REVEALED: Best brunch in Shepparton

Matt Preston has crowned Shepparton's best brunch. SEE WHO TOOK HOME THE TITLE.

Little Lipari's owners Claire and Joe Di Steafano.

IT is time to see who took home the title of Shepparton's best brunch spot.

Whether you stick with the classic avocado on toast with a wedge of lemon, prefer a layered acai bowl packed with health and vitality or just like your eggs perfectly poached, scrambled or soft boiled, we saw some strong local competition and even stronger local support for your favourite.

Whatever your brunch of choice may be, you voted for your favourite brunch spot in your thousands and the results are now in.

The last year or so has been extremely tough for all our local food businesses and your response shows the importance of this local support as well as giving local business a much needed morale boost.

Thank you for taking the time to get involved!

Little Lipari is taking home the title for 'best brunch' in Shepparton.

The Goulburn Valley News grilled the co-owner of Little Lipari this week, Claire Di Stefano, about the people behind the business and what makes them the local favourite.

Q: What does winning mean for you and your business?

Claire: We've had a really tough year and it's a huge honour to have all our customers come back and support us and let us have a business that we can run after COVID-19.

Q: Last year has been extremely difficult for many industries. How has the local support been during this period?

Claire: The local support has been wonderful. We were able to put in a takeaway window which helped us to work through the lockdowns and people were very responsive to takeaway dinners. Good comes out of bad in that way. You've got to evolve and change with how things work. We decided we would do Friday night dinners and close on a weekend which might sound crazy but it gives the customers something they didn't have before.

Q: Your loyal customers have put their vote behind you and made you the winner. How do you keep customers coming back for more?

Claire: With our business you walk in, it's not pretentious, you feel like you're walking into someone's lounge room and having a meal with your nonna. And then you can't have good food without good coffee. So, we've always made sure we've had good baristas to provide good coffee as well.

Q: What are some of the most popular dishes at your restaurant?

Claire: One of our brekkie dishes is named after Joe's (Claire's husband and co-owner) dad Frank. And that's probably our most popular brekkie dish. Some people just come in and that is all they get over and over. It's eggs poached in tomatoes, we add basil and Kewstroke cold pressed olive oil and we serve it with ciabatta from the local Higgins bakery. We use eggs that are free range from Goodlookin Googees at Dookie. And I think the way Joe cooks, it's from scratch, there are no shortcuts. The tomatoes come from a trust farm in Yarrawonga. We get our basil from a hydroponic farm out of Tallygaroopna. So, nothing tastes like it has been processed. Everything is very fresh. That's the key with the dish. And a lot of people add pork and fennel, Italian sausage to the dish, which comes from our local butcher Brad's Magic Meats. So, it's good to be able to support those businesses that have been struggling too. We don't buy anything from out of town. We get it all local.

Q: How did you get started in hospitality and could you tell us a little about the history of Little Lipari?

Claire: Joe's mom passed away in Italy when she was in his 60s. Joe had worked at an engineering company for 15 years in the office and after she passed away he decided to take on an apprenticeship and we had a little baby and it was tough. And then he moved to Melbourne when he completed his apprenticeship and worked at the Stokehouse in St. Kilda, before it burned down. We were there for a couple of years and then he was confident enough to come back to our hometown where we grew up and opened up our own place. Joe's mother was born in Lipari and she'd be very proud to know that our shop has been so successful over the last eight years. I run the front of house and the staff and he runs the kitchen and I do the talking and he does the cooking. So yeah, we love it.

Our search for best brunch is just the start of the Delicious Local push to help drive a food-led rebound from the impact of COVID-19.

Keep following this fantastic search and keep supporting your local winners, because we'll be on the lookout for the Best Bakery in Shepparton soon.

Top Finalists

Top 5	Shop Name	Address	Phone Number	Social Media
1	Little Lipari	143 Maude Street, Shepparton	0 407 501 497	Click Here
2	Corner Table Cafe by Alex & Michelle	106A McLennan Street, Mooroopna	[phone]	Click Here
3	Friars Cafe	127 Fryers Street, Shepparton	[phone]	Click Here
4	Lemon Tree Cafe	98 Fryers Street, Shepparton	[phone]	Click Here
5	The Milkbar	149 Fryers Street, Shepparton	0 468 858 246	Click Here