The winners of the ClubsNSW 2024 Your Local Club Perfect Plate Awards have been revealed, with four state-wide and 13 regional winners announced at the ceremony held at Bankstown Sports Club on Tuesday 2 July.
For the first time in the competition, there was a tie for first place in the ‘large club’ category. Cabra-Vale Diggers’ live lobster with salted egg yolk and Mounties’ sweet and sour pork with lychee and green apple both took out the top spot.
The Ary Toukley was crowned the top gong in the ‘medium club’ category for its Queensland king prawn ravioli with saffron beurre blanc, while Currawong Bowling and Recreation Club’s lamb backstrap with beets and goats cheese earned it first place in the ‘small club’ category.
The Ary Toukley was also the winner in the competition’s new best dessert category for its Belgium chocolate fondant with creme anglaise, vanilla ice cream and vanilla fairy floss.
A total of 176 eateries from 151 member clubs entered this year’s Perfect Plate Awards, which is now in its fourth year.
ClubsNSW CEO Rebecca Riant said more than 84,000 competition dishes were sold during the public voting period, and this generated more than $2.6 million in revenue for participating clubs.
“The awards are important for our industry because it showcases the talent that we’ve got in our clubs. It also showcases the offering that clubs have which is growing, it’s improving in quality, and it’s also diversifying away from traditional revenue,” she told Club Management.
She also highlighted how it showcases just how far the standard of club food has come.
“In my first job at Mooney Mooney Club in the late ‘80s and early ‘90s, I was working at the bain marie … and the food that you used to get there compared what you see now is exceptional,” Riant said.
“It’s an extraordinary journey. The fact that clubs have lobster tail or crab ravioli, compared to what was being served when I was growing up. It’s a testament to the capability and creativity that’s evolving in this industry, and the investment in talent because that fuels employment prospects and career prospects.”
During the voting period, competition ambassadors’ celebrity chef Matt Moran and Courtney Roulston visited 55 participating clubs around the state.
“The difference in the level of food just got better and better,” Moran said. “I think that’s the competitive nature of chefs obviously trying to better themselves, better the club and do better food. The food this year was absolutely outstanding and it great to see some desserts.”
Roulston, who began her career at Putney Bowling Club, was similarly impressed with the quality of food being served by NSW clubs.
“Food was just another level this year,” she said, highlighting some of her standouts included Club Blacktown’s prawn “lychee” where tapioca had been dyed with dragon fruit juice and filled with prawn mousse and camembert cheese, and Lithgow Workies Club’s Sri Lankan-spiced chicken schnitzel with coconut sambol. Each club ended up winning in their respective regional categories.
View the full list of winners here.
