Australia's taste of food glory with Peter Gilmore's Quay

In the battle to win the World's Best Restaurant award, Aussie fine dining is stepping up to the plate.

They've been dubbed the 'Oscars of the food world', and although there aren't any gold statues up for grabs or badly behaved nominees causing trouble in the background, The World's 50 Best Restaurants Awards, sponsored by S. Pellegrino and Acqua Panna, are certainly a glitzy affair.

Held within the grand walls of London's historic Guildhall, and celebrating its 10th anniversary this year, the much-anticipated event honours the world's best and most innovative restaurants. The celebrities here aren't stars of the silver screen but the most talented chefs from across the globe. Peter Gilmore, from Sydney's Quay, is sipping champagne and chatting - or perhaps swapping recipes - with David Chang, chef and owner of the acclaimed Momofuku restaurants in New York, Toronto and Sydney.

The focus in the room is, of course, food. A life-size chocolate sculpture of a chef greets guests as they enter, while trays of out-of-this-world canapes circulate the room. Highlights include: wild garlic pannacotta in garlic bread, chicken saltimbocca wrapped in potato spaghetti, San Marzano tomato water in a Venus flytrap with tomato berries, and salted peanut and caramel cups with edible soil.

The triumph for Australia this evening is Gilmore's three-hatted Quay hitting the hot list at 29, and nabbing Best Restaurant in Australasia for the third year in a row, as voted by a panel of food critics, leading chefs, food journalists and restaurateurs.

"It's a very nice award to have," says Gilmore with a smile. "It's voting from your peers about what they feel is the best restaurant in the world - and it's certainly nice when a lot of your peers have voted for you."

One of the keys to Gilmore's success on the international stage is his interest in growing unusual varieties of fruits, vegetables and herbs specifically for his restaurant.

"In my garden, I have four 10-metre raised vegetable beds I call my 'test garden'. I get seeds from all over the world and work out if and how I want to use them on a menu. If I do, I approach a local farmer in the Blue Mountains and have them grown on a much bigger scale."

He believes we should all take a leaf out of his book and expand our ideas on food. "It's amazing how much variety is out there. We see so little of it in supermarkets. There are literally thousands of types of apples that could be grown, but we see only three or four. Growing our own is about diversity and having a bigger palate to work from."

Australians are certainly hungry for knowledge and keen to broaden their culinary horizons. "Through shows such as MasterChef, there's been a huge increase in interest in food and more appreciation of the skill that goes into creating a dish," adds Gilmore, whose snow egg dessert became famous after he appeared on the show. "That's good for the industry."

While he's constantly experimenting with flavour and texture combinations, Gilmore also loves reinventing old favourites and giving them a new lease of life on the menu.

"One combination that's been with me for more than 10 years is 'pork and seafood'. My signature dish was originally pork belly with sea scallops; it spread around the country being reproduced in different restaurants.

"If I had to pick a favourite dish, that would be it, because it's been with me for so long - I've given it four or five incarnations. My current one is lightly smoked pig cheek cooked for 12 hours and infused with juniper and bay-leaf butter. I serve it with shaved scallops, shiitake mushrooms sauteed in infused butter, and crisped Jerusalem artichoke skins."

Despite the recognition Quay receives at the awards, Gilmore isn't complacent about his future. "We've spoken about opening a sister restaurant," he reveals. "This business is about always learning, continuing what we're doing but also maintaining a spirit of invention - and a love of what we do."

For the complete Top 100 restaurants list, visit www.theworlds50best.com.

ONES TO WATCH

The award's Top 100 ranking includes chef Mark Best's Sydney restaurant Marque at 61; Melbourne's Attica, led by head chef Ben Shewry, at 63; and Tetsuya Wakuda's Sydney venue Tetsuya's at 76. Shewry believes Aussie restaurants are being recognised for their unique produce: "The special things are the native ingredients - the nuts, fruits and seeds that don't exist in other parts of the world."

THE RULES
The World's 50 Best Restaurants Academy is made up of 837 members who each cast seven votes, in order of preference, for their favourite restaurants. They must have dined there in the past 18 months and three of their choices must be outside their own geographical region.

WHERE ARE THE OTHER AUSSIES?
Why do European restaurants dominate the Top 50? "Australia is a long way from the rest of the world and from the majority of people who vote," says Melbourne chef Ben Shewry. That means Aussie restaurants can be a bit removed from the judges' thoughts. "It's not easy for someone from Europe to come here."

AUSSIES ABROAD
Newcastle-born Brett Graham was at Sydney's Banc before moving to the UK in 2000. In 2005, The Ledbury opened in London's Notting Hill with Graham as head chef. This year, it received the Highest Climber award, coming in at 14 after debuting at 34 last year. Japanese-Aussie chef Tetsuya Wakuda also featured in the Top 50, with his Singapore venue Waku Ghin at 39.

THE WORLD'S TOP 5 RESTAURANTS
1. Noma, Denmark
2. El Celler de Can Roca, Spain
3. Mugaritz, Spain
4. D.O.M., Brazil
5. Osteria Francescana, Italy

Source: The Sunday Telegraph, 3 June 2012