No2 Oak Street

Awards

Country Style: Country Chef Of The Year Awards

The abiding impression gleaned from our list of finalists is that great food in the country has come of age. Many stalwarts we noted last year in lunching the awards keep delivering and their ranks have swelled as more and more chefs see that a new life beyond the cities is not only desirable but also viable.

Restaurant of the Year

Last Monday night the auspicious NSW/ACT Restaurant and Catering Awards were held in Coffs Harbour at Pacific Bay Resort. Recognised nationally as the Association benchmark, these respected annual awards are highly sought after by the best of the best... Not only did our own No 2 Oak Street, Bellingen take out the winning “Contemporary Australian Restaurant” Award again, but this time the prestigious “Restaurant of the Year” Award for a second time since 2006.

Chosen yet again as the leader for the Northern Region from Forster right up to the Tweed area and out to Moree including Armidale, Tamworth and Gunnedah, 225 restaurants entered in total. Finalists competing with No 2 Oak Street included ‘Saltwater’ of Coffs Harbour and ‘Stunned Mullet’ of Port Macquarie.

The Awards are presented to the winners in various categories. Outstanding restaurants and caterers are identified amongst the winners and receive the coveted Restaurant of the Year Award and Caterer of the Year Award. Under the watchful eye of the Chief Judge, R&C NSW/ACT entries are guaranteed a highly competent performance assessment.

The agreed process is to select up to six finalists for each category derived from peoples’ choice nominations. This is done via voting coupons, which appear in major regional and metropolitan newspapers or via electronic nomination on the R&C NSW website. Restaurants receiving votes are placed into categories and the top six restaurants, based on the number of votes received, are nominated as finalists in each of the categories. (from the R&C NSW website)

First entering in 2000, No 2 Oak Street had consecutively won their category each year, until finally in 2006 they won the “Restaurant of the Year’ for the first time. Toni’s thankyou speech concluded, “Thankyou, but six plates makes a dinner set! We are honoured to win again but this will be our last year; time now to allow someone else to earn this accolade.”

And thus, for two years No 2 did not enter the judging. Those years passed bringing a tumultuous 2009 with three floods in four months and a breast cancer diagnosis for Toni just 14 weeks ago: “We’d had such a full plate lately and we thought, this will probably be our last year – let’s enter just one more time, take the whole team with us for the night’s celebrations, and just see how we fare…”

Robert Goldman the CEO of Restaurant and Catering NSW said of the win, “Well deserved for a highly respected team; we are seriously delighted to honour them again.” Along with Toni’s positive recovery from cancer, affirmed in her acceptance speech, “As anyone who loves this industry will agree, we’re not in this to make money – we’re in it because it’s our passion. A simple truth, a tasty truth; we love what we do and that makes all the difference.”

All Our Awards:

Ray & Toni Celibrate The Australian Hospitality Awards fall into two main categories; The Restaurant and Catering Industry awards and the Sydney Morning Herald Good Food Awards.

These awards are given to the elite restaurants every year; the benchmark of highest quality and consistency.

Our Awards to date:

2012

Not only were we awarded a SMH Chef's hat for the 9th year in a row, we were also awarded a second Chef's hat.

Australian Good Food & Travel Guide 2012 Award Winner.

2011

Awarded a SMH Chef's hat for the 8th year in a row!!

2010

Awarded a wine goblet – signifying ‘a particularly good wine list’.

Awarded a SMH Chef's hat for the 7th year in a row!!

2009

NSW/ACT Restaurant and Catering Awards "Restaurant of the Year 2009" & “Best Contemporary Australian Restaurant”
Awarded a SMH Chef's hat.

2008

Awarded a SMH Chef's hat for the 5th year in a row!!

2007

Maitre d' for NSW

The SMH Silver Service Award otherwise known as The Maitre d' Award is for defining, redefining or showing the ultimate level of service.

Sydney Morning Herald Chef’s Hat

Awarded Sydney Morning Herald Chef’s Hat : 2012, 2011, 2010, 2009, 2008, 2007, 2006 & 2005