The patron-popular Perfect Plate Awards competition is on again for 2025, with voting now open.
Now in its fifth year, the Perfect Plate Awards, hosted by NRL star Nathan Hindmarsh and celebrity chefs Courtney Roulston and Matt Moran, will again showcase the incredible food offerings available in New South Wales clubs.
This year the awards will also welcome a presenting partner, the NRMA, offering members cash back on purchases.
Hindmarsh, Roulston and Moran will set off across the state to promote the competition, meet the chefs and of course sample the competition dishes.
Two hundred club eateries will be participating this year, 14 more than last year, and winners will be declared under the small, medium and large categories across main dishes, desserts and now a third category – Perfect Pizza.
This year’s standout entries include Coomealla Memorial Sporting Club’s Pork Belly Salad, braised in ginger, orange, and star anise, and topped with crispy popcorn pork crackle, and Ryde-Parramatta Golf Club’s 12-hour slow-cooked red wine lamb shank wrapped in crispy puff pastry, accompanied by truffle and garlic mash with rosemary oil.
Dessert highlights include SS&A Albury’s Japanese Cotton Cheesecake, Sharks at Kareela’s Dubai Chocolate Gelato and The Greens North Sydney’s Kinder Bueno Sundae.
Perfect Pizza entrants feature Bathurst RSL’s 18-hour slow-cooked lamb pizza and Penrith Panther’s Mortadella and Burrata Pizza.
From now until 15 June, diners are encouraged to select a competition dish at a participating club and vote for the meal, with a chance to win a foodie escape for two, valued at $3,500, or a $100 voucher which will be drawn daily throughout the competition.
Diners may only vote for a dish once – but are encouraged to sample as many dishes as possible throughout the competition to improve their chances of winning.
Winning dishes are based on patron ratings.
After 84,700 Perfect Plate dishes were purchased and voted on, last year’s winners included Cabra-Vale Diggers, Mounties and The Ary Toukley.
Rebecca Riant, CEO of ClubsNSW, says the state’s clubs are renowned for offering affordable, high-quality dining, with this year’s contest is set to be intensely fought.
Roulston was expecting clubs to step up again, as the ambassadors had seen in previous years, while Hindmarsh and Moran were looking forward to the variety and quality of the entries.
“The sorts of dishes that I’m really hoping to see this year are just really good quality products, done very simply, obviously cooked to perfection — just put great food and great flavours on a plate,” said Moran.
For more information, visit perfectplate.com.au.
