The awards celebrate the best of regional Victoria’s hospitality industry.
For the past 20 years, the Golden Plate Awards judge the best hospitality in regional Victoria for their excellence – whether that’s food quality and presentation, customer service, use of local produce, availability of local beverages, coffee quality, ambience and/or value for money. The awards are a reminder of how truly blessed we are with the quality of hospitality in regional Victoria.
This year’s awards look at eateries and wine bars in regional Victoria that were nominated by a member of the public between March and June this year, a tricky time for hospitality generally.
Held this week, on Monday, December 5 at 1915 in Geelong, over 170 of the State’s top culinary achievers witnessed the region’s hospitality sector excel, awarding more than 20 venues from across North, Central, Southern and Western Victoria with state titles.
The key takeaways
- Golden Plate Awards announced state winners this week, celebrating the best of regional Victoria’s hospitality industry.
- This year saw a swathe of finalists from across North, Central, Southern and Western Victoria vie for the 20th Regional State Golden Plate Award.
- Geelong and the Bellarine rose to the top once again alongside Ballarat and Daylesford with a slew of beloved venues taking our state titles.
- Judges Reports for 2022 will arrive soon
Keep up with the latest in local good news via our website.
Daylesford favourite Kadota took home gold once again, winning the prestigious Golden Plate culinary award last night. The love child of globetrotting Daylesford wunderkind Aaron Schembri and partner Risa Kadota, who met while slinging hospitality in Japan, this venue wowed the judges with its technical brilliance to take out the coveted State Golden Plate for the second time in a row. Kadota also was the State Winner for Best Contemporary Dining, Outstanding Front of House (Risa Kadota) and apprentice of the Year (Alexis Saville).
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Geelong and the Bellarine rose to the top once again with a slew of beloved venues taking our state titles, including the Malt Shovel Tap House who take out the Best Hotel Title in the biggest field in 10 years for the second year in a row, Winters Cafe on Pakington Street wowed the judges with their thriving business to take out best unlicensed cafe, and Surfside Cafe in Ocean Grove took out the best coffee in the state (huge!) as well as taking out the Highly Commended award for Unlicensed Café and people’s choice.
Not only did 1915’s Head Chef Andy Symeonakis work together with his team to cater for 170 invited industry guests this year, but he also took out the final accolade of the evening: ‘Best
Chef.’, proving quite an unstoppable force. Symeonakis has been a driving force behind 1915’s culinary curation and he is undoubtedly one of Australia’s Best Young Chefs, and last night’s awards saw him recognised alongside his peers as a star on the rise. Symeonakis is always trying new things and his family Greek/Australian heritage comes through in all of his dishes, as does his love for local seasonal produce to star in his dishes.
Geelong’s famed 1920s Prohibition-style cocktail bar, The 18th Amendment, are of course continuing their reign with a winning recipe that saw the Ballarat venue claiming the title for Best Cocktail Bar or Cellar Door, while the Geelong venue came in second. Raising the bar on cocktail offerings, creating venues like we have never had before, Camorra and his team continue to innovate and deserve to be recognized for their outstanding contribution to the Australian bar industry. Ana Mitchell, from the Geelong venue, was also Highly Commended in the Front of House awards, and the Geelong venue as a whole was Highly Commended for their Customer Service. Previous Golden Plate winner Jack Rabbit Restaurant out of the Sharp stable took out the state award for Customer Service, and was the state winner of Best Menu of Local Produce, as well as Highly Commended Contemporary Dining.
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Below is a rundown of the regional Victorian venues that took our first and second places for the Golden Plate awards 2022. Consider this your ‘must-try’ list for 2023.
State Winners 2022
State Golden Plate Winner
Kadota Daylesford
State Winner Best Hotel Dining – Malt Shovel Tap House Geelong
Highly Commended Hotel -Five Flags Castlemaine
State Winner Best Casual Dining – Claribeaux
Highly Commended Casual Dining – Peasant
State Winner Best Contemporary Dining- Kadota Daylesford
Highly Commended Contemporary Dining – Jack Rabbit Restaurant
State Winner Best Licensed Café- Higher Society Ballarat
Highly Commended Licensed Café – Blank Space Newtown & Drive Cafe Ballarat
State Winner Best Unlicensed Café – Winters Cafe Geelong
Highly Commended Unlicensed Café – Surfside Cafe
State Winner Best Cocktail Bar or Cellar Door- 18th Amendment Bar Ballarat
Highly Commended Cocktail Bar or Cellar Door – Miss M’s Lounge & 18th Amendment Bar Geelong
State Winner Best Value- Fook Shing Kyneton
Highly Commended Value- King of the Castle Geelong
State Winner Outstanding Front of House –Risa Kadota Daylesford
Highly Commended Front of House – Ana Mitchell 18th Amendment Bar Geelong
State Winner Best Menu of Local Produce Award- Jack Rabbit Restaurant
Highly Commended Chef Choice Producer Award- The Shared Table Buninyong
State Winner Best Cellar of Local Wine /Beer/ Cider – The Shared Table Buninyong
Highly Commended Cellor of Local Wine/ Beer /Cider – Fook Shing Kyneton
State Winner Best Coffee- Surfside Cafe Ocean Grove
Highly Commended Coffee – East Qtr
State Winner Best Customer Service- Jack Rabbit Restaurant Bellarine
Highly Commended Customer Service – 18th Amendment Bar Geelong
Peter Watson Memorial Best Chef- Andy Symeonakis 1915 Geelong
Highly Commended Chef – Douglas Kerr
Apprentice of the Year – Alexis Saville Kadota
Highly Commended Apprentice – Peter Dawson – The Shared Table
Chef’s Choice – Regional Producer – Lard Ass
Highly Commended regional producer -The Mushroom Connection
People’s Choice State Winner – Bean & Base Geelong
Highly Commended People’s Choice – Surfside Café Ocean Grove
Forte sends its congrats to all winners, and thanks for the coffee, replenishment and service over the years. Oh, and for giving regional Victoria another thing to be proud of.
Head to the website for more information.
