Australia's top chefs are relishing a new cut of swine.
Pork jowl is the new belly, with Australia's top restaurants flocking to use the cut of swine.
"It's an under utilised part of the pork," Sage Dining Rooms head chef Damian Brabender said. "It does require more preparation as it can be inconsistent in the size of meat. But the flavour is more intense. It's one of the most popular dishes on our menu."
Pork jowl is meat from the pig's cheek and neck, often cured and smoked. 
The Canberra-based restaurant has been named in this year's Australian Financial Review Top Restaurants, presented by Qantas.
Adelaide's Vardon restaurant executive chef Camillo Crugnale said he's been using pork jowl in his dishes for years. "Growing up in an Italian family we used it like bacon," Mr Crugnale said. "When we opened in   October I decided to put it on the menu and we now use it as a crunchy edge in our scallops dish. We also use it in some of our side dishes, such as the potatoes."
Mr Crugnale said it was a versatile cut of meat that was economical.
"Some people say it's a throwaway cut and I'm like: 'No way'," he said. "It doesn't always sound appetising but once people try it, they love it."
Awards co-director and food critic Terry Durack said pork jowl was his "all-time favourite trend" in Australia's food scene.
"If there's pork jowl on the menu, it tells me that a chef is putting flavour first," he said. "It tells me I am going to be fed, not just amused by the food."
Durack says renowned chef Peter Gilmore put "pork jowl on the map". "Until then, it was all about pork belly."
A maple-glazed pork jowl is a standout on the menu of The Flour Factory in Perth. Head chef Danny Sanchez said the 300-to-400 gram dish, which is served with sauerkraut and apples, was not an immediate hit with regulars when he started serving it last year but is "really popular now.
"We did have to educate our staff about the cut so they could inform diners. It's a really tender cut of meat. Pretty fatty but you can render it down and it's delicious."
Awards co-director Jill Dupleix said they used to trade pork belly futures in the US and she always wondered why they had become a commodity.
"It's also a sign that chefs are looking to the past for inspiration. In the days when you had to use every part of the animal or starve," Dupleix said.
"It's a legacy of the nose-to-tail movement. But these things can get out of proportion, as chefs put in massive orders for pork jowls because they are fashionable, without considering the rest of the animal.
"I'm looking forward to the day that restaurants and diners are more open to serving up all the bits of one animal at one time, so that if the menu says pig - one person will get a prime cut and another person a secondary cut."
Durack and Dupleix say Bellevue in Sydney makes it an artform, where a caramelised pig's head entrÃ©e resembles a "pork brulee".
The Top 100 list will be announced at a gala awards ceremony in Sydney on   May 2. For more information and to view the full list of 500 restaurants, visit www.australiastoprestaurants.com