Aubergine and Temporada owner/chef Ben Willis. File photo.
It may have been a ‘knockout year’ for regional restaurants but only one ACT restaurant has managed to make the Gourmet Traveller Top 100, as part of the hospitality magazine’s National Restaurant Awards.
Despite the ACT building a strong food and wine reputation in recent years, Ben Willis’s Aubergine at the Griffith shops is the sole local representative, coming in at No.72 while heading the region’s Top 10.
South-east Asian restaurant XO in Narrabundah is the ACT runner-up followed by Bar Rochford in Civic, and another Ben Willis eatery, Temporada, in the city, then Eightysix, Italian & Sons, Ottoman Cuisine, The Boat House, Otis Dining Hall and Mocan & Green Grout.
The head chef of Bar Rochford, Louis Couttoupes had been nominated in the Best New Talent category of the Gourmet Traveller Restaurant Awards but missed out.
The top gong went to the new-look Quay on Sydney Harbour when Australia’s leading chefs and restaurateurs gathered at Restaurant Hubert in Sydney to attend the awards and launch the country’s national restaurant guide at a gala dinner hosted by Gourmet Traveller’s editor Sarah Oakes and chief restaurant critic Pat Nourse.
Chef Peter Gilmore and the Quay team. Photos: Supplied.
A multi-million-dollar renovation saw the Quay close its doors for three months, but it has returned better than ever, led by internationally acclaimed chef Peter Gilmore.
Gourmet Traveller says Quay 2.0 redefines luxury dining in Australia with a stunning package of rare and wild ingredients, inspired cooking, genteel service, and a sublime setting.
Josh Niland of Saint Peter in Sydney has completed a stunning rise, taking out the peer-voted Chef of the Year, after winning the Best New Talent award only 12 months before.
Josh Niland of Saint Peter in Sydney.
The team at Dinner by Heston Blumenthal collectively won the Maître d’ of the Year award, and Emma Farrelly, who oversees not one but four lists at Perth’s State Buildings complex, won Sommelier of the Year.
The magazine says it’s been a knockout year for regional restaurants, with many regional establishments trumping their city cousins.
The Best New Talent category went to Ali Currey-Voumard, of The Agrarian Kitchen Eatery in Tasmania’s New Norfolk.
Laura, on the Mornington Peninsula was named New Restaurant of the Year, and the awards’ first-ever regional Bar of the Year went to Liberté, in Albany, five hours’ drive south of Perth, while Brae, in the Otways of Victoria, won Regional Restaurant of the Year and scored three stars to boot.
The Outstanding Contribution to Hospitality prize went to the Rootstock natural wine festival and Wine List of the Year was won by Hobart restaurant Franklin.
“Excellence is not something that’s in short supply in Australian hospitality right now,” says Ms Oakes, “so it’s an incredibly challenging process to choose winners in a pool of talent that is so deep.”
Chief critic Pat Nourse said there was a wealth of exciting talent across Australia. “This country punches so far above its weight – it’s fantastic,” he said.
The Top 100 is:
1. Quay, NSW
2. Momofuku Seiobo, NSW
3. Orana, SA
4. Attica, Vic
5. Brae, Vic
6. Cutler & Co, Vic
7. Vue de Monde, Vic
8. Dinner by Heston Blumenthal, Vic
9. Magill Estate, SA
10. Bentley, NSW
11. Bennelong, NSW
12. Rockpool Bar & Grill, NSW
13. Restaurant Hubert, NSW
14. Igni, Vic
15. The Bridge Room, NSW
16. Firedoor, NSW
17. Minamishima, Vic
18. Ester, NSW
19. Automata, NSW
20. Flower Drum, Vic
21. Fred’s, NSW
22. Laura, Vic
23. Bert’s, NSW
24. Cirrus, NSW
25. Icebergs Dining Room & Bar, NSW
26. Sixpenny, NSW
27. Sean’s, NSW
28. Aria, NSW
29. Lûmé, Vic
30. Provenance, Vic
31. Fleet, NSW
32. Aria, Qld
33. Franklin, Tas
34. Tetsuya’s, NSW
35. Rosetta, NSW
36. LuMi, NSW
37. Botanic Gardens Restaurant, SA
38. Café Di Stasio, Vic
39. Africola, SA
40. Saint Peter, NSW
41. Grossi Florentino, Vic
42. Monopole, NSW
43. Wasabi, Qld
44. Ormeggio, NSW
45. Lake House, Vic
46. Nu Nu, Qld
47. Cumulus Inc, Vic
48. Ishizuka, Vic
49. Oscillate Wildly, NSW
50. Oakridge, Vic
51. d’Arenberg Cube, SA
52. Hentley Farm, SA
53. Woodland House, Vic
54. Wickens at Royal Mail Hotel, Vic
55. Spice Temple, Vic
56. Pilu at Freshwater, NSW
57. Spice Temple, NSW
58. Billy Kwong, NSW
59. Mr Wong, NSW
60. Kisumé, Vic
61. Rockpool Bar & Grill, Vic
62. Biota, NSW
63. Embla, Vic
64. Urbane, Qld
65. Anchovy, Vic
66. Rick Shores, Qld
67. Paper Daisy, NSW
68. Shobosho, SA
69. Porteño, NSW
70. The Agrarian Kitchen Eatery, Tas
71. Buon Ricordo, NSW
72. Aubergine, ACT
73. The Press Club, Vic
74. Queen Chow, NSW
75. Amaru, Vic
76. Gauge, Qld
77. The Apollo, NSW
78. Captain Moonlite, Vic
79. The Pot by Emma McCaskill, SA
80. No 1 Bent Street, NSW
81. Nineteen at The Star, Qld
82. Atlas Dining, Vic
83. Lulu La Delizia, WA
84. Carlton Wine Room, Vic
85. Matilda, Vic
86. Tulum, Vic
87. Lee Ho Fook, Vic
88. Acme, NSW
89. Montrachet, Qld
90. Marion, Vic
91. The Summertown
Aristologist, SA
92. Bea, NSW
93. Stanbuli, NSW
94. Tipo 00, Vic
95. Millbrook, WA
96. Yellow, NSW
97. Bar Lourinhã, Vic
98. Gerard’s Bistro, Qld
99. St Isidore, NSW
100. Ides, Vic
Read The RiotACT‘s review of Aubergine here.
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