HE'S BEST by name and best by nature when it comes to making pizzas. Queensland restaurateur and chef Simon Best has beaten a field of international pizza makers to become the inaugural winner of the Fonterra Foodservices Global Pizza Challenge, an international pizza competition held in Melbourne’s heart of pizza, Lygon Street.

Hundreds of people gathered to watch Best (pictured), who owns Augello's restaurant in Mooloolaba, get the judges nod with his hot smoked salmon pizza. Best made it through to the international final by first winning the Australian leg of the event where he tied with Sydney’s Massimo Mele from Hugos. The pair went head to head with pizza makers from the US, South Africa, Italy, Austria and Vietnam in the global cook off held at Carlton's Piazza Italia.

Best designed the pizza specially for the competition but a day after his win was preparing to add it to the menu of his restaurant. "Yes I'll definitely be putting it on," he said. The winning pizza starts with a house made salsa verde spread on a base that has been infused with parmesan and dill. It's then topped with baby spinach and then the hot smoked Huon salmon followed by parmesan, house made red onion jam, and cheese. Once cooked it’s drizzled with caper and lemon mayonnaise and topped with some salmon caviar.