Merne wins state Plate
AN admittedly hidden away Drysdale restaurant has been crowned the state’s Golden Plate winner.
Opened earlier this year, Merne at Lighthouse didn’t take long to make its mark on the local food industry, winning Victoria’s overall Golden Plate, Best Contemporary Dining, Best Customer Service and the Bays and Coasts Outstanding Front of House awards on Monday night.
Front of house manager and co-owner Caleb Fleet said it had been an unexpected honour.
“We’re absolutely stoked,” Mr Fleet said. “We’ve only been open for about six months now, so hopefully this is a great way for us to put the restaurant on the map, so to speak.
“You never expect to do this well, you always hope for some form of success, but to get the state award I suppose in such a short period of time was a great surprise. “
Mr Fleet said the dedicated staff and picturesque location had helped the restaurant thrive.
“Essentially we are in the middle of nowhere, we’re down a little dirt track, but it opens up into an amazing oasis of trees and vines and native eucalypts. It’s just a beautiful location,” he said.
“We’re a small team, we’ve got two chefs. We put a lot of time and effort and energy into just getting the basics right. Customer service is obviously a huge factor, we always try to welcome people in to the restaurant as if they were coming into our own homes.”
Judge’s comments described Merne at Lighthouse as a “first-class dining experience, one that you would drive miles for”.
The comments noted that the restaurant was “a hothouse of local talent”. It is jointly owned and run by Matt Dempsey, Caleb Fleet, Graham Jefferies and Merne’s head chef Josh Smith.
Other local winners were Hamlyn Heights cafe Eddy and Wills, which won the People’s Choice award, and Apollo Bay’s Great Ocean Rd Brewhouse, which took out the Best Hotel gong.
Pakington St’s coffee mecca King of the Castle took out the state award for Best Unlicensed Cafe for the third consecutive year, placing it into the Victorian Golden Plate hall of fame.