Business owner Jess Lawrence said it was “pretty special” to have won such a coveted category in a field of the best restaurants in the Hunter.

“It’s nice that all of our hard work is paying off,” Ms Lawrence said.

The Olde Bakehouse specialises in Italian cuisine – but not as you know it. In fact, you can never be entirely sure about what will be on offer, as chef Daniel Way presents a moveable feast. 

“We change our menu twice a week, and everything is fresh from market to plate,” Ms Lawrence said.

Among the main dishes on the menu this week was sumac and rosemary-marinated pork cutlet with grilled yellow peach, baby cos, crazin, walnut, baked carrot and paprika-spiced orange sauce.

Gnocchi, chicken, lamb and beef dishes rounded out the list of mains.

There was also an array of fettuccine options.

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The dessert menu is something else.

In recent years, the restaurant has made chocolate beetroot brownies with caramel injections, and a dessert called Hit Me – a brulee inside a chocolate-encased dome which diners hit with a spoon to crack open.

“Sometimes we also play around with dry ice,” Ms Lawrence said.

“We try to have fun with everything we do and be a little bit from left field.”

Ms Lawrence said the restaurant’s reputation had spread to the point where diners now regularly visited from as far afield as Sydney and Dubbo.

“We offer fine-dining quality with country-style portion sizes without the fine dining la-di-da,” she smiled.

In 2015, The Restaurant and Catering Association of NSW named The Olde Bakehouse as one of five finalists in the new restaurant category in regional NSW.

Olde Bakehouse Restaurant, Morisset, rewarded for pushing menu boundaries