Humble Aussie biscuit the latest high-end restaurant trend

It’s a classic Aussie pantry staple, a favourite at picnics and quiz nights and now, a showstopper at fancy restaurants across the country.

Everything old is new again, with the latest high-end restaurant trend being something that peaked at the Aussie backyard barbecue in the 80s – the humble Jatz cracker.

Or Savoy biscuit as it’s known in Victoria and Tasmania.

The salty, crumbly cracker with its distinctive scalloped circumference has been a supermarket staple for decades and chefs have finally gotten on board.

Mitch Orr, chef-partner at Kiln in the Ace Hotel Sydney, made a name for himself serving Jatz with an array of fancy toppings such as pickled mussels and saffron crème, mustard butter and salami or ham and comte, at Acme restaurant in 2015.

Sydney’s Kiln serves Jatz crackers with a variety of fancy toppings. Photo: Supplied.

His tasty starter has now become the signature dish at Kiln, served with smoked butter and anchovies. It seems like other chefs are catching on.

Two Pot Screamer in Adelaide also serves Jatz with smoked butter and anchovy and Bar

Francine, a new Euro wine bar in Brisbane, does Jatz, cheese and jam for dessert.

The Unicorn in Sydney serves Jatz with that perennial BBQ favourite, French onion dip.

Orr believes Jatz is the “original gangster” aka the superior cracker.
“Jatz is the OG! There is no comparison to another cracker,” he says.
“I believe I was the first (to use it in a restaurant), thank you - blame it all on me.
“I think it has that versatility and pulls on those fun nostalgia strings.

Jatz smoked butter anchovy from Adelaide’s Two Pot Screamer. Photography Nikki To.

Jatz crackers from Kiln at the Ace Hotel in Sydney.

“It provides a strong base for serving all kinds of things and brings texture as well.”

From a diner’s perspective, nostalgia also plays a part.

“A lot of people grew up eating Jatz with cheap cheddar and even cheaper cabanossi. It’s something fun to relate to, but you can see that it’s versatile and can be taken to new levels,” he says.

“I think diners often take that idea home with them too. It gives them the freedom to put out something fun at their next dinner party or barbecue and have the kitsch-ness be part of the point.”

For Orr, mixing high end ingredients with low end is part of the appeal.

“High/low has always worked with food, I think for the same reason it does in fashion. It helps take the pretension out of the high end, making it more approachable and relatable,” he says.

“The low side of things are often the most delicious. And that’s really what it all comes down to.”

It seems Australians agree.

Late last year, Arnott’s conducted a poll on the most-loved biscuit and Jatz took out the top spot – beating the popular frontrunner, the Tim Tam.

Jatz was the winner in New South Wales, Victoria, Queensland, South Australia and Western Australia. Tasmania was the outlier, preferring Shapes Barbecue.

The survey revealed that in 2022, Australians bought almost 23 million packs of Jatz/Savoy crackers and that a box can be found in one third of households.

Originally published as Humble Aussie biscuit the latest high-end restaurant trend