From Australia's sunny north to the windswept south – we've got it covered; and check out the TL&CC restaurants recognized in the Australian Good Food Guide Awards

03 October 2019

Wild Canary (Brookfield, Brisbane, Queensland, Australia)

Wild Canary

WHO: Kate & Matt Harvey, restaurateurs
WHAT: A botanical bistro with its own kitchen garden
WHERE: 2371 Moggill Rodd, Brookfield, Brisbane, Queensland, Australia

“Wild Canary is passionate about creating a platform where you can get a more in-depth experience of knowing where your food comes from. To find great ingredients we search for the best local farmers. It is extremely important to us to make authentic connections with our farmers, staff and customers.

“Wild Canary takes great pride in how we build the menu and use the amazing produce we have the privilege of working with – this extends from kitchen through to front of house and to our guests. We support the local food system by regularly purchasing produce, buying what’s in-season, making our own preserves and jams and building relationships with artisans and farmers. We ask questions, visit farmers, host events and seek to extend our knowledge and make ethically good choices.”

Producer’s Dinner: “Experience a five-course degustation dinner prepared by Executive Chef, Glen Barratt and the team from Wild Canary and enjoy stories direct from the producers. Get a group of friends together and come along to this special evening event at Wild Canary on Friday 25th October where we will be celebrating the Noosa’s region’s top producers. The ingredients will be hand selected from farmers and producers, small-scale growers and artisans from the region. This dinner will be a fantastic display of the diversity and vitality of the region's farmers and food culture. For bookings and everything else you need to know click here.”

To read more about Wild Canary, visit their Truth, Love & Clean Cutlery profile page here.

Restaurant Botanica at Spicers Vineyards Estate

WHO: Shayne Mansfield, head chef & Adam Kluft, general manager
WHAT: Guest-focused New South Wales restaurant with a strong sustainable streak
WHERE: 555 Hermitage Rd, Pokolbin, New South Wales, Australia

“Dining at Restaurant Botanica begins with the belief that great chefs must be great gardeners. Our menu delivers produce picked fresh that morning with seasonal dishes effortlessly matched with wines from the Hunter Valley.

“We use as much regional produce as possible and are always in search of new and wonderful people doing amazing things with produce. We are also working hard to sustainably maintain our thirty-two on-site garden beds and utilize all of the superb vegetables and herbs it grows.

“We also work very closely with a small, local farm called Little Hill Farm. We use their eggs, chickens, lambs, honey and sometimes small crops of fruit and vegetables. They are extremely passionate about farming practices and for what they do – their enthusiasm is infectious, and the way they treat their birds is aspirational."

Get away from it all:

“Just a two-hour drive from Sydney, our boutique five-star retreat has just twelve luxury suites, each with its own fireplace. Enjoy stunning views over the rolling vineyards and natural bush land and rejuvenate. Take a look here for some fantastic weekend getaways and dining experiences at Spicers Vineyards Estate. Go on, treat yourself!

To read more about Restaurant Botanica at Spicers Vineyards Estate, visit their Truth, Love & Clean Cutlery profile page here.

Restaurant Botanica at Spicers Vineyards Estate (Pokolbin, New South Wales, Australia)

Taxi Kitchen

WHO: Tony Twitchett, executive chef & Sam Forte, head chef
WHAT: Celebrating country produce in the heart of the city
WHERE: Level 1, Transport Hotel, Federation Square, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia

“Taxi Kitchen's focus is on sustainable, locally-sourced produce such as our mozzarella, wagyu, chickens and quail. Our menu changes seasonally to showcase this produce at the height of its seasonal freshness. Additionally, our wine list is comprised of all Victorian wines, highlighting the best vineyards within the state. Within the bar we also stock spirits from local producers and all bottled beers stocked are from local Victorian breweries.

“All fish served at Taxi Kitchen is sustainable. The barramundi is from Humpty Doo, a 100 per cent sustainable barramundi farm in the Northern Territory. The cod is from sustainable cod farmers Murray Gold and our salmon is sourced from Huon Aquaculture in Tasmania, who focus on ethical farming practices.

“A glass crusher from BottleCycler has been installed within our building, with the crushed glass particles then collected by the company and taken to processing plants for recycling. All cardboard packaging is recycled across the venue and the oil for the kitchen is supplied by Cookers, who then collect the used oil in vats, taking it away to turn it into diesel, ensuring nothing is wasted.”

To read more about Taxi Kitchen, visit their Truth, Love & Clean Cutlery profile page here.

Taxi Kitchen (Melbourne, Victoria, Australia)

Leonards Mill

WHO: Hayley Pember-Calvert, owner/restaurateur, & Konny Putkin, head chef
WHAT: Paddock-to-plate dining in the southern Fleurieu Peninsula
WHERE: 7869 Main South Road, Second Valley, South Australia

“All of the fresh produce sourced for Leonards Mill is from family-run farms on the Fleurieu Peninsula in South Australia, where our restaurant is located. All of our red meat, game and fish come from within twenty kilometres of the restaurant itself and must also be from local family-run farms. We like to teach our guests about different cuts of meat – we can’t ask farmer Greg from down the road just for the sirloin cuts, because what will he do with the rest? We only use what is in season and we ask what our suppliers can grow in their soil – we do not tell them what to grow.

“We source our Berkshire pigs from the awesome people at Deep Creek Organics. They raise their pigs free range in huge paddocks – you cannot even see the fence lines. They rotate their cattle, sheep and pigs regularly with vegetable and grain plantings so that the land doesn't become hard. They feed their animals organic feed diets that keep the good fats in the meat and reduce the bad fats from forming. They were contemplating giving up the pigs as no one appreciated the effort of organic farming until we came along – we will always have pork on our menu. Second Valley Farm provides our grass-fed free-range Black Angus beef and vegetables. They will grow anything we want – the weirder the better! There are times we've seen him brushing his favourite cows in the paddocks!”

To read more about Leonards Mill, visit their Truth, Love & Clean Cutlery profile page here.

Leonards Mill (Second Valley, South Australia)

Hentley Farm

WHO: Lachlan Colwill, head chef
WHAT: Regional fine dining with a strong sense of place
WHERE: Corner Jenke Road & Gerald Roberts Road, Seppeltsfield, South Australia

“At Hentley Farm we have a strong focus on harvesting produce from our one hundred and fifty acres, including foraged ingredients growing wild, as well as fruit, vegetables and herbs grown in our garden beds and orchard. Being at Hentley Farm provides an opportunity to also focus on our own farming practices and foraging around the site. All of this combined makes for a great source of inspiration and is key to creating a dining experience that is truly unique to the region.

“By not offering a choice menu in the restaurant we are able to drastically reduce our waste and we closely monitor the volume of food ordered – as we are closed three days of the week this is particularly important. Although we do use a small amount of red meat we have a tendency to showcase more seafood and vegetable dishes of locally, farm-grown produce.

“We feel that restaurants should lead the way in how our cultural eating habits evolve and we try to showcase ingredients and techniques that are exciting for guests but also understandable and achievable at home. We strongly believe that restaurants should pick their location on the produce available within that region and forge their style around making that produce work. Gone are the days of every chef wanting to cook with foie gras and imported caviar."

To read more about Hentley Farm, visit their Truth, Love & Clean Cutlery profile page here.

Hentley Farm Restaurant (Seppeltsfield, South Australia)

TL&CC restaurants shine in the Australian Good Food Guide Awards 2020

Australia's restaurant elite have been recognized at the Good Food Guide 2020 Awards in Brisbane. Congratulations to all of this year's winners and a big shout-out to those from our TL&CC family listed below:

Brae (Birregurra, Victoria) wins Restaurant of the Year in the Good Food Guide Awards 2020