Tasty, organic, and wholesome fun are the three best words used to describe Ellacure, according to head chef and part owner, Andrew Hollands. Recent winners of the OutInCanberra People’s Choice Best Restaurant and Best Casual Dining 2009, Ellacure is on the rise after opening only 15 months ago.
Andrew along with sous chef and part owner, Daniel Keogh, lead a young, enthusiastic and yet experienced team who gain pleasure from serving up the finest food and service that Belconnen has to offer- while having fun at the same time.
“We have all had experience in hotels, cafes and fine dining restaurants, and in opening our own restaurant, we just had to decide what was going to work best for us… find the happy medium,” Andrew said.
“Our floor manager and part owner Gus Armstrong is from Sydney, and full of charisma. Sydney and Canberra are completely different markets, so it’s good to have that mix of experience.”
The restaurant, classified as casual dining, is a mix of Australian cuisine with an Italian influence. A popular favourite amongst many of the regular customers is the pizza and pasta dishes, along with any of the numerous dessert choices all made on site.
Excited about winning the award, head chef and part owner, Andrew, has been working in the kitchen since he was 13, and has known since then that he wanted to be a chef.
“It’s great that we won the award, as now we have a standard to uphold, and we’ll keep pushing to provide that level of service that people expect from an award winning restaurant.”
Born and bred in Canberra, Andrew hopes to give back to his Belconnen community though creating job and training opportunities, to those who may not have considered cheffing as a viable career option.
“It’s about putting back into the local Canberra industry which I feel is lacking at times with good enthusiastic apprentices. I want to be able to recruit young chefs, so they have options in terms of taking up cheffing as part of their college course work.”
And ‘what’s the fire in the belly’ of Canberra’s brightest and now award winning chef? “The best feeling is knowing you have the ability and freedom to create new dishes every time an idea comes into your head. In the beginning there were heaps of people who thought that I couldn’t do it, but I knew I could because I was confident in what I had done and the life choices I have made; absolutely no regrets.”
