new place (the other may well be a stunning pot of hot blood pudding with a parsley salad and toast wafers). McConnell looms large over Melbourne’s adventurous eating scene and the Builders, which takes on a decidedly British feel (fish and sorrel pie, cheddar with mince tart, steamed suet pudding) is his first crack at a pub bistro. And it still feels like a pub, despite an almost ascetic makeover. (McConnell’s

other restaurant at the Builders, Moon Under Water, is a very different experience; see separate review).

At the table, it all melts into Melbourne’s must-hit eating experience, with Josh Murphy managing the kitchen ably after four years doing the same at McConnell’s Cumulus Inc. And what a pleasure to trawl the menu looking for quirk-bombs: pig ear scratchings; smoked tuna, capers, dill and pickled apple; corned duck, raw brussels sprouts and prune ... The food is immensely satisfying, less than predictable, and the prices are reasonable. Heat factor: blistering.

Must-eat: whipped cod roe

buildersarms.com.au

Phone: (03) 9417 7700

CAFe di stAsiosT KiLDA, MeLBOUrne

hottest Classic

31 Fitzroy street, st Kilda, Melbourne, Vic

In one sense, stepping into Cafe Di Stasio is like stepping back in time. What to make of linen tablecloths, waiters in white jackets, a maitre d’ with a stronger presence than the chef and a menu that toes the traditional three-course line?

It could be old-fashioned - or it could be one of the very few places channelling the golden era of restaurants, with nary a thought for fashion but obsessive concern for style.

Di Stasio has been called many things - a club, a clique, a Melbourne institution - but none of this really amounts to much. What gets it over the line, time and time again, is the astonishingly good, deceptively simple

food. Angel hair pasta with crab; scallops baked with breadcrumbs and parmesan; roast duck with spatzli; cannoli. Classics, aimed at giving maximum pleasure, like the great Barolos and Sassicaias on the luxurious Italian-Australian wine list.

At Di Stasio, it all adds up to a corner of Melbourne that is forever Italy - a corner set to become somewhat larger after the opening of adjacent Bar Di Stasio later in the year.

Must-eat: saltimbocca con gnocchi - pan-fried escalope of baby veal with prosciutto, sage and semolina gnocchi

distasio.com.au

Phone: (03) 9525 3999

CAsA CiuCCioFiTZrOY, MeLBOUrne

15 gertrude street, Fitzroy, Melbourne, Vic

Forgive us, please, when we say Matt McConnell and Simon Benjamin are Melbourne’s Beastie Boys of Iberian flavour. They out-rap the rappers. They get down with the genre better than those born to it, and Casa Ciuccio, new big brother for the City’s adored Bar Lourinha, again has this pair producing a hip-hop version of Spain and Portugal as if born in Lisbon and enjoying a misspent youth in the seafood bars of the Algarve.

These guys just get it. Never mind that Casa Ciuccio is a converted two-storey Victorian in downtown Fitzroy; the food here is plain delicious, especially the long-cooked meats coming from a coal-and-wood burning pit in the back yard: sticky, salty, gluey, smelling sweet and smoky. The veal rib with lemon epitomises the joint, but first try a sticky, charred marinated octopus tentacle, Padron peppers stuffed with spanner crab, an anchovy

montadito, a pot of morcilla mixed with lentils or a skewer of sweetbreads drizzled with honey and cider vinegar. Sit at the bar out front or with the chefs in the kitchen. Do it over a glass of something cold, white and grapey. But whatever you do, check it out.

Must-eat: anything from the coal pit

casaciuccio.com.au

Phone: (03) 8488 8150

Chin ChinMeLBOUrne CBD

125 Flinders Lane, Melbourne, Vic

This no-bookings Thai restaurant fills up its 120 smart seats the second it opens, and rocks non-stop till it drops. You might join the (very long) queue first up for the good value, but you’re coming back next time for the food - for its sheer headrush of authentic flavours - and the fun, which is dialled up to frenetic with a baby-boomer soundtrack, two bars and a team of fast-moving floor staff.

If anything, the Flinders Lane hotspot has gathered pace since opening last year, spurred by the arrival of chef Ben Cooper, who brings as much love and skill to the Asian ingredients songbook as his predecessor, Andrew Gimber.

Lime-zingy kingfish sashimi; exhilaratingly hot and sour duck liver salad;

spanner crab and chicken salad brightened with salmon roe: nowhere else in Melbourne - dare we say Australia - does mod-Thai with this much spunk, conviction or generosity of spirit.

Owner Chris Lucas (ex-Botanical) is a restaurateur with a strong gut feel for What People Want Now, and it looks like he’s hit another bullseye: in terms of sheer numbers through the door, Chin Chin is arguably the most successful restaurant at this level in the nation.

Must-eat: pork roll-ups - red braised suckling pig with pancakes, ‘slaw & sour herbs

chinchinrestaurant.com.au

Phone: (03) 8663 2000

esteLLenOrThCOTe, MeLBOUrne

243 high street, northcote, Melbourne, Vic

Contrary to common misconception, fine dining isn’t dead, it’s just unrecognisable after a Gen-Y overhaul. Unconcerned with definitions, the smart young chefs of today are throwing out the old ceremonies while keeping faith with the main game, that of excelling in food, wine and hospitality.

At this retro-styled, easy-going charmer in Northcote’s urbane High Street, chefs Ryan Flaherty and Scott Pickett play to an audience of just six tables, plus bar and courtyard. The good-value, degustation-only menu is equally compact, and the one-page wine list is amped up by a Gen-Y-savvy addition of ciders, sake, boutique beers and cocktails. Flaherty has experience with the avant-garde (Fat Duck, El Bulli), but he wears his knowledge lightly in clean, elegant and approachable dishes such as confit king salmon with

shiso and pea and mint veloute; and smoked Skipton eel with chamomile cream and carrot.

There’s enough adventure to satisfy the foodies, but not so much to deter the drop-ins who call this their great little local. Even the occasional produce malfunction (chewy venison, say) won’t spoil your night. Not when you leave feeling this well looked after.

Must-eat: king salmon, peas & shiso

estellebarkitchen.com.au

Phone: (03) 9489 4609

FLower druMMeLBOUrne CBD

17 Market Lane, Melbourne, Vic

US farmer and food writer Joel Salatin has been known to talk about “the pigness of the pig”, the importance of nurturing an animal’s unique qualities. They know about this at the Flower Drum. It’s all about the duckness of the famous Peking duck, the pigness of the free-range suckling pig (order in advance for a big-party splurge), the crabness of the mud crab meat lavished over green bean noodles.

This perennially youthful 36-year-old restaurant relies on rock-star produce such as Rottnest Island scallops, Flinders Island wallaby tail and Kuruma prawns from north Queensland. Being an institution, however, Flower Drum isn’t only about the excitement of the new. The environment is cosseting and conservative, with linen-swathed tables set far apart, low noise levels, and more waiters than you can count; all male, and all drilled in dispensing

discreetly efficient Oriental charm. Add a monumental wine list, strong on Cantonese food-friendly pinot noir, and you have all the fixings for a great night out. May the Drum roll on.

Must-eat: crayfish, scallops and pearl meat, stir-fried with ginger and garlic

flower-drum.com

Phone: (03) 9662 3655

goLden FieLdssT KiLDA, MeLBOUrne

2/157 Fitzroy street, st Kilda, Vic

Andrew McConnell is that rare creature these days, a chef who prefers working in his kitchens to ramping up his profile. The guy’s skills are legendary - but the look and feel of a McConnell restaurant counts for something, too.

A long, lean and low-key space, the no-bookings Golden Fields has a shared-plates menu that might not quite prepare you for the intensely focused, brilliantly balanced food. Asian flavours are a theme, but a subtle one, in dishes such as a pretty plate of raw kingfish with salmon roe, scud chilli, ginger and lime; meaty soft-shell mud crab with garlic chips and holy basil; and pork belly with white kimchi and yuxiang sauce. The understated approach makes for very wine-friendly dining, while a policy of offering a dozen or so wines by 375ml decanter makes drinking those wines more

affordable. Smart value: it’s another good reason to join the queue.

Must-eat: shredded chicken, sesame paste, house-made cold rice noodles and chilli oil

goldenfields.com.au

Phone: (03) 9525 4488

hAre & grACeMeLBOUrne CBD

Peoples Choice

Picture: Julian Kingma source: The Australian

525 Collins street, Melbourne, Vic

Who would have thought that Hare & Grace would turn out to be such a fine - and popular - restaurant? It gathered the most votes out of the 16,000 cast in our online poll of readers’ favourite restaurants.

Perhaps it’s because the kitchen instability of last year is sorted now, or that head chef Adam Liston is such a gun at interpreting boss Ray Capaldi’s vision.

Whatever. The proof is on the plate in ambitious yet accessible food that stimulates rather than alienates with its subtle use of avant-garde tricks and techniques. So a tranche of juicy pork belly layered with black pudding

looks like a slice of cake and comes with a piquant preserved “plum” that’s actually beetroot; and perfect South Australian prawns get even better with delicate partners of jasmine, aloe vera, lychee and red chenopodium flowers.

Less esoteric is the 300g Wagyu burger, priced at $44 but fully loaded with fries, cornichons and onion rings.

While we’re not sure of the whereabouts of the hare, there is grace in the quirky, hunting-lodge style of the dining space. The sleeper of 2012.

Must-eat: 1/2 shell scallops, garlic aioli, breadcrumbs, lemon

hareandgrace.com

Phone: (03) 9629 6755

LAKe houseDAYLesFOrD, ViCTOriA

King street, daylesford, Vic

A footnote to the Lake House menu says so much. To paraphrase: if this all sounds a bit fancy, we’ll make sure the kitchen prepares something simpler, more your style. It sums the place up.

The hospitality here is both professional and real, which helps explain the restaurant’s enduring success. Lake House sets the benchmark for an alloy of warmth and real service. And then there’s the food: classically inspired, seasonally driven, yet not created in a matriarchal vacuum (the place is, after all, helmed by Alla Wolf-Tasker, a woman of influence and impressive capability).

Classical matches using - as has always been the case here - locally sourced and sometimes wild produce, often informed by contemporary technique:

compressed apple and horseradish snow with your confit ocean trout, sir? Rabbit “cassoulet” alongside a pretty salad of bunny and crisp cotechino? For diners who appreciate technique and first-principle preparation, the results are manifest.

Then there’s the wine: if only all sommeliers had Tom Hogan’s people-skills, and list.

And finally there is the location: beside a wooded lake in regional Victoria, it’s a regional Australian version of a European idyll. Lake House is a real restaurant and we take succour from its relevance to modern audiences.

Must-eat: white polenta with fresh curd, wild mushrooms and slow-cooked egg

lakehouse.com.au

Phone: (03) 5348 3329

LoAMDrYsDALe, ViCTOriA

Loam in Drysdale, Victoria. Picture: Ben swinnerton source: The Australian

650 Andersons road, drysdale, Vic

Was there ever a time when creative Australian food was unaffected by Mugaritz (Spain), Noma (Denmark) or Manresa (the US)? Yet Aaron Turner, at his warm-and-fuzzy country Victorian restaurant Loam, has worked hard, and successfully, to give the Scandinavian/pastoral genre his own clear accent. Thank goodness.

Degustation-only, middle of a paddock, unpredictable food... against the odds, Loam has not only developed as a restaurant; Turner’s cooking has matured and improved, too. But be warned, the small-plate journey here is an event you must surrender to. Along the way, foraged this and never-heard-of-it that combine in ever more technical yet very satisfying combos. If anything, the esoteric has been jettisoned for the simply delicious.

Examples? Let’s just say a dish of ink-marinated cuttlefish shreds, charred green tomato broth and a cuttlefish “cracker” is a texture/flavour hit that’s staying with us for a long time. It’s one of many.

Must-eat: cuttlefish with charred green tomato broth

loamrestaurant.blogspot.com

Phone: (03) 5251 1101

Moon under wAterFiTZrOY, MeLBOUrne

hottest restaurant ViC

hottest Chef Andrew McConnell

211 gertrude street, Fitzroy, Melbourne, Vic

Is it fair to say Andrew McConnell has the Midas touch? Maybe he’s more like a director who can’t make a bad movie; an author whose work is serial genius.

Whichever way you go, he’s a chef whose successive projects reveal a rare talent as cook and restaurateur; they don’t supersede each other, they simply add new texture to Melbourne’s dining landscape, where his empire includes Builders Arms bistro, Moon Under Water, Golden Fields, Cutler & Co and Cumulus Inc (the first three all make our Hot 50 list).

McConnell’s cooking reveals the depth of his classical training and his

enthusiasm for constant innovation, informed by years of experience in China. His is a refined, relaxed, confident style, never flashy, never tricky, and he parlays that sense of style into the dining room.

His latest venture, Moon Under Water, is a triumph, a restaurant that takes the best bits of fine dining and modern casual to create an entirely new genre. Part of the Builders Arms Hotel and a few steps from McConnell’s pumping front bar and bistro, yet discrete in every way, Moon is small and elegant (the look conjures moonlight, somehow).

The wait staff are young, relaxed and on your wavelength. The food, from McConnell’s seasoned young head chef, Josh Murphy, is refined and special; the cost is a heartening fixed-price $75 for a set five-course menu that changes weekly.

And that food: Rottnest Island scallops with cabbage salad, juniper and sweet cicely; carrots braised with Sauternes, salsify, corn-fed chicken and whipped pine nut; Cape Grim short-rib with cucumber, gentleman’s relish and pickled onion. Every dish bristling with ideas, a sixth sense for what goes with what.

Yes, Moon Under Water is Victoria’s hottest restaurant. No contest.

Must-eat: Rottnest scallops, cabbage salad, juniper and sweet cicely

buildersarmshotel.com.au

Phone: (03) 9417 7700

newMArKet hoteLsT KiLDA, MeLBOUrne

34 inkerman street, st Kilda, Melbourne, Vic

Eighteen months later, the flood has receded. The crush of Melburnians aching for Paul Wilson’s nuevo Latino interpretations has softened yet the food at this reborn south ‘o the border hipster pub remains something worth crossing town for.

A whiff of smoke from the wood BBQ (great steak or slow-cooked US-style pork ribs); a bit more from the chipotle buried in a taco or spiced Mexican meatballs; and lots of coriander, corn and lime. Of course, putting it together in interesting, sympathetic ways is a whole lot harder than writing the menu, and Wilson’s dishes exhibit complex layering of signature Mexican notes allied with fairly exceptional local produce.

We like every soft taco here, including a version with soft tongue, morcilla

and tomatillo. We like the way the menu dips into Spain for inspiration every now and then, as it might with fish and clams. We like the consistency of the kitchen and the focused staff. We like being able to order a carafe of red and getting a really smart local tempranillo. And we like that, these days, you can have a proper chat at the Newmarket. As hot as it ever was.

Must-eat: soft shell crab taco

newmarketstkilda.com.au

Phone: (03) 9537 1777

Pei ModernMeLBOUrne CBD

45 Collins street, Melbourne, Vic

Great restaurants need curious, inventive minds to drive them. And that’s the DNA Pei Modern shares with Sydney’s Marque: chef Mark Best’s unique thinking.

Pei Modern is a fast-moving, pulse-of-the-city diner that displays a marked reluctance to follow the herd. Best knows himself: it takes confidence to put tripe fingers on your bar menu, let alone grilled ox heart on the tables of your dining room. Melbourne is the better for it.

Pei Modern says a welcome “whatever” to the shared plate/street food/unstructured-menu zeitgeist and presents a fascinating collection of unpredictable dishes (some based on grander Marque originals). Squid with an anchovy/spinach puree; almond gazpacho with crab and grape

that simply could not be better; a Sauternes custard with crostoli you will never forget. It is European food, rewritten for the Australian landscape and seasonal calendar.

And it happens within a welcoming if somewhat clinical space, run by real people.

Must-eat: almond gazpacho with grapes and blue swimmer crab

peimodern.com.au

Phone: (03) 9654 8545

roCKPooL BAr & griLLMeLBOUrne CBD

Crown Complex, southbank, Vic (also sydney and Perth)

It is five years since Neil Perry launched his first Rockpool Bar & Grill as the jewel in Melbourne’s Crown, but you wouldn’t know it. The queue still forms most nights waiting for the doors to open, the big, burnished dining room still hums with excitement and the menu is as fresh and thrilling as ever.

With the addition of a third RB&G, in Perth last year, the restaurant has become a high-end chain, but it’s showing no signs of it yet - not while the service is this impeccable and the owner continues to stay one step ahead of dining trends. Perry has empowered key staff in each place and it’s paying dividends: there’s no way the major could march into this kind of battle without lieutenants ready to die for him. You will have great steak, but it might be mishima, the rare breed of Japanese beef; the long list of seafood

will include sustainable hero Coorong yellow-eyed mullet; and the linguini with spanner crab has unexpected Asian flavours. Almost everything here tastes exceptional.

A word of caution: that “big night out” feel can extend to the bill.

Must-eat: linguini with spanner crab and spicy prawn oil

rockpool.com

Phone: (03) 8648 1900

roYAL MAiL hoteLDUnKeLD, ViCTOriA

98 Parker street, dunkeld, Vic

It remains the unlikeliest location for a restaurant of such narrow focus. The Royal Mail’s role models are European gastro-destinations - but this is not Europe, and rural Victoria remains a faraway place to find such food and wine expertise. Who are we to question it?

Dan Hunter arrived in Dunkeld more or less straight from Spain and, five years later, he, his food and the restaurant have all matured. His groundbreaking cuisine is inspired by his time at Mugaritz and by Japan, yet is now something far more. Wild, technical, free-form yet fun, Hunter plays with textures only a little, preferring instead the inspiration of the earth. Let’s mention one dish: new potatoes straight from the ground with a confit egg yolk, salt cod puree and fish-skin crackling. One of many wow moments at the Mail. Yes, Hunter has to be mentioned in the same breath as

Quay’s Peter Gilmore and Attica’s Ben Shewry. It is Spain, Copenhagen and something brilliantly Australian, too.

Must-eat: that dish of new potatoes

royalmail.com.au

Phone: (03) 5577 2241

western AustrALiA hOTTesT resTAUrAnTs

AMuséeAsT PerTh

hottest Dish

hottest restaurant wA

64 Bronte street, east Perth, wA

Halfway through the tasting menu at Amuse, it’s egg time. Pop the lid off a preserving jar, take in the cloud of wood smoke that emerges, and get stuck into an utterly delicious, slow-cooked googie with sliced mushrooms, pine nut butter and salty chicken-skin crisps.

When judging the hottest dish, we couldn’t choose between this and Peter Gilmore’s pork and scallop dish.

A big fish in Perth’s small pond, Hadleigh Troy could have swallowed the hype and settled into the complacency that surely comes with being the West’s Heston Blumenthal. Not a bit of it. His restaurant, in three years, has

matured, settled and morphed from awkward gastro-temple to fun night out with friends.

And the chef’s once wacky, very progressive food has developed wonderfully, too. It’s still a textural playground, but pleasure has become Troy’s priority. And it goes from a lardo-wrapped bone marrow custard snack all the way through to superb desserts.

Every cent has been re-invested to improve this place, and the staff are excellent. What a difference three years makes.

Must-eat: the smoking egg.

restaurantamuse.com.au

Phone: (08) 9325 4900

eL PuBLiCohiGhGATe, PerTh

511 Beaufort street, highgate, wA

Just as it took us a while to discover carpaccio over cannelloni, or real arroz negro over mushy yellow paella, so too has it taken Australia a while to move past refried beans and nachos to real soft tacos and the subtleties of chipotle chilli. Hallelujah and smash that piata.

The long overdue revelation of real Mexican cuisine has gathered the pace of a tsunami in recent years but in the wild west, it’s El Publico that stands tallest when the smoke has settled. Amazing what a squeeze of lime, a handful of fragrant coriander and a scattering of smoky chilli can do for a plate of food, handled the right way, and young Kiwi chef Sam Ward has been handling the tucker at El Publico with a lot of skill. Moreover, he eschews cliches for the less predictable, such as house-made green chorizo, esquites (corn in lime mayo) or tacos of brined pig tongue braised in bitter orange.

Throw in good staff, an experienced management team and a tequila/mezcal list that’s probably unrivalled, and you have a party waiting to happen.

Must-eat: salmon aquachile with jalapeo and coriander

elpublico.com.au

Phone: 0418 187 708

greenhousePerTh CBD

100 st georges terrace, Perth, wA

With its upcycling (that’s upwardly mobile recycling) interiors and exteriors, and almost palpable energy, Greenhouse was extraordinary in just about every sense from the start.

The success of subsequent pop-up versions in Sydney and Melbourne just proves it, in a sense. Everyone wanted a piece of the house that Joost (Bakker) built, a kind of eco-driven, recycled chic clubhouse for the young and young-at-heart.

Three years later, it’s satisfying to say the food here has stayed on-message: irreverent, informal, ballsy and, of course, trying as hard as possible to sail ethical waters. Just because the Greenhouse aesthetic is all about jam jars for cocktails and re-used sardine cans for (beautiful) rice pudding desserts,

it doesn’t mean they don’t care about food quality, or ideas. Head chef Courtney Gibb (a baker by trade, and it shows) has taken his predecessor Matt Stone’s broad palate and serious work ethic as a template: house-milled flours, kitchen’s-own yoghurts and butter, for example. It might be a rocking beef rib with Korean salads, or excellent pizza and pasta from their own grain mill; a rabbit pastilla or a cherry and rhubarb bread and butter pudding ... The food here is about whimsy and flavour, without sacrificing the earth.

Must-eat: twice-cooked beef rib, sticky rice, kimchi and shiitake

greenhouseperth.com

Phone: (08) 9481 8333

Photography

stewart Allen, Guy Bailey, Bob Barker, simon Bullard, Manuela Cifra, Mark Cranitch, Chris Crerar, James Crouch, nick Cubbin ,nathan edwards, John Fotiadis, Tony Gough, Paul harris, Dan himbrechts, naomi Jellicoe , Mike Keating, rohan Kelly, noel Kessel, Julian Kingma , Adam Knott, randy Larcombe, Tom Lee, Bruce Long , Andrew MacColl ,

stuart Mcevoy, Lyndon Mechielsen, Andrew Pritchard, Andrew Tauber, Damian shaw, Ben swinnerton, Justine walpole

Bon Appétit