It’s time to celebrate the most impressive and award-winning cuisine our city has to offer. Time Out Melbourne’s Food Awards was the night of nights for Melbourne’s thriving hospitality scene. Culinary experts and industry legends sat alongside local foodies to celebrate Melbourne’s top talent in the restaurant game. Winners ranged from the most popular cafés, tastiest cheap eats, hottest restaurants and rising culinary super stars.
The evening was hosted by a packed-out Palermo restaurant, with moody lighting and sultry tango tunes setting the scene for the flavours to come. While the suspension was building, we had the opportunity to sample the full range of Jacob’s Creek Barossa Signature wines, craft beers by Gage Roads, and Starward Whisky Old Fashioned cocktails. We indulged in some of the finest Argentinian canapés this side of the Pacific. A fellow foodie, recently returned from a South American expedition, was suitably impressed with the savoury empanadas. My humble highlight was the magnificent cheese selection, perfectly complemented by the hearty drinks menu.
The awards consisted of 11 categories including Restaurant of the Year, Best New Restaurant, Chef of the year, Best Casual Dining Restaurant, Best Fine Diner, Best Café, Best Cheap Eat, Best Regional Restaurant, Hot Talent Award, People’s Choice Award and the Legend Award.
We were delighted when Carlton Wine Room was crowned Restaurant of the Year, to raucous applause. Hawthorn’s, Light Years Café won the Best Café award. Perennial Middle-Eastern favourite, Maha, took out the coveted People’s Choice Award, as voted by over 13,000 Time Out readers and self-proclaimed professional eaters. There were some clear favourites who nabbed multiple awards, shooting straight up to the top of our must-try list.
For a full list of this year’s winners and nominees, check out Time Out.
