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Chez Pascal at Sans Souci scored 55 in the first week of a new TV series of restaurateurs in Australia.
Brains were among the dishes that chef Phillipe Lebreux cooked on The Hotplate.
His son, after whom the long-established French restaurant is named, has front-of-house duties at the St George restaurant and featured in the episode.
Husband and wife team Aron and Vanessa Filetti received 61 for their Rocksalt Restaurant at Menai.
The four were the only NSW contestants in the show.
The idea behind The Hotplate is that fellow restaurateurs from Western Australia, Queensland and Victoria score a restaurant for its overall appeal.
The other judges are chef Scott Pickett and restaurant critic Tom Parker Bowles, son of Camilla, Duchess of Cornwall.
Conrad and Liam of Duck Duck Moose, Western Australia, feature at 7.30pm on Tuesday, August 4, on Channel Nine.
The scoring means that after each of the six teams has cooked, the two lowest scoring teams will cook off against each other and one will be eliminated.
The series then moves on to round two with the five remaining teams.
The grand prize will be $100,000.
TUESDAY STORY:
THERE'S a "hot" restaurant simmering away at Sans Souci and another at Menai, both of which are about to be discovered, or rediscovered, by television viewers.
Those who run these suburban eateries have been dubbed "unsung restaurant heroes" and are the only NSW restaurateurs to feature in a new Channel Nine show, The Hotplate, which premieres tonight.
Just desserts for the contestants is a $100,000 prize.
To win they face being judged by their peers on all aspects of their restaurant experiences.
At the suitably named suburb of Sans Souci, which is French for "without care", Phillipe Lebreux, originally from French Mauritius, runs Chez Pascal.
He trained as a chef in France but had a hard time in business after the French nuclear tests in the South Pacific in the 60s and 70s.
He moved to Australia in 1968 and named his restaurant after his only son, Pascal.
Mr Lebreux said there had been a big boost in bookings after Chez Pascal featured on SBS television's Food Safari.
Ox cheek, which is braised for five hours, is one of the most popular menu items, he said.
"My son used to work more closely with me but now he does front of house," Mr Lebreux said.
The Chez Pascal segment will be on The Hotplate Wednesday night.
Thursday night's show will feature husband-and-wife team Aron and Vanessa Filetti, who run Rocksalt at Menai.
Mr Filetti, who did his chef apprenticeship at Kareela Golf and Social Club, said the two-storey restaurant served modern Australian cuisine and was a "special occasion" restaurant.
"We've also put in lounges where people can relax," Mr Filetti said.
The opportunity to compare notes with other restaurateurs was among the benefits of appearing on the show.
The other restaurants featured during the series are Christina's, in Perth, Bird's Nest, Brisbane, Duck DuckMoose, in Western Australia, and Wings and Fins, at Tooradin near Melbourne.
Joining the restaurateurs as judges are leading chef Scott Pickett and restaurant critic Tom Parker Bowles, stepson-in-law of Prince Charles.
The worst-performing teams will be eliminated each week. The winner will be named Australia's best restaurant.
Does The Hotplate sound like a better show than MasterChef?
