Sardine Eatery and Bar received a one hat rating at the recent Good Food Guide Awards.
The Paynesville restaurant where chef, Mark Briggs, showcases local Gippsland ingredients with an ever changing, locally sourced menu, was one of just 22 regional Victorian restaurants to receive a rating.
In total only six restaurants from around Australia received a three hat rating – the Guide’s highest honour – with South Australia’s Restaurant Orana named the restaurant of the year.
Mark and his wife, Victoria, run Sardine Eatery and Bar, which is located at 65 Esplande and is open from 12pm-9pm Tuesday to Saturday and on Sundays from 8am to 4pm. They were thrilled to receive a one hat rating.
“It is an awesome privilege and very humbling,” Mark told the Advertiser on Thursday.
“I started cooking when I was 15 and then worked in the United Kingdom, but winning the hat is not just about the chef, it’s about everybody, the whole package. Victoria works out the front. The cooking and the food is just a small part of it. She runs it, I just cook the food.”
While Paynesville may be far from his native United Kingdom, Mark has enjoyed his first year in the region as he loves the support he receives from the locals.
“We are just about to come up to our one-year anniversary, which will be October 26,” Mark said.
“We both moved down from Melbourne after we worked in various restaurants there.
“We had some guests in from Perth last night and we get a lot of people travelling from Melbourne, but we also have huge local support which is fantastic.
“Without the locals we wouldn’t have a business.”
Mark places an emphasis on fresh and local flavours at Sardine Eatery and Bar with a wide menu currently including a selection of local cheeses, whole Lakes Entrance sardines and Gippsland pork loin, just to name a few.
“The restaurant is seafood oriented, but we just use Gippsland produce, the best that the area has to offer,” he said.
“We want to keep pushing ourselves and see how far we can take it.”
“We just got some beautiful Gippsland rabbit in today and there are always Lakes Entrance sardines. We change our menu sort of daily to be honest. We talk to our suppliers and whatever they have that is great is what we use.”
PICTURED: Sardine Eatery and Bar chef, Mark Briggs, and his wife, Victoria, received a one hat rating at the recent Good Food Guide Awards.
