Chef Jock Zonfrillo's restaurant Orana has been named Australia’s best restaurant at the country’s Good Food Guide Awards for 2019.
The restaurant, located in Adelaide beat last year's winner Attica and Peter Gilmore's newly refurbished Quay to scoop the Vittoria Coffee Restaurant of the Year and the highest accolade of "three hats" at The Good Food Guide 2019 awards ceremony held in Melbourne on Monday night. (See the full list of hat awards here).
"Zonfrillo has an ability to take left-field ingredients such as ants and Geraldton wax and turn them into something incredibly delicious," said Good Food Guide editor Myffy Rigby. "There's no cultural cringe, just purity and beauty. And, most importantly, Orana is a lot of fun to eat at."
Restaurant Orana offers a short lunch tasting menu of 8-9 courses and a longer 16-18 courses dinner menu showcasing indigenous Australian ingredients in dishes like, Port Lincoln squid, dry aged beef, sunrise lime & beach succulents Oyster & Geraldton Wax, ‘Soup Soup’ – Kingfish with Australian botanicals and Kangaroo tail, pepper & potato pie.
The accolade is given to a restaurant that "Ticks every box. The winning restaurant does not need to receive three hats, but must capture the mood of the nation right now and exemplify what it means to be a world-class restaurant.”
This marks a big year for the Scottish born chef who was also the winner of the Basque Culinary Prize for his passionate dedication to improving the future of gastronomy with his ongoing Orana Foundation project work, cataloging and protecting indigenous ingredients.
Find out more in our interview with Jock Zonfrillo
Other awards from the night included, Citi Chef of the Year - Peter Gilmore from Sydney's Quay restaurant, which was also awarded three hats, New Restaurant of the Year went to Laura in Victoria while Santa Vittoria Regional Restaurant of the Year went to Dan Hunter's Brae (VIC). See the full list of this year's winners here.
Here's a taste of Orana:
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