Gault & Millau publishes latest Australian best restaurant guide

Gault & Millau has been rating restaurants for more than 50 years. Its fourth Australian guide has just been released. So which peninsula restaurants made the guide?

Dishes like grilled Berkshire pork with chicken skin crackling give Jonahs’ a 16 out of 20 rating.

• Review: Big flavours at suburban cafe
• Foodie Friday: artisan bakeries on the beaches
• New York Pizza comes to Manly

A DIVERSE selection of peninsula restaurants appear in a new guide.

Twenty-two eateries have been chosen by a panel of independent judges for Gault & Millau Australia Guide.

This year’s guide showcases more than 650 venues in Sydney, Melbourne, Canberra and Brisbane.

Seared scallops with cauliflower puree and beetroot chips at The Herring Room. Picture: Braden Fastier

Judges have given the nod to Manly’s Jar Bar and The Herring Room, Wildwater in Dee Why and Starfish in Avalon.

Restaurateur Doug Fraser is unsure how restaurants are selected for the guide. Barbuto, his American-style steakhouse in Narrabeen is in the guide for the fourth consecutive year, while near-neighbour Mexicano has been dropped.

“We received an email in April that someone would be coming in,” Mr Fraser said.

“I don’t know who they were or what they had.”

Better than last year: Doug Fraser’s Narrabeen restaurant Barbuto gets a higher score for 2017.

The guide has given his restaurant 13/20 and a two-hat rating.

“Last year we got 12, so we have improved,” Mr Fraser said.

“Our team has progressively tried harder to improve our customers’ experience.”

Mr Fraser said that few customers had heard of the French guide, which published its first review more than 53 years ago.

“The Gault & Millau guide is still growing in Sydney — and Australia — and isn’t as recognised as other restaurant guides,” he said.

Fancy fare: Ormeggio’s strawberry dessert. Photo: Bob Barker.

Three restaurants Jonah’s, Pilu and Ormeggio carry the honours for the area’s best eateries with scores of 16 out of a possible 20.

Mark Dorrell, chief judge for the Australian edition said a team of anonymous reviewers dined at more than 870 restaurants and sampled nearly 3000 dishes.

Featured restaurants were awarded points and those with 11 or more points were given hats, ranging from one to the highest-rating five hats for a score of 18.5 or more.

Cottage Point Inn’s amuse-bouche has parsley sponge with snails on the menu. Picture: Troy Snook

The guide is available from selected bookstores and online. For the full list of featured northern beaches restaurants go online.

Peninsula’s best

Restaurants with more than at 11 out of 20 rating in the 2017 Gault & Millau guide.

Jonah’s, Whale Beach (16), Ormeggio at the Spit, (16), Pilu at Freshwater, (16)

Bistro Boulevard, Avalon (15), Cottage Point Inn, Cottage Point, (15)

Starfish Avalon, (14), Clareville Kiosk, Clareville, (14), Garfish Manly, (14), Hugos, Manly (14)

The Pantry, Manly (13), Papi Chulo, Manly (13), Barbuto, Narrabeen, (13), Bijolias, Seaforth, (13).

Herring Room, Manly (12), Jah Bar, Manly (12), Dunes, Palm Beach, (12).

Antipasto at Manly Pavilion.

Wildwater, Dee Why, (11), Chiosco at the Spit, (11), Barrenjoey House, Palm Beach, (11).

New unscored restaurants: Boiler Room at Q Station, Manly, Manly Pavilion, Manly and Gio at Harbord Diggers `