Presenting the best restaurants in Australia
So the annual restaurant awards season is on again and the national Gourmet Traveller has singled out the best around.
These are important awards, being the only national restaurant awards based on independent reviews.
New York chef David Chang’s Sydney outpost Momofuku Seiobo, led by Barbados-born chef Paul Carmichael has taken out the top prize of Restaurant of The Year,
The statement from Pat Nourse, Gourmet Traveller chief restaurant critic and deputy editor put it bluntly: "Finding fine-dining Barbadian food this good in the Caribbean itself would be a revelation. Finding it in Australia is astonishing in the best of ways.”
The peer-voted Chef of the Year went to Ben Shewry from the highly acclaimed Melbourne restaurant Attica. That was a significant development for Shewry. It not only proves his popularity with the staff and the public but also with the broader hospitality industry.
Andrew Joy from Marion in Melbourne’s Fitzroy picked up Maître d’ of the Year. Nourse said his brand of hospitality was witty and informed.
Best New Talent went to chef Thi Le of Melbourne Vietnamese restaurant Anchovy.
Sydney restaurant Hubert picked up the New Restaurant of the Year and Wine List of the Year awards while Dan Sharp of Sixpenny in Sydney’s inner west was named Sommelier of the Year.
Indigenous author and educator Bruce Pascoe got the gong for Outstanding Contribution to Hospitality.
Adelaide's new Pink Moon Saloon took out Bar of the Year and Aaron Turner's new Geelong restaurant, Igni, was named Australia's Regional Restaurant of the Year.
For details of the winners, check out the September issue of Gourmet Traveller. It will be on newsstands with the new edition of the Gourmet Traveller Australian Restaurant Guide on Thursday August 18.
Gourmet Traveller Restaurant Award winners:
RESTAURANT OF THE YEAR
Momofuku Seiobo, Sydney
CHEF OF THE YEAR
Ben Shewry – Attica, Melbourne
NEW RESTAURANT OF THE YEAR
Restaurant Hubert, Sydney
BEST NEW TALENT
Thi Le – Anchovy, Melbourne
REGIONAL RESTAURANT OF THE YEAR
Igni, Geelong
BAR OF THE YEAR
Pink Moon Saloon, Adelaide
MAITRE D' OF THE YEAR
Andrew Joy – Marion, Melbourne
WINE LIST OF THE YEAR
Restaurant Hubert, Sydney
OUTSTANDING CONTRIBUTION TO HOSPITALITY
Bruce Pascoe, Indigenous author and educator
SOMMELIER OF THE YEAR
Campbell Burton, Moon Under Water, Melbourne, Vic
by Leon Gettler, August 18th 2016
