On Wednesday evening, some of Australia's most acclaimed chefs, restaurateurs and food lovers gathered for the Gourmet Traveller Restaurant Awards to reveal the upper crust of fine dining for 2016.
Sydney's Momofuku Seiobo, led by Barbados-born chef Paul Carmichael, took out the top prize of Restaurant of the Year in what is the country's only national restaurant awards based on independent reviews.
"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," Pat Nourse, Gourmet Traveller chief restaurant critic and deputy editor said in a statement.
Ben Shewry of revered Melbourne restaurant Attica took out the peer-voted Chef of the Year, cementing his reputation as a chef's chef and further proving his popularity not only among his staff, but the wider hospitality industry.
While Sydney and Melbourne swept the awards, 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.
Details of the winners are in the September issue of Gourmet Traveller, on newsstands with the new edition of the Gourmet Traveller Australian Restaurant Guide on Thursday August 18.
GOURMET TRAVELLER RESTAURANT AWARDS 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
Dan Sharp – Sixpenny, Sydney