Janne Apelgren The Age Good Food Guide Awards 2013 Interview

Janne Apelgren The Age Good Food Guide Awards 2013 Interview

Vue de Monde wins Vittoria Coffee Restaurant of the Year
Michael Ryan of Provenance wins Citibank Chef of the Year
All 2012 three-hatted restaurants maintain rating: Attica, Jacques Reymond, Royal Mail Hotel, Vue de Monde
2013 - a year for wallaby, kitchen gardens, placemat menus and eating at bars

Melbourne's Vue de Monde was named Vittoria Coffee Restaurant of the Year at the prestigious awards ceremony in the Great Hall of the NGV International to celebrate the launch of The Age Good Food Guide 2013.

Editor of The Age Good Food Guide 2013 Janne Apelgren said: "There's nowhere else quite like Vue de Monde, Shannon Bennett's grand vision delivering a restaurant which marries a stunning setting, sublime food and polished service."
"It may be pricey, but for a big night out, it's unrivalled."

Meanwhile, Regional Restaurant of the Year went to Provenance in Beechworth. The restaurant's chef, Michael Ryan, was also named Citibank Chef of the Year.

Brand new restaurants put in a strong showing. Plumm Wine Glasses Best New Restaurant Pei Modern was one of seven newly hatted venues opening in the past 12 months. Best New Regional Restaurant was Gladioli at Inverleigh.

On the other side of the coin, though, six hatted restaurants from last year have closed.

Proving that the competition is fierce and Melbourne's dining standards are high, fewer hats were awarded this year compared to last year - 75 compared to 81.

The Age Good Food Guide 2013 - highlights include:
120 new entries from 600 brand new reviews
Gertrude Street has emerged as the food epicentre of Melbourne with nine entries within a kilometre
Rabbit, roo and wallaby are appearing on menus more and more
Kitchen gardens are popping up everywhere
On the rise are raw food menus, bar dining and placemat menus

"A key trend we saw was the 'nip and tuck' effect. Many venues got smaller or altered their offerings to suit the times," said Apelgren.

The Age Good Food Guide 2013 has been re-formatted into an easier-to-carry size.

"Despite more challenging times for the industry overall, this guide proves that Melbourne and the state's regions continue to set incredibly high standards for everything from food to service to wine," added Apelgren.

The Age Good Food Guide Fast Facts:
Every year, each restaurant is revisited and freshly reviewed
66 reviewers were dispatched around the state to visit and review more than 600 restaurants - from the far west to the state's far east
The reviewing process takes seven months and involves as many as four visits to some restaurants to check menus, chefs, staff, style and changes

The Age Good Food Guide 2013 is on sale from Tuesday August 28 from bookstores for $24.99

Interview with Janne Apelgren

Question: How does The Age Good Food Guide 2013 differ from last years?

Janne Apelgren: Every restaurant is reviewed afresh every year, so we've got about 120 brand new listings among our more than 600 new reviews. That's a lot of pork belly and crema catalana consumed over the last year! Mercifully, I have 66 reviewers to eat their way around Victoria.


Question: How do you judge the restaurants? What is the process?

Janne Apelgren: Every restaurant included in the guide (and more that are eventually not included) are visited anonymously by a reviewer who pays for their meal and that of a dining companion. They usually order three courses, unless the menu is smaller or offers sharing plates. Restaurants are rated on a series of criteria, from the way they handle a telephone booking, to the greeting on arrival, to the farewell and handling of the bill at departure. If they make mistakes, we don't necessarily judge them aversely; often it's more about the way they make amends. We consider the type of food and style of restaurant and whether it achieves what it aims to do. A casual restaurant is judged differently from a formal, more expensive one. We have a long checklist for a reviewer that takes in presentation, preparation, ingredients, wine service, comfort of the surroundings, design and aesthetics but mostly the food. Restaurants are scored out of 20 points, 8 for food. We also consider value for money.


Question: Why did Vue de Monde win Vittoria Coffee Restaurant of the Year?

Janne Apelgren: The overall experience. The food can be surprising and sublime, there's a sense of fun about the place too. The room is amazing, the service spot-on, the setting stunning. Vue is a grand vision, precisely executed. It's very, very expensive, so it won't be for everyone, but for a big night out, there's nothing quite like it.


Question: What food trends will we see over the coming year?

Janne Apelgren: I think we'll continue to see cheerful, casual food like tacos, sliders, dumplings, burgers and pizzas infiltrate more upmarket menus. Italian food has been resurgent; I think Chinese will be next. Chefs like Neil Perry are exploring less well-known regional cuisines in China. We'll still love things cooked over fire and be trained to try things which are at their seasonal peak rather than those which might have been lurking in the fridge for some time...


Question: Which restaurant surprised you by gaining more hats this year?

Janne Apelgren: Ten Minutes by Tractor on the Mornington Peninsula. The reviewer alerted us it was right on song, and a revisit confirmed it. The Mornington Peninsula got its first two hatter in recent memory.


Question: What makes Michael Ryan of Provenance the standout Chef of the Year?

Janne Apelgren: He's a real thinker about food. He's clever, and has a passion for Japan that leads him to merge western and eastern flavours seamlessly. He loves his veggies and often treats them as hero ingredients. He had reviewers raving about a dish which starred zucchini this year.


Question: What do you like/dislike about placemat menus?

Janne Apelgren: They lay out all the possibilities in front of you. You might never think of having a cocktail when it's on a wine list, but when there's one on the top left corner of the menu, the first thing you see, it makes perfect sense. Placemat menus have a sense of fun. They also make it easy to spend and order more than you might normally have.


Question: What is a 'kitchen garden'? Where can we dine at a kitchen garden?

Janne Apelgren: Where the chef turns the staff parking into a herb patch! (Attica). Lots of chefs are planting what they want in the kitchen. Sometimes it's a couple of pots, sometimes it's a larger plot, like Nic Poelaert of Embrasse, or Annie Smithers of Annie Smithers Bistrot have.


Question: Is there any information as to why six hatted restaurants from last year have closed?

Janne Apelgren: I think challenging economic times have made several savvy restaurateurs rethink the way they do things. They are either closing to replace their restaurants with something different and more casual (like Verge becoming Nama Nama), but the reasons are varied. MoMo chef Greg Malouf left Australia for a plum role in London.

Question: Which restaurants didn't make the list this year, although they were on last year's list?

Janne Apelgren: Too many to list: closures would be the main reason, though several were dropped for a variety of reasons.


Interview by Brooke Hunter