Me! Photo by Kristoffer Paulsen
The Age Good Food Guide is Victoria’s top restaurant guide and I’ve been contributing to it for more than 15 years (wow, that’s a lot of meals!). I see writing for the Guide as a privilege and a great responsibility: the book is respected by the hospitality industry and the dining public. A Good Food Guide review can make or break a restaurant.
Launch night is always exciting, though it can be a bit nerve-wracking. This year’s awards were a black-tie affair at the Plaza Ballroom: long tables were laden with food and champagne flowed.
I was thrilled to see Higher Ground take out the prize for Cafe of the Year. This ambitious venture is a huge and game-changing eatery that blurs the line between cafe and restaurant. It’s by the same team that has The Kettle Black, which is where I shoot some of my videos for Dani Valent Cooking.
The Service Excellence Award went to Caterina Borsato, owner of Caterina’s. As said on the night, “The all-seeing, all-knowing Caterina Borsato is a great reader of a table and a room, delivering each diner the experience they’ve come for in her long-running Italian basement restaurant. That might be a quick, revivifying bowl of pasta, a deal-making lunch over a serious bottle of red, or a golden handshake shakedown that will likely last until dinnertime.” She’s awesome! Read my review.
The gong for best new restaurant went to Embla and there were a few grumbles about that because …well…isn’t it a wine bar? No! They have great food too. Worthy, in my view, though Melbourne has had so many great restaurants open that it’s a hard prize to give.
Vue de Monde climbed from two hats to three under head chef Justin James (read my review).
See here for all the winners. Buy the book. See Kristoffer Paulsen’s excellent photo gallery.
Ben Shewry, owner & chef of three-hatted Attica.
Photo by Kristoffer Paulsen
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