By Leigh O’Connor, Editor.
Today is International Chef Day and we couldn’t think of a more appropriate time to kick off the much-anticipated 2024 Chef Hat season countdown!
This is my seventh Chef Hat season and I have never been more excited as we celebrate established Chefs around Australia, along with some up-and-coming talents who are making their mark on this country’s culinary scene.
On October 20 each year since 2004, we mark International Chef Day to honour a noble profession, which is now bouncing back in a big way from lockdowns and closures during the pandemic. Never before did restaurants have to pivot so dramatically than in the three-year period from 2018-2021 and we at AGFG couldn’t be prouder of our industry as it raises its head to new heights and culinary delights.
This year, AGFG awarded more than 630 restaurants around the country a coveted Chef Hat from those who came in at 12 to the highest-ranked venues in the country at 19 Hats – how many will there be in 2024? Our independent judging panel is already hard at work sifting through the nominations that have come in through diners themselves, along with visiting established winners to determine their status for next year.
Bear in mind…overall from 12-19 Hats, these dining destinations are in the top 1% of restaurants in the country!
Here are some of the Chefs we have on our radar:
Raised on a small farm in Michigan, Justin James is a world away from home at Restaurant Botanic (18) in the Adelaide Botanic Gardens. This innovative Executive Chef really gets his creativity cogs into high gear with the produce found around him, from wood chips to wheat grass – if there is a dish in there somewhere, Justin will find it.
At the higher end of the 2023 awards is 17-Hatted Hentley Farm in Seppeltsfeld, where Clare Falzon works her magic delivering a menu associated with tradition, family and memories. Clare’s career began as a 15-year-old washing dishes in her local restaurant in Sydney, moving onto an apprenticeship before heading overseas, where she fell even more in love with food and restaurants.
Aaron Schembri owes his appreciation of Japanese food and culture to his wife Risa and her late grandfather Nobuya, which has led to him opening his own restaurant Kadota (16) in Daylesford. Expect lovingly crafted Japanese flavours in warm and inviting surroundings at this passion project for both Aaron and his wife, whom the venue is named after.
Gimlet at Cavendish House (14) in Melbourne is the kitchen home to Executive Chef, Colin Mainds who originally hails from Scotland. Part of Andrew McConnell’s Trader House empire, this fine dining restaurant channels the glamour of early 20th Century European and American bistros along with a menu boasting temptations such as Southern rock lobster, wood-roasted saffron rice and rouille.
When Atelier by Sofitel debuted at 15 Hats earlier this year, Executive Chef Sam Moore confessed to not sleeping at all that night. Another Scottish-born cookery magician, Sam first set foot in a commercial kitchen at age five and would look forward to whiling away the hours foraging in the Scottish countryside for chestnuts, berries, herbs and leaves for his father’s restaurant.
In January, Mindy Woods from Karkalla (13) restaurant in Byron Bay became AGFG’s first indigenous female Chef Hat winner and continues to take the country by storm with her innovative use of native ingredients. This proud Bundjalung woman of the Widjabul Wia Bul clan began a love affair with cooking at a very young age with family life centred around bringing people together through food.
While not yet hatted, we have our eye on Connor Bishop’s sweet treats at The Kitchen at Bec Hardy in McLaren Vale as one to watch in this year’s Chef Hat countdown. Good food is about creating an experience that nourishes both the body and the soul for this English Chef, who oversees the kitchen at one of the most private and peaceful pockets of the iconic SA wine region.
Want to be the first to know what’s happening in the 2024 Chef Hat season? Read on…
