Darwin restaurant named Australia’s fifth best for fine dining in TripAdvisor awards

AN iconic Darwin restaurant has been voted one of Australia’s best fine dining restaurants — and achieved its highest ever ranking to boot

ICONIC Darwin restaurant Pee Wee’s at the Point has been voted one of Australia’s best fine dining restaurants in a coveted set of international tourism awards — and achieved its highest ever ranking to boot.

The East Point Reserve eatery has made number five on Tripadvisor’s 2020 Travellers Choice Awards list of best fine dining restaurants in Australia.

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It also ranked sixth for the entire South Pacific region, which encompasses Australia and NZ

The winners lists are calculated based on millions of TripAdvisor traveller reviews from around the world.

Owner Simon Matthews said the result was the restaurant’s highest ranking yet.

“We started off about number 13 or 14 a few years ago, we went up to number seven or eight last year and then we made number five this year, so we’ve gone up every year for the past five years,” he said.

Winning staff from Pee Wee’s at the Point: Jay Embuscado, Maria Tendilla, Paul Jones and Ronald Dallakoti. Picture: Glenn Campbell

“If you look at the four restaurants in front of us, they’re amazing, and the five below us are amazing too, so just to be in that top ten with really highly acclaimed restaurants is a nice acknowledgment of what we do.”

“This is all voted for by the people that pay the bill and spend their hard-earned money to come out to the establishment, not some restaurant reviewer who gets paid to sound smart about his favourite joints in Sydney and Melbourne, so for me that makes it even more satisfying.”

Mr Matthews said Pee Wee’s 20 years in operation and focus on top-quality food and service had made it a trusted go-to in Darwin, to the point where the restaurant was still full most days of the week despite the hospitality industry downturn brought on by the pandemic.

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But he said the TripAdvisor recognition could help boost the business’ reputation even further.

“It’s not going to bring in a lot of tourists from the eastern states at the moment, but I’m sure a few locals who have never been will want to come in and see what all the fuss is about … and the regulars already love what we do,” he said.

“To be ranked in among those top 10 restaurants, that’s what you aim for if you’re a motivated professional. As much as it will do for business, it does more for morale for our staff and for ourselves to keep working hard.”