Olympic Meats Wins First Hat as Gyros Shop Joins Sydney’s Elite
A takeaway counter with a line out the door and metal tables has landed a chef's hat. Olympic Meats in Sydney's Marrickville won its first
A takeaway counter with a line out the door and metal tables has landed a chef's hat. Olympic Meats in Sydney's Marrickville won its first hat at this year's Good Food Guide awards, one of several newcomers that look nothing like traditional fine dining.
The venue looks like a gyros shop. Yet the sourdough pita is baked to order, the tzatziki is made on house-fermented hung yoghurt, and the hand-cut chips are crisped in rendered beef fat.
Why a takeaway counter won a hat
Drinks and service that match the venue's vision also counted, along with how closely it ties into the area's social and cultural history. In earlier years, the restaurant may never have come near hat territory.
Melbourne's Sogumm fits the same pattern. It stands out even during a wave of excellent Korean openings in the city.
Victoria's awards: old names and first-timers
In Victoria, the 46th awards were held in Port Melbourne. The announcement came with 20 new hats and a milestone for Daylesford's Lake House, which has appeared in the guide every year since it opened.
Alla Wolf-Tasker and her late husband Allan opened the two-hatted restaurant in 1984. Emma Breheny, who co-edited this year's guide with Frank Sweet, called it a landmark dining destination.
"Many of today's best regional restaurants are indebted to what Lake House created all those years ago, establishing a new kind of luxury that's grounded in place," Breheny said.
Another long-running name is Flower Drum, a 51-year-old Cantonese fine diner that won last year's T2 Tea Restaurant of the Year award.
At the other end of the scale are venues attending the awards for the first time. Carlton's Bistra earned one hat and a score of 15 in June and was expected to keep that position.
More hatted addresses
In Sydney's Redfern, Lo Presti's serves Mediterranean-leaning dishes on the site of the hatted Moon Park. Owners Rachael Trewin and Michael Lo Presti run it, with Trewin once managing Chippendale's Automata and Lo Presti previously head chef at Marrickville's Baba's Place.
The menu includes sesame focaccia with a charred eggplant dip, and the bar pours ouzo in a sazerac. The coasters are reprints from the Darlinghurst espresso bar Lo Presti's family ran.
In South Australia, St Hugo in the Barossa Valley pairs chef-hatted dining with 160 years of winemaking history. The restored ironstone building at Rowland Flat overlooks vineyards, the Kitchen Garden and the Barossa Ranges.
Johann Gramp, who planted his first Barossa vines in 1847, reportedly worked the first vintage there in 1859.
