Gold Plate award finalists thankful for status exposure

Two Great Southern restaurants are finalists in the 2015 Gold Plate Awards for two separate categories.

Rats Bar made the finals for casual licensed dining in regional Western Australia and Kirby's at Rickety Gate is in the finals for restaurants within wineries for regional WA and it was the first year both nominated.

Rats Bar owner Alex Little said much of the new restaurant's success was because of chef Damien Whitely.

"We've got this amazing chef who's crazy good and makes crazy food but he's fantastic," she said.

"He's been here for about a year now."

The bar has been opened only since January 2014 and Ms Little said she and her sister originally bought the venue as just a bar, but now realised the restaurant was dominating the business.

"I think it's just the really flavoursome food that Damien serves up and a really nice cosy atmosphere you find here," she said.

Restaurant manager at Kirby's at Rickety Gate Jacqueline Kirby said the restaurant was fairly new - it opened in December 2013.

"We're so thankful so many people embraced what we offer," she said.

Mrs Kirby and her husband, executive chef Frederick Kirby, moved from Perth to Denmark for a better work-life balance, which they achieve by opening the restaurant only on weekends.

She thinks what makes their restaurant stand out is the consistent quality in food, service and wine. "We have premium ingredients and local produce with exceptional quality wines," she said. "It's really a food-wine matching experience with a view of the vineyard."

Both Ms Little and Mrs Kirby said it was an honour to become a finalist. "It's been wonderful to be able to receive the award to bring more exposure to Great Southern," Mrs Kirby said.

Ms Little said hopefully their finalist status would bring more exposure to their beachside bar and restaurant.

"It's a difficult market and there's been so many great little restaurants open up in the last two years or so down here, so getting your name out there is really important and making sure everyone has a great experience when they're here is good," she said.

The winners will be announced at the end of October.