The chef who bought brunch to Borenore for 18 years has taken food-focused trips all over the world, and she can’t think of anything Orange is missing out on.

The Old Convent’s Josie Chapman has cooked at various food and wine festival events, as well as catered weddings, birthdays and breakfasts at her and husband Jeffery Chapman’s accommodation and cafe for almost two decades.

The Chapmans are regulars on the restaurant scene too, eating out together or with a group of foodie friends at least twice a week.

After years of recommending restaurants to her bed and breakfast guests, the celebrated chef said she can’t choose an Orange favourite.

“It’s too difficult. We’re really spoiled for choice,” Mrs Chapman said.

“Lately we’ve been to Charred a lot. The food there is fantastic and they have a good wine list – a very, very good wine list.”

While Charred Restaurant and Bar’s ‘fantastic food’ and 600 wines have made it a recent favourite, Mrs Chapman said the beauty of dining in Orange is diversity.

“We’d head to Lolli [Redini] or Racine for a special occasion, Charred is any occasion, for Asian we love Mr Lim, and Fiorini's is great Italian,” she said.

After a holiday on the east coast this summer and food tours of Morocco, Spain and India recently, Mrs Chapman said there was a few favourite dishes she always looked forward to returning to.

A stand out for her was Lolli Redini’s salmon gravlax with remoulade, as was the Korean barbecue at Mr Lim.

She said Mr Chapman was partial to a walk down memory lane via the duck at Racine Restaurant.

“Jeff loves duck, it’s his favourite childhood food memory so he’ll always have that if it’s available,” she said.

Mrs Chapman said 10 years ago she could’ve named what was missing from Orange’s food scene, but thanks to a host of chefs with a buy-local attitude – which reflects her own philosophy – that gap is no longer there.

“For a town the size of Orange it’s pretty good … it’s very good actually,” Mrs Chapman said.