We have the great pleasure of announcing the nominees for our annual restaurant awards. The awards, held in conjunction with the launch of the 2009 edition of the Gourmet Traveller Australian Restaurant Guide (Australia’s most-read and only national guide!) in association with Electrolux, were announced at a ceremony in Sydney on August 18, and named the 2009 Australian Restaurant of the Year, the most prestigious award for restaurants in the country. The full results of the awards, the stars and the top 100 Australian restaurants are published in the September Gourmet Traveller, which comes bundled with the restaurant guide, and on our website.
This is the first year we’ve published the names of the nominees in each category (except for Restaurant of the Year), partly because with our new website we have a forum fitting to do so, but mostly because we want to acknowledge the great wealth of talent in our hospitality industry. Many of the awards were very close, and the nominees are all richly deserving of your attention whether they get the gong in the end or not.
Stay tuned to gourmettraveller.com.au for updates and for exclusive video, photos and interviews from the awards, and keep your eyes peeled for the September issue of the magazine for the full story.
THE NOMINEES
**New Restaurant of the Year
**Giuseppe, Arnaldo and Sons, Melbourne, Vic
Sassi at Balé, Port Douglas, Qld
Bistro Guillaume, Melbourne, Vic
Universal, Darlinghurst, NSW
Berowra Waters Inn, Berowra, NSW
Sommelier of the Year
Lok Thornton, The Royal Mail Hotel, Dunkeld, Vic
Emma Sputore, Must Winebar, Highgate, WA
Lara Caraturo, Pilu at Freshwater, Harbord, NSW
James Erskine, Auge, Adelaide, SA
Nicole Reimers, Rockpool, Sydney, NSW
**Regional Restaurant of the Year
**Pacific Dining Room, Byron Bay, NSW
Appellation, Barossa Valley, SA
The Royal Mail Hotel, Dunkeld, Vic
The Tea Rooms of Yarck, Yarck, Vic
Sassi at Balé, Port Douglas, Qld
**Maitre D’ of the Year
**Peter Marchant, Restaurant II, Brisbane, Qld
Terry Soukoulis, Auge, Adelaide, SA
Enrico Carnevali, Zafferano, Crawley, WA
Liz Carey and Paul Guiney, Universal, Darlinghurst, NSW
Simon Denton, Verge, Melbourne, Vic
Best New Talent
Adam Liston, The Melting Pot, Hyde Park, SA
Dan Hunter, The Royal Mail Hotel, Dunkeld, Vic
Ben Milgate and Elvis Abrahanowicz, Bodega, Surry Hills, NSW
Hadleigh Troy, Restaurant Amusé, Perth, WA
Pierre Roelofs, Interlude, Vic
**Bar of the Year
**The Lark, Paddington, Qld
1907, Perth, WA
The Bayswater Brasserie, Kings Cross, NSW
The Bowery, Fortitude Valley, Qld
Gerald’s Bar, Carlton North, Vic
**Wine List of the Year
**The Royal Mail Hotel, Vic
Balthazar, Perth, WA
Pilu at Freshwater, Sydney, NSW
Appellation, SA
Belle Epoque, Brisbane, QLD
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