Gourmet Traveller announces 2018 Restaurant Award winners

Indexed magazine Australian Gourmet Traveller announced the winners of its 2018 Restaurant Awards on Wednesday. The awards included ten categories including best restaurant, best chef, best wine list, and best new talent. The winners were culled from the semi-finalists announced earlier this year. 

For the first time in 20 years, the Restaurant of The Year honors went to an establishment in a city other than Sydney or Melbourne. Glascow-born chef Jock Zonfrillo’s Adelaide eatery, Orana, was awarded the prize. Orana is unique among major Australian restaurants in that it celebrates indigenous foods. Zonfrillo traveled across the country, asking elders about harvesting and cooking techniques, and exploring native ingredients. He brings the lessons he learned to bear in food that has traditional roots but which makes use of the continent’s unique flora and fauna. 

The 2018 Chef of the Year award went to Mat Lindsay of the Sydney restaurant Ester, which he opened in 2013. New Restaurant of the Year honors were bestowed upon Fred’s, also in Sydney. The establishment’s head chef, Danielle Alvarez, cut her culinary teeth at the legendary Chez Panisse. Alvarez is breaking new ground in Australia; only 3 of The Australian’s top 50 restaurants for 2017 is headed by a woman. 

See all of the 2018 award winners on Australian Gourmet Traveller’s website.