Gourmet Traveller 2022 Restaurant Awards finalists announced

Like many other restaurant awards, the Gourmet Traveller awards went on hiatus during the pandemic, but they have now returned in full force. Well, almost full force, as the planned awards dinner has been cancelled and instead the winners will be announced online on Sunday, 24 October. The announcement precedes Gourmet Traveller’s November Celebration Special print issue, which will highlight all of the winners as well as Australia’s Top 80 Restaurants.

We will focus on nominees who have written cookbooks, which includes Andrew McConnell, whose restaurant Gimlet “arrived beautiful and fully formed, giving off a palpable buzz even when pandemic-induced restrictions were at their most rigorous.”

Another finalist, Nick Hildebrandt, is nominated for Restaurant Personality of the Year. He co-owns some of Sydney’s top restaurants, including Best Wine Bar finalist Monopole. Carlo Grossi is also on the longlist for Restaurant Personality of the Year. Says Gourmet Traveller “No matter which part of his family’s historic food and booze emporium on Bourke Hill you find him (these days mostly upstairs in the fine diner), Grossi nails that trickiest of front-of-house balances: informal formality.”