AWARDS
The who’s who of Australian dining gathered at Sydney’s Restaurant Hubert for hospitality’s biggest night of the year, the Gourmet Traveller Restaurant Awards.
The highlights of the Gourmet Traveller Restaurant Awards at Restaurant Hubert.
Restaurant Hubert was the soigné setting for the latest instalment of hospitality’s night of nights, the Gourmet Traveller Restaurant Awards. To celebrate the annual awards and the launch of the latest edition of Australia’s longestrunning national restaurant guide, our biggest names in food flocked to the two-star restaurant for the announcement of Restaurant of the Year.
The standard-setting fine-diner Quay basked in the glow of its new look and new menu, taking home Restaurant of the Year after an extensive renovation.
Saint Peter chef Josh Niland was voted Chef of the Year by his peers in a remarkably rapid ascent for a young chef who just last year took home the Best New Talent honour. The latest Best New Talent winner is
Ali Currey-Voumard, whose hyper-local, seasonal and ethical menus at Tasmania’s The Agrarian Kitchen Eatery have earned high praise from critics.
Chefs, sommeliers, maîtres d’ and restaurateurs from around Australia raised a glass to award winners including New Restaurant of the Year, Laura, located at the Mornington Peninsula winery and sculpture park Pt Leo Estate, and Brae, the Regional Restaurant of the Year. Bar of the Year was won by Liberté, a Frenchinspired salon located in the Western Australian town of Albany, 400 kilometres south-west of Perth.
The Outstanding Contribution to Hospitality prize, meanwhile, went to the Rootstock artisanal wine festival.
The wood panelling, golden glow and courtly service of Hubert added a touch of Old World glamour to the night, enhanced by dishes such as anchovy and venison tarts, pâté en croûte and Murray cod in Grenobloise sauce. But it wouldn’t have been a night at Hubert without a few curve balls from chef Dan Pepperell, whether it was XO-sauced snails in the volau-vents or kimchi in the gratin upping the fun factor, along with live music, cocktails from Four Pillars gin, wines by Seppelt and beer from Bottlebrush Brewery.
Guests danced off into the night with gift bags containing the likes of Tom Ford fragrance and Dinosaur Designs dishes as well as a copy of the 2019 GT Restaurant Guide, presented in association with Vittoria Coffee and Santa Vittoria, and supported by Ilve, Mutti and Harrolds. What a swell party it was.