Best Restaurant Awards coming to Melbourne

In an acknowledgement that Melbourne is such a foodie city, the town has won the right to host what some have described as the food Olympics.

The World’s 50 Best Restaurant awards for 2017 will be held in the Victorian capital.

It’s no small achievement – it’s the first these awards will be held in the southern hemisphere. More to the point, it’s the second they’ll be held outside London.

This year’s event will be staged in New York City.

Four of Australia’s top chefs — Dan Hunter (Brae), Peter Gilmore (Quay), Ben Shewry (Attica) and Neil Perry (Rockpool Group) are now in New York cooking for the big lunch that comes with the announcement.

Significantly, Shewry’s Attica is the only restaurant included on the 2016 list of “best restaurants”.

Quay and Brae made it to the next tier down of restaurants ranked 51-100.

The event will be part of Tourism Australia’s Restaurant Australia campaign to attract diners from around the world.

Tourism Australia  managing director John O’Sullivan said in a statement that the awards fitted in well with the Restaurant Australia campaign “which would be amplified through a comprehensive schedule of food and wine-themed events and activities designed to add value to Australia’s hosting of the Melbourne event.”

“The World’s 50 Best Restaurants list provides an annual barometer to the greatest food, wine and restaurant experiences from all around the world,” O’Sullivan said.

“The awards align closely with Tourism Australia’s global campaign focus on food and wine and provide another compelling chapter in our ongoing Restaurant Australia story which we continue to share with the world.

“Hosting such a prestigious event as this provides us with another excellent opportunity to bring the world’s most influential food and wine people to Australia to inspire, inform and advocate our country’s world class food and wine scene.”

by Leon Gettler, 14^th June 2016