Regional flavour to food gongs

ALL the winners in the Appetite for Excellence Awards are from outside the cities.

Restaurateur Danielle Gjestland, chef Matthew Dempsey and waiter Alice Heath, winners from last night's Appetite for Excellence Awards. Pic: Sam Mooy

EMERGING talent within Australia's regional restaurant scene was last night recognised at a major national awards ceremony, with all three winners coming from dining rooms beyond the major capital cities.

Matthew Dempsey and Alice Heath, winners of Electrolux Appetite for Excellence awards for Young Chef and Young Waiter respectively, hail from restaurants in Geelong and Red Hill, on Victoria's Mornington Peninsula.

They nudged out finalists from some of the nation's best, including Tetsuya's in Sydney, Restaurant Two in Brisbane and The Manse in Adelaide.

Noosa's Danielle Gjestland, co-owner of the acclaimed Japanese restaurant Wasabi, took out the Young Restaurateur category. She was awarded the gong following a final round of interviews with judges Luke Mangan, Neil Perry, Lucy Allon and Christine Manfield in Sydney yesterday morning.

Dempsey, 29, is executive chef at Pettavel, the restaurant attached to the winery of the same name at Waurn Ponds, outside Geelong in Victoria's west. Like so many of his peers, Dempsey's game plan is for a restaurant of his own but not before getting work experience in Europe and Scandinavia.

At 21, Heath, assistant manager at the Montalto restaurant, already has similar goals.

The awards for young restaurant talent, judged at a state and national basis by some of the industry's most respected chefs, managers and entrepreneurs, are in their fifth year.

"The whole idea of setting this up was to fill the gaps that were there for our lot when we were coming through," said founding judge Mangan.

Dempsey and Heath get $5000 and overseas trips to further their careers; Gjestland, as a business owner, wins a package including $10,000 and a London trip.

See Food+Wine in The Weekend Australian Magazine