las vegas top10

TOP ten restaurants
· Joel Robuchon – French style
· Aureole – French style
· Nobu – Japanese Style
· Le Cirque – French style
· Mix – French style
· Spago – American style/ Californian style
· Alex – French style
· Guy Savoy – French style
· Picasso – French style
· Emrils New Orleans Fish house - seafood
We used the 3 tier system to rank the restaurants.
Therefore, the restaurant with the highest points rating is Joel Robuchon with 230 points from tier 1 and tier 2 rating guides. Coming in second place is Aureole with 210 points from tier 1 and tier 2 rating guides. In third place is Nobu with 170 points from tier 1 and tier 2 rating guides. The chefs to be discussed will be Joel Robuchon, Charlie Palmer, and Nobu Matsuhisha.






Joel Robuchon

http://www.joel-robuchon.com/
http://www.mgmgrand.com/dining/joel-robuchon-french-restaurant.aspx
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jo%C3%ABl_Robuchon
Joel Robuchon is a visionary chef who was born in the small town of Poitiers, France on April 7, 1945. He owns and operates several restaurants across the world, including his namesake restaurant, Joel Robuchon located in Las Vegas, the original L’Atelier de Joel Robuchon located in Paris, a more recent restaurant, Robuchon a Galera, located in Macau. He plans on opening his next restaurant in Tel Aviv, Israel.
Robuchon began his career, at the age of 15, as an apprentice chef at the Relais of Poitiers hotel, located in his hometown of Poitiers. After years of experience and moving up the promotional ladder, he finally became an executive chef at the Harmony-Lafeyette hotel, at the age of 28. He would open the first out of his many restaurants in Paris, before moving out to other cities across the world. He has been credited as being mentors for popular celebrity chefs such as Gordon Ramsay and Michael Caines. He is renowned for his style of cuisine, a more traditional French style, and his perfection of his cuisine.
His first operation in the USA is in Las Vegas and he named it after himself similar to many of his restaurants. It was founded in 2003, and is operated by his highly talented and qualified team of chefs, among them another Meilleur Ouvrier de France award winner. The restaurant is a small banquet hall setting, with a private section for a more intimate setting. The design and décor is an elegant French style designed by Pierre Yves Rochon.
Robuchon uses the freshest possible ingredients available to produce his meals. In the Joel Robuchon, the menu items are produced in various forms; a 6 course tasting menu, a 7 course meal, a 16 course tasting menu, and an a la carte menu. His signature dish is considered to be the Pommes Puree, which is his original style of mash potatoes. He tends to create a variety of dishes which include fish, high-quality meats, seafood, fresh vegetables, and various grain products. More information on the various menus can be found here
Due to immense dedication to the culinary arts, Robuchon has received many accolades for his mastery of French cuisine. He received the highly touted Meilleur Ouvrier de France, an award for the top French craftsman in their field, when he was 31. In 1989, he was labelled as the Chef of the Century by the guide Gault Millau, a highly influential French restaurant guide. As a result of his dedication and high standards, he has been awarded a total of 17 michelin stars for his various operations; the only chef in the world to reach that amount.
The chef has also ventured into other areas related to cuisine. He published many cookbooks in French, two of which have now been translated into English. He has hosted a culinary television show in France. Finally, he contributed to an edition of Larousse Gastronomique, an encyclopedia which looks at the relationship between culture and food.


Charlie Palmer
Picture : www.unionfloor.com/gallery.php
http://www.mandalaybay.com/dining/aureole.aspx
http://topchefs.chef2chef.net/recipes-2/charlie-palmer/#Biography
Charlie Palmer is widely renowned as one of the greatest American chefs of our time. He focuses on a progressive American-styled cuisine and owns five restaurants in New York and two in Las Vegas. Raised in New York, Palmer acquired his knowledge of culinary styles and tastes from the Culinary Institute of America. He found a job after graduation at one of the most prestigious French-styled restaurants in New York called, La Cote Basque. He would later move on to become executive chefs in various restaurants including the River Café, a restaurant owned by American actor, Michael O’ Keefe. After his tenure at the River Café, he would open his first restaurant in New York, which would be the first of his many popular restaurants he would open across America.
The Aureole of Las Vegas in particular, caught the attention of many restaurant critics. It was created in 1999 and has gone onto receive recognition in several areas. It has been recognized as a four diamond restaurant since its inception. In 2006, the restaurant won the award for outstanding wine service. Recently, in 2008, the restaurant received a Michelin star. Arguably, the main physical attraction is the four story wine tower, which holds more than 10,000 different types of wine.
Palmer’s signature dishes are a reflection of progressive American cuisine. Progressive American cuisine can be described as a combination of culinary tastes from various cultural backgrounds within America. He tends to use high quality beef and fish in his meals. A sample from his menu supports this notion. The first course options include caviar, a thai influenced soup, and ravioli with goat cheese. The main course options include trout, veal, and rack of lamb, all of which are presented with their own set of side dishes. For a descriptive sample of Palmer’s menu, see here.For his excellence in the culinary arts, Palmer has received several awards. In 1997, Aureole joined a short list of American restaurants that were inducted into the Relais and Chateau, a European based association of hotels and restaurants. In 1997, Palmer was awarded the James Beard award for “Best Chef” in New York, while a year later he was awarded the James Beard award for “Who’s who of food and beverage in America”.
Palmer has initiated other projects outside of the kitchen as well. He set up an association of farmers “to supply his restaurants with local produce” (Chef2Chef). He is the authour of Great American Food, a cookbook which was published in 1996 along with another book Charlie Palmer’s Casual Cooking published in 2001.

Nobu Matsuhisa
Picture : www.time.com
Nobuyuki Matsuhisa is the owner of the most prolific Japanese styled restaurant in Las Vegas, named the Nobu. Born on 1949 in Saitama, Japan, Nobuyuki creates authentic Japanese cuisine using ingredients from all over the world, most especially imported from South American countries. Since opening his first Matsuhisa in 1987, he has gone on to open more than a dozen restaurants across the world including his Nobu in Las Vegas which opened in 1999.
Nobu started his career as an apprentice in a sushi bar in Tokyo before he opened his first sushi-bar in Peru, South America. It was here that he gained his appreciation and his knowledge of South American ingredients. He has gained recognition from various food critics and commentaries. In 1989 he was considered to be one of America’s top ten chefs by Food and Wine magazine and was awarded a “Who’s who of Food and Beverage in America” by the James Beard foundation in 2002.
He has two signature dishes: a miso infused black cod and a shrimp tempura with cream sauce. Both dishes were created in his first restaurant in New York, and has since gained popularity in his other restaurants as well. Nobuyuki uses similar menu items in all his restaurants, with the main focus on the different types of sushi. Some examples of his specialty courses include: King Crab Claw tempura, and New Style Sashimi. Both of these courses involve elements of sushi but are made as a main entrée item. Since his cooking style brings out the natural flavours of the ingredients, he is very strict in selecting his ingredients

Los Angeles and Southern California

The Top 10 Restaurants in Southern California and Los Angeles

The top ten restaurants in Los Angeles and Southern California were carefully selected using a three tier ranking system comprised of different recognition levels. For each level of recognition, the restaurant received points based on the type of award or recognition given. After each restaurant was examined, we added up the points each restaurant had earned to determine the top ten restaurants. The first tier was where each restaurant could potentially receive the most points, since each level of recognition was national or internationally known. Tier two was where each restaurant could receive the second highest amount of points. This level of recognition included local and regional areas. Tier three offered the least amount of potential points, since the recognition received includes individual food critics and local critics, such as a local newspaper or magazine. Our group did a biography on each head chef in the top three establishments. However, the website for Bastide is temporarily unavailable due to recent renovations, so we decided to use the fourth best restaurant and chef as there is a minimal difference in points received.

1)Mellise
2)Spago
3)Bastide

4)OsteriaMozza

5) Providence

6) Lucques

7) Sona
8) Urasawa
9) Water Grill

10) Saddle Peaks

Top Three Chefs

Melisse Restaurant: Chef Josiah Citrin

The restaurant Mélisse was named after a lemon-scented herb that is found in the Mediterranean. It is a fine-dining upscale restaurant in the casual culture of Southern California. Mélisse opened its doors by Josiah Citrin and his wife Diane in July of 1999 and continues to be a great success today. The restaurant earned a mobile 4-star rating after only eighteen months of operation and has continued these standards each year. The menu offers contemporary American/French cuisine with many French influences in each recipe.
Josiah’s recipes all reflect his experience and skills learned while working in Paris. The interior of Mélisse has a warm European feel and style to it. Guests often say it “feels like a warm French country home.” Mélisse was voted "Best Restaurant in Los Angeles" in Zagat 2006, "Best New Restaurant" in July 2000 by Food & Wine Magazine, "Best Newcomer" in the collector's edition of Gourmet Magazine's, Guide to America's Best Restaurants, and one of "The World's Most Exciting New Restaurants" by Conde Nast Traveler.

As a young boy growing up in Santa Monica, CA, Josiah always had an intense passion for food. He grew up in a household consisting of his Grandmother and Mother who were also food lovers and shared a passion for the art of cuisine.
Josiah graduated from Santa Monica High school and decided to move to Paris to further his love for the culinary arts. Little did he know his Paris experience would change his life forever. While living in Paris Josiah worked in a fine dining restaurant and began to work his way up. Paris is where Citrin fell in love with French cuisine and has influenced many of Josiah’s recipes.
Josiah decided he had spent enough time in Paris and moved back to the United States to apply his new found knowledge and skills. He began to work in some of Los Angela’s finest well known restaurants with the finest chefs. Citrin worked alongside the famous Wolfgang Puck and restaurants including Chinios and Granita. Josiah’s love for food was continuously evolving while learning and working with the best of the best.
Over the next few years Josiah moved on to work in the most famous restaurants in Los Angeles, which included Patina and Pinot Bistro, Capri Restaurant, and Jackson’s. He married a beautiful woman by the name of Diane and had two kids, a boy and a girl.
After working with the best chefs in the best restaurants in LA, Josiah knew he wanted the challenge of owning his own restaurant. On July 23rd, 1999, Josiah and his wife opened a local upscale restaurant, known as Mélisse. The restaurant was perceived as an instant success by the local neighbourhoods along with business and leisure travelers from all over the world.
Some of his favourite ingredients include salt, heirloom tomatoes, morels, fava beans and white asparagus. Josiah likes to use seasonal produce that exudes his passion for French cuisine. By using farmer market fresh foods his passion is to create new flavours while still keeping in touch with old traditions. Today Josiah is considered to be one of the most popular restaurateurs and continues to be featured in different television food shows and recipe books. Josiah also has many prestigious titles under his belt including “top ten new chefs” by Food and Wine Magazine (April 1997) and “Rising Star-1997” by restaurant hospitality.

http://www.melisse.com/

Spago Restaurant: Chef Lee Hefter

Spago is located in Beverly Hills California it is one of many Wolfgang Puck fine dining restaurants. A James Beard Foundation award winning restaurant it is highly popular too many. Spago is a relaxed bar and grill atmosphere that serves quality and flavorful menu items.
Lee Hefter is a managing partner and executive corporate chef to the Wolfgang Puck fine dining group. Hefter began his journey into cuisine at a young age starting his apprenticeship in New Jersey and New York area at local restaurants and was in charge of a New York country club at the age of 21. This was the start of his journey on becoming a great chef. After working in the New York area Hefter decided it was time to try something new he ventured to San Francisco and began working with Chef Barbara Tropp at her China Moon Café. This is the time when he was finally noticed by Wolfgang Puck and began working at the original Spago restaurant in West Hollywood as a sous chef. Throughout his career he is credited at working at some of the world’s top restaurants including such names as, L'Ousteau de Baumaniere, L'Aubergarde , Troisgros and Granita. And then in 1997 he was titled with his role as head chef for Spago in Beverly Hills.
Hefter uses seasonal ingredients and cultural influences to tap into some of the world’s most original and flavorful dishes. Spago classic menu items include such things as handmade Sweet Corn Agnolotti with Mascarpone, Chino Farms Roasted Beet Salad, as well as daily changing selections of fish and produce of the season.

http://www.wolfgangpuck.com/restaurants/finedining/spago/beverlyhills/index.php

Osteria Mozza: Chef Mario Batali

Osteria Mozza is a small Italian cuisine restaurant located in Los Angeles, California. The restaurant features something called a “Mozzarella Bar” where fresh food items area produced from Mozzarella, Burrata, Bocconcini, Strachiatella and many more. The dining room offers window seating surrounding the entire room with an impressive wine rack on display. The room presents an indoor and outdoor opening onto Melrose Ave and also offers a private dining area that can seat up to forty people at a time. Osteria Mozza has come to be a famous hot spot in Los Angeles and continues to impress everyone and anyone who is lucky enough to get a reservation at Osteria Mozza.

Mario Batali is the head chef/owner of the famous Osteria Mozza in Los Angeles, California. He grew up in Seattle and was raised in a household that loved food and loved to cook. As a child Mario would gather fresh berries and work with his Grandmother in preparing different types of pies and jams. After graduating from Rutgers University, Mario decided to enrol at the Le Cordon Bleu culinary school to further his love affair with food and cooking. However, Mario felt that he needed more “hands on” learning, and quickly realized the classroom was no longer for him. Mario quit culinary school and took on an apprenticeship working alongside one of London’s famous chefs, Marco Pierre White. Mario then moved on to work for three intense years in a small town in Northern Italy. After three years of working in Northern Italy, Mario felt he had enough experience and knowledge to return to the United States and further his career and passion in the culinary arts.
Mario continuously worked in many New York hot spot restaurants and in 1998 he opened the famous Babbo Restaurant. Within the same year, the James Beard Foundation awarded Babbo as “The Best New Restaurant” of 1998. The New York Times also awarded the restaurant three stars. Since Babbo was such a well known hit, Mario decided to open up nine other restaurants, included Osteria Mozza, in Los Angeles, New York, and Los Vegas.
Mario enjoys sharing this knowledge and passion for food any way he can. You may have already seen him on many television shows, such as the Food Networks Iron Chef. Mario has also published a total of six cookbooks throughout his career.
Throughout his career he has had many accomplishments and has been recognized for numerous awards. In 1998 he was named “Man of the Year” in the chef category by GQ Magazine; In 1999 Babbo Restaurant was awarded the James Beard Foundation for “Best New Restaurant”. In 2002 Mario was awarded the James Beard Award for the “Best Chef: New York City”. In 2005 his Babbo restaurant was awarded the Restaurant & Institutions “Ivy Award”. Also, in 2006 the Molto Italiano was awarded the James Beard Foundation for “Best International Cookbook http://www.mariobatali.com/restaurants_osteriamozza.cfm

The Top 10 Restaurants in Southern California and Los Angeles

The top ten restaurants in Los Angeles and Southern California were carefully selected using a three tier ranking system comprised of different recognition levels. For each level of recognition, the restaurant received points based on the type of award or recognition given. After each restaurant was examined, we added up the points each restaurant had earned to determine the top ten restaurants. The first tier was where each restaurant could potentially receive the most points, since each level of recognition was national or internationally known. Tier two was where each restaurant could receive the second highest amount of points. This level of recognition included local and regional areas. Tier three offered the least amount of potential points, since the recognition received includes individual food critics and local critics, such as a local newspaper or magazine

1) Mellise
2) Spago
3) Bastide
4) Osteria Mozza
5) Providence
6) Lucques
7) Sona
8) Urasawa
9) Water Grill
10) Saddle Peaks

Top Three Chefs

Top Chefs Tokyo

Tokyo has been described as one of the most interesting tourism destinations of the world. The area has come a far way from its previous times as a small fishing village, now occupying more than 8 million people within its 23 wards (Wikipedia). It is a very diverse destination, acting as an international financial hub. Besides its flourishing economy, Tokyo, as Japan’s capital, may be one of the most food-crazed cities on earth, introducing new trends and flavours at an alarming pace. After a throughout investigation, our group has come up with the top ten restaurants, based upon a ranking system, in Tokyo:

1. L’atelier de Joel Robuchon
2. Restaurant L’Osier
3. Sukiyabashi Jiro
4. Restaurant Qunitessence
5. Genyadana Hamadaya
6. Sushi Mizutani
7. Ginza Koju
8. Kanda
9. Raku-tei
10. Yugi

The system that our group employed to come up with the top ten restaurants was a three tier system. The first tier was where a majority of the restaurants’ points were accumulated. They included national and international awards from recognizable affiliations such as Michelin, Zagat, and the World’s 50 best from the current year and previous years. The second tier included local and regional recognition while the third and final tier was based upon individual favourable reviews. We did have the occurrence of a tie for 6th place, between Sushi Mizutani and Ginza Koju, and seeing as both carried the same amount of rewards, we based our decision on the individual reviews, and Sushi Mizutani’s appeared more favourable.

L’Atelier de Joel Robuchon – Chef Joel Robuchon

The name of this restaurant may be world renowned to some; it is a gourmet French restaurant with locations in Tokyo, Paris, New York, London, and numerous other large cities. His restaurants, all bearing a part of his name Joel Robuchon, pride themselves on haute cooking. French dishes are elaborately prepared, with much precision and care, ending with a mouthwatering result.

Born in Poitiers, France, Robuchon began his culinary career at the ripe age of fifteen as an apprentice chef at the Relais of Poitiers Hotel. At the age of 28 he was promoted to head chef at the Harmony-Lafayette Hotel, before opening his own restaurant shortly after.

Chef Joel Robuchon has won a combination of 17 Michelin Guide Stars from his restaurants, more than any other chef in the world. He has been described as one of the most influential chefs of the post nouvelle cuisine era mentoring such well known chefs as Gordon Ramsay and Michael Caines.

The entire dining experience does not only revolve around the food at Chef Robuchon’s restaurants. Many of them have seating that allow guests to see their food being prepared and enjoy the unique atmosphere. This speaks volumes about the cooking style of Robuchon. Chef Robuchon has tried to get away from the fascination with “nouvelle cuisine”, which is essentially a simple, reduced method of cooking and preparing French cuisine. Many chefs have tried to avoid the elaborate and extravagant ingredients and preparation methods required in French cuisine; while Chef Robuchon thrives on it. Chef Robuchon has earned an excellent reputation for his precision and care towards the preparation of his dishes, and is often described as a perfectionist. It is not difficult to get lost in watching Chef Robuchon prepare a dinner – some of his dinner menus (which change every day) are nine courses! As you might have guessed, Chef Robuchon uses some of the finest quality ingredients, and often his dishes contain many ingredients that are very unique to one another. One of his dishes, for example, is caviar with green asparagus, served with melissee leaves as a garnish. This takes over twenty minutes to prepare, all of it individually by hand. Dishes such as this are common for Robuchon, which demonstrates the quality of chef that he truly is. Few can match this chef’s ability to create, prepare and present dishes at such a high-level of quality.

L’ Osier Restaurant - Bruno Menard

Chef Bruno Menard, the executive chef of L’Osier Restaurant in Tokyo was born 1962 in Tours, France. He grew up in a family known for their various culinary interests with two of his brothers amounting to a chocolateir and pastry chef. As well, his sister is also the manager of a small hotel in Paris and his grandfather is a butcher.

Chef Bruno began his career at the age of 15 as an apprentice at Domaine d'Orvault. He subsequently served at Charles Barrier, a restaurant that rose from its "2 Star" rating to "3 Star" standing, and is revered by chefs throughout France. Menard also accumulated experience at Jean Bardet, the most popular restaurant in his home city of Tours, and stints at other establishments as well. The sum of all this experience led him up to his great expertise.

At one time in his career, Bruno also helped run his father's chocolate boutique, a pioneering presence in France. He first came to Japan in 1995, where he compiled an impressive record as chef at Tatou Tokyo in the exclusive Roppongi quarter of Tokyo, as well as at La Baie in the Osaka Ritz Carlton in Osaka. In 2005, while in charge of the Dining Room at the Ritz-Carlton Buckhead in Atlanta, Menard earned the Mobil Five Star, AAA Five Diamond ranking; an honour equivalent to a Three Star rating under the Michelin system. In the same year, with the hearty commendation of Jacques Borie, Bruno was named the new chef at L'osier.

Chef Bruno says:

“It is a tremendous honour for Restaurant L’Osier to have received a three-star rating. My culinary style was inspired by the traditional cooking methods of Auguste Escoffier and could be described as “neo-classic.” Yet at the same time, the ingredients and cuisine feature a modern, novel style that suits the contemporary palate. I am confident that this style perfectly complements L’Osier’s modern and elegant character as a place for fine dining. L’Osier has explored tradition and innovation since its birth in Ginza in 1973, and I will strive to ensure that the restaurant remains an original and crowd-pleasing establishment for years to come.”

Sukiyabashi Jiro - Jiro Ono

Sukiyabashi Jiro is one of only a few Tokyo restaurants ever to get a Michelin three-star award. The master behind the restaurant is sushi-master Jiro Ono, whom which the restaurant is obviously named after. Sushi-master Jiro Ono is the oldest chef ever to have their restaurant awarded three-stars by Michelin. At 82 years old, he might also be the oldest sushi chef ever named a Sushi-Master.

Chef Jiro Ono began cooking at the age of nine, where he began to hone his skills and eventually developed his cooking hobby into his craft. After years of learning, he decided to become a proprietor of his own restaurant in 1965. Chef Jiro is one of those men that you feel like you have known for a long time, even if this is the first time you have even heard of him. He is a kind man, and a simple man, and this can be portrayed by the exterior design of his restaurant. Sukiyabashi Jiro is literally located in the basement of an old building in Tokyo. One of the first things you will see at Sukiyabashi Jiro is the men’s bathroom. The restaurant does not have a menu and they still do not accept any credit cards.

Instead of worrying about menus and electronic payment methods, Chef Jiro instead focuses on providing the highest-quality sushi to his customers, which he has been able to do for over 50 years as a result of his true passion for his work. Chef Jiro takes pride in being a Sushi-Master, and despite the fact that he is 82 years old and already world-famous, continually yearns for greater knowledge and ways to further his cooking skills.

Chef Jiro follows the traditional methods of many Japanese sushi chefs in that he will often calculate each customer’s bill from memory, by adding up the prices of the ingredients he used in his head. Chef Jiro has admitted that he will often forget to add more expensive items into the price. He estimated that forgetting to factor in more expensive items probably costs him $8,000 per year!

Chef Jiro feels so much stress in trying to exceed customer expectations that he does not necessarily worry about which ingredients he uses. He says that since there are over 30 different ingredients that can be used in sushi, why worry if one is unavailable? He is not afraid to instinctively change an ingredient in one of his sushi dishes, so long as he feels that the former ingredient is of inferior quality. Chef Jiro recently noticed that a type of tuna he often used in one dish started to get smaller in size. He thinks that because of global warming the fish cannot grow as large. Ono will not stress himself to find the most superior Tuna. He believes there isn’t any “good” tuna anymore, anyways.

Sydney, Australia

Top Ten Restaurant's

1. Tetsuya
2. Rockpool
3. Marque
4. Icebergs Dining Room and Bar
5. Aria
6. Est.
7. Pier
8. Bilsons
9. Bistro Moncur
10.Wildfire

We used the three tier awards and recognition system to rank the top 10 restaurants in Australia. The three restaurants that had the most points we used as out top three choices. This happened to be Tetsuya with 200 points, Rockpool with 180 points and Marque with 150 points. These three restaurants managed to become top three because of there international recognition with the worlds 50 best and the Wine Spectators award of excellence.

Top Three Chef's

Tetsuya's

Chef Tetsuya Wakuda






Tetsuya's cuisine is unique, based on the Japanese philosophy of natural seasonal flavors, enhanced by classic French technique and the freshest possible ingredients. Diners are offered a frequently changing array of ten courses . Courses are planned to build upon one another, careful consideration is given to each offering to ensure that it perfectly compliments the last.

Tetsuya’s Wakuda grew up in a Japanese town named Hamamatsu and when he turned 22 he decided to travel to Australia. Tetsuya got his first job as a kitchen hand at Fishwives in Surry Hills. Only a year later he met Sydney chef Tony Bilson who hired him on as a cook to make Japanese sushi. There he learned the classical French technique which forms part of its style today.

Tetsuya left Tony Bilsons restaurant to partner ship in a new restaurant called Ulimo’s with the head server. This is when he realized that work and commitment that was needed to run a restaurant. In 1989 he opened his own restaurant known as Tetsuya’s in the Sydney suburb of Rozelle. In November of 2000 he relocated him restaurant from Rozelle to Kent Street.

His restaurant is known for his great cooking skills and his philosophy on pure, clean flavours that are decisive, yet completely refined. Some of the dishes on his menu include, Smoked Ocean Trout & Avruga Caviar, Sashimi of Big Eye Tuna with Wasabi & Ginger Vinaigrette, Ravioli of Queensland Spanner Crab with Tomato & Basil Vinaigrette, and Grilled Wagyu Beef with Lime & Wasabi.



Rockpool

Chef Neil Perry

“The cornerstone of good cooking is to source the finest produce"- Chef Neil Perry





One of Australia’s leading and most influential chefs, Neil Perry has managed several quality restaurants in Sydney and today concentrates on his flagship brands, Rockpool Restaurant. This is what Perry became famous for and Rockpool Consulting – which comprises a team of six who consult to Qantas on menu development, staff training, image and presentation. He is also the author of three award-winning recipe books, four classical/recipe CD’s and creator of a range of Neil Perry Fresh products.

Perry began his career in the hospitality industry managing Sails Restaurants at McMahons Point and then at Rose Bay. Neil learnt most of his floor management skills here. By the age of 24, Perry found himself gravitating towards the kitchen and realised his passion for cooking by working with and learning from chefs such as Damien Pignolet, Gay Bilson, Stephanie Alexander, Steve Manfredi and David Thompson.

Neil Perry became head chef at Barrenjoey Restaurant, Palm Beach and was given creative control over Perry’s in Paddington. In October 1986, he opened the Blue Water Grill at Bondi Beach which was an overnight success.

Perry is known for using the best Australian produce with Asian influences and Mediterranean flavours. Some of his dishes include; Bluefin tuna sashimi with fresh wasabi, sushi rice, ginger and soy dressing; Slow cooked abalone, smoked oyster, mussel, clam and fine noodle salad with mushroom soy and truffle oil dressing; Velveted blue eye trevalla fillet with roast fennel agnolotti and fennel flavours; Bass groper poached in garam masala and coconut milk with semolina noodles; Confit of suckling pig with yam and ginger puree, mustard fruits and “banda rossa” aged balsamic vinegar.


Marque Restaurant

Chef Mark Best








Mark Best, the head chef of Marque Restaurant is a world renowned chef. He has won awards such as the Josephine Pignolet Award for “Best Up and Coming Chef”. In the same year he placed second in a large group of culinary students for the’ Oliver C. Schoal’ Scholarship. Both of these had occurred before Best had opened Marque. Just a short five months after the grand opening, Marque received Two Chefs Hats in the 2000 Sydney Morning Herald Good Food Guide and best new restaurant in Miettas National Guide. Just one year later he received two more hats to make it 17/20. In 2003, Best was said to have the best French cuisine in Sydney, Australia.

Mark has a French style cuisine which originated when he was an apprentice in France. He learned from some of the best and therefore learned some traditional recipes along with some very unique ones. He worked under Chef Alain Passard at the three Michelin star rated L’Arpege in Paris, France. While working here he started to make even more of a well known name for himself by getting some exposure in a world renowned fine dining establishment.

A lot of Best’s cooking is done with fresh seafood. What better place to use fresh seafood then when it’s from right around the corner from one of the largest bodies of water in the world. With endless varieties of seafood including; crab, ocean trout, yellow finned tuna, calamari and prawns just to name a few. With every great chef comes dishes of all sorts and Mark Best is no exception. Some of the entrees on his menu at Marque consist of; roast Muscovy duck, suckling pig, and young rabbit. His menu items seem very unique and very extravagant compared to some of the other restaurants in Australia or even around the world.