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Bennelong is a restaurant and bar in Sydney, Australia. It is run by its executive chef Peter Gilmore who is also known for Quay restaurant in Sydney Harbour. Bennelong primarily serves Australian cuisine and showcases Australia architecture. It has received several awards and reception appearances such as ‘Best New Restaurant’ in the 2016 Sydney Morning Herald Good Food Guide and 12th place on Gourmet Traveller’s Top 100.

Contents

1	Description a.	History b.	Pre-2013 c.	Menu 2	Notable chefs a.	Peter Gilmore b.	Rob Cockerill c.	John Fink d.	Trish Rogers 3	Reception a.	Awards 4	See also 5	References 6	External links Description

Bennelong is located in the Sydney Opera House. It overlooks the Sydney Harbour Bridge and the Royal Botanic Gardens. It reopened under new owner, John Fink of the Fink Group in 2015 with its executive chef as Peter Gilmore.[2] Both also associated with Quay Restaurant. The idea of the restaurant is to honour the Australian landmark and architecture by incorporating a cultural menu.[3] Bennelong also integrates different function spaces namely The Venue, The Circle dining room and The Table.[4] Sophie Davies writes in Gourmet Traveller’s article, 29 Best Restaurants in Sydney that the bar is “perfect for a pre- or post-theatre seasonal cocktail or glass of fancy Champagne.” She argues that the Bennelong space is an elegant place, “dotted with couples celebrating anniversaries, birthdays and special occasions.”

Description
History

Bennelong Point was a tidal rock island in the Gadigal lands and a location for Aboriginal women to gather together to tell eat shellfish and tell stories.[3] The area was transformed to a Government House after British settlements, which became the main location for First Nations and British colonists to communicate.[3] A man named Bennelong from the Wangal clan was the first to voluntarily live in the settlement and eventually became the representative for First Nations and colonists relations.[3] The restaurant was named after Bennelong to honour the historical site of collective eating and storytelling.[3]

'''Pre-2013 ''' Prior to Gilmore’s takeover, Bennelong was initially run by French-born chef Guillaume Brahimi, which operated as a fine dining restaurant and was awarded two hats in The Sydney Morning Herald Good Food Guide 2013.[5] Guillaume announced mid-2013 that he would not be submitting a tender for the Opera House site and would be leaving at the end of the year due to a conflicting vision with the Opera House Trust.[5] Guillaume stated, “Our goal was always to run one of the best restaurants in the country, befitting such an iconic venue. The Opera House Trust is now seeking a bistro style restaurant, café and car. This clearly involves a very different vision.” After Guillaume’s announcement, the space for Bennelong was publicly put out to tender for the first time in a decade.[5]

Menu

Bennelong’s fine dining primarily serves contemporary Australian cuisine.[3] The restaurant aims to showcase culturally significant Australian production by designing its menu to emphasise Australian history and partnership with local farmers, fishermen, breeders and providers.[3] As a result, 98 per cent of its food are grown and produced in Australia.[7] One of its signature dishes, the pavlova dessert uses meringue to replicate the Opera House, paying tribute to Australia’s prominent landmark.[7] Other dishes that Bennelong serves include Australia Arkady grass fed lamb which include Jerusalem artichoke, broad beans brown butter and scorched leaves.[8] Other dessert that represents Australian food culture are the cherry jam lamington and Australian cheese.[8] In addition Bennelong has a bar that serves wines from multiple Australian wine-markers.[8]

'''Notable chefs '''

Peter Gilmore

The executive chef of Bennelong is also known for the Quay restaurant, which has been included in The World’s 50 Best Restaurants since 2009.[9] He is well known in the media for his collaboration with local Australian farmers, fishermen, breeders and other producers to create authentic Australia cuisine.[3] Gilmore has stated that this is his philosophy for Bennelong.[3] Gilmore also emphasises his values in working closely with his suppliers as he comments on how his favourite cookbook, The French Laundry Cookbook by Thomas Keller has influenced his cooking.[10] Gilmore is occasionally a guest on Masterchef Australia where many contenders attempt one of the toughest challenges, his signature dessert “Snow Egg”.[11] Gilmore’s restaurants have received multiple awards such as The World’s 50 Best Restaurants and The Sydney Morning Herald Good food Guide.[12] Peter Gilmore has two book publications, Quay: Food Inspired by Nature[13] and Organum: Nature, Texture, Intensity, Purity.[14]

John Fink

The owner of Bennelong is a restaurateur, musician, writer and filmmaker.[3] He is the son of Leon Fink, chairman of family company The Fink Group.[3] Fink is the Creative Director of the Fink Group and works alongside his father to develop new restaurants.[3] In June 2018, Bennelong hosted a lamington drive for National lamington Day to raise funds for mental health charity R U OK?[15] Fink stated the importance of this charity to him, the restaurant and the company as “the prevalence of mental health difficulties in the hospitality industry is really important for us to… shed light on the struggles faced in the restaurant business.”[15]

Rob Cockerill

Cockerill is the head chef of Bennelong and has previously been the senior sous chef at Quay for 7 years.[3] He has worked closely alongside Gilmore and adopted his philosophy of creating invaluable relationships with Australian producers to develop contemporary Australian cuisine at Bennelong.[3]

Trish Rogers

Rogers is the General Manager of Bennelong and primarily focuses on the success of the restaurant.[3] She ensures the restaurant runs “smoothly and seamlessly”.[3]

Reception

In 2015, restaurant critic, Freya Herring and national food and drink editor Emily Lloyd-Tait wrote a review[16] for Time Out Australia saying that “Golden, shimmering Tom Dixon lighting and Aboriginal artwork tell you must about what you’re going to get here: seriously sophisticated food with an indigenous Australian accent.” They went on to describe Bennelong as a “truly breathtaking restaurant.” Commenting on Gilmore’s cooking, they wrote that he made “the most of a humble ingredient.”

Australian chief restaurant critic and food writer Pat Nourse comments in Gourmet Traveller that Bennelong is “back and better than ever with a definitively Australian menu, stellar crew and fit-out worthy of its architectural origin.”[17]

Bennelong has also appeared in Good Food Guides’ article ‘The food fighters using food to do good.” Lee Tran Lam mentions that all Sydney Opera House venues including Bennelong banned plastic straws which will “prevent 2.2 million straws from ending up in landfill – or oceans.”[18]

Awards

Shortly after its opening, Bennelong received two awards in the same year: Best New Restaurant in 2015 in The Time Out Sydney Food Award and Best New Restaurant in The 2015 Savour Australia Restaurant & Catering Hostplus National Awards For Excellence.[12]

Bennelong seemingly continued to thrive in 2016 as it received three additional awards. [12] Bennelong was awarded 12th place in Gourmet Traveller’s Top 100 Best Restaurants in Australia 2016 as well as Best New Restaurant in The 2016 Australian Gourmet Traveller Restaurant Guide. [12] Bennelong was also awards Best New Restaurant in both The 2016 Sydney Morning Herald Good Food Guide and Gault & Millau Australia Melbourne & Sydney 2016 Restaurant Guide. [12]

In 2017, Bennelong was included under ‘Two Hats’ in The Sydney Morning Herald 2017 Good Food Guide hatted restaurants.[19] Following onto 2018, Bennelong was awarded 11th place in Gourmet Traveller’s Top 100.[20]

See also •	List of restaurants in Australia

References 1.	 Thomsen, Simon (20 June 2015). “SNEAK PEEK: Sydney’s amazing new Bennelong restaurant”. Business Insider. Retrieved 23 September 2018. 2.	Jones, Grant (2 July 2015). “Bennelong restaurant in the Sydney Opera House opens again to customers”. The Daily Telegraph. Retrieved 24 September 2018. 3.	“About Us”. Bennelong. Retrieved 23 September 2018. 4.	“Functions”. Bennelong. Retrieved 23 September 2018. 5.	Ting, Inga (2 July 2013). “Guillaume Brahimi to leave the Opera House”. Good Food. Retrieved 18 October 2018. 6.	Thomsen, Simon (1 July 2015). “This amazing dessert by chef Peter Gilmore pays tribute to the Sydney Opera House”. Business Insider. Retrieved 23 September 2018. 7.	“Bennelong”. Broadsheet. 16 July 2018. Retrieved 22 September 2018. 8.	“Menus”. Bennelong. Retrieved 23 September 2018. 9.	“Peter Gilmore” Bennelong. Retrieved 23 September 2018. 10.	Breheny, Emma (25 May 2018). “My favourite cookbook: Peter Gilmore”. Gourmet Traveller. Retrieved 23 September 2018. 11.	Fenton, Andrew (9 May 2014). “George Calombaris lists the five toughest challenges in MasterChef Australia history”. News.com.au. Retrieved 23 September 2018. 12.	“Fink Group”. Fink Group. Retrieved 23 September 2018. 13.	Gilmore, Peter (2010) Quay: Food Inspired by Nature, ISBN 9781741964875 14.	Gilmore, Peter (2014) Organum: Nature, Texture, Intensity, Purity 15.	Thomsen, Simon (21 July 2018). “Here’s why eating a $28 lamington can be good for mental health”. Business Insider. Retrieved 23 September 2018. 16.	Herring, Freya and Lloyd-Tait, Emily (6 May 2015). “Bennelong” Time Out Sydney. Retrieved 23 September 2018. 17.	Nourse, Pat (25 August 2015). “Bennelong, Sydney restaurant review”. Gourmet Traveller. Retrieved 23 September 2018. 18.	Lam, Lee Tran (25 September 2018). “The food fighters using food to do good”. Good Food. Retrieved 24 September 2018. 19.	 “The Sydney morning Herald 2017 Good Food Guide hatted restaurants” (2018). Good Food. Retrieved 24 September 2018. 20.	Bushell, Ian (27 August 2018). “The only ACT restaurant to make Gourmet Traveller’s Top 100”. The RiotACT. Retrieved 23 September 2018. 21.	Davies, Sophie (14 March 2018). “29 Best Restaurants in Sydney”. Condé Nast Traveler. Retrieved 23 September 2018. 22.	Turner, Brook (14 July 2018). “Star chef Peter Gilmore and the $4m-plus restaurant gamble”. The Sydney Morning Herald. Retrieved 22 September 2018.

External Links

•	Restaurant official link