Hats off to Hunter's top restaurants

Chef Andrew Clarke, part-owner of Rock with his uncle David Clarke, said the win was a credit to his staff, and being recognised as the state's best regional eatery was fantastic for the Hunter Valley.

"David and I would love to see more Hunter Valley restaurants get chef's hats, making it a destination for food and wine lovers," he said.

The 2009 guide was launched on Monday night in the Ivy Room in Sydney and Rock picked up the two chef's hats with a score of 16 out of 20, along with the coveted wine-glass symbol for the restaurant's impressive cellar.

Rock was a new entry in the 2008 guide, scoring one hat and a wine glass on debut.

Mr Clarke said he and his uncle were happy to get an invitation to this year's launch, as it meant they were again included in the guide, but there was a point during the night when he thought the invitation must have been a mistake.

"Having the one-hatted restaurants read out and not including us, we were standing there and thinking have they made a mistake, but then they read out the two-hatted restaurants and we were there, and then again for best regional restaurant," Mr Clarke said.

In Newcastle it was a hat trick for Restaurant II chef Peter Bryant, who picked up a third consecutive chef's hat for his inner-city eatery.

In the rest of the Hunter Valley, The Old George and Dragon at East Maitland and Zest at Nelson Bay both retained their chef's hats of last year, while Bells at Killcare on the Central Coast was a new entry in the guide, scoring a debut chef's hat.

Margan Restaurant at Broke was awarded a wine glass, as was The Old George and Dragon, Shakey Tables at North Rothbury and Terroir at Pokolbin. Arnott's Bakehouse at Morpeth was a new entry with a score of 12.5 out of 20.

In Newcastle, Bacchus scored 14 and lost last year's chef's hat, but retained the wine-glass symbol, while Bistro Tartine at Hamilton was awarded 13.5 and a wine glass.

Rocksalt on the waterfront at Wickham was a new entry and scored a solid 13.