The Sydney Morning Herald Good Food Guide Awards announces 2017 winners and new hatted restaurants

While it’s no surprise that Peter Gilmore’s Quay has once again been named “Vittoria Coffee Restaurant of the Year” at the authoritative The Sydney Morning Herald Good Food Guide 2017 Awards, the comprehensive annual award ceremony did herald a lot of newcomers, as the next generation of Sydney’s top restaurants came to stand toe-to-toe with the legends. Last night’s ceremony, which was held at the yet-to-be-opened Cirrus Restaurant on The Streets of Barangaroo, saw a lot of top performing restaurants, chefs, sommeliers, bars, and more celebrated for their achievements over the past 12 months, resulting in a diverse set of winners across categories including “Best New Restaurant” and “Best Bar Food”, plus a whopping 15 new restaurants added to the two and one-hatted categories.

Perhaps one of the most talked about new restaurants to open in Sydney, Restaurant Hubert, was the expected winner of “Best New Restaurant” (seriously if you haven’t been yet you need to go as soon as possible). The full-service restaurant from bar stalwarts Anton Forte and Jason Scott plus chef Dan Pepperell and sommelier Andy Tyson was also awarded with a two-hat rating.

Other impressive newcomers celebrated on the night include Bar Brosé (Best Bar Food; one hat) and Dead Ringer (The Streets of Barangaroo People’s Choice), as well as Automata (two hats) and Merivale’s The Paddington (one hat).

“There are more hats this year, but any restaurant scoring below the brand new minimum 14 points has exited the Guide.” says Good Food Guide Editor Myffy Rigby. “The extra space has been given to in-depth coverage of cafes, cheap eats and unsung areas. It’s more representative of the real Sydney, and the way we eat. There are more hats in the regions – it’s great to see the bar being lifted across the whole state of NSW”.

See below for the full list of winners; the list will also be printed along with a comprehensive run-down in The Sydney Morning Herald Good Food Guide 2017, on sale from Tuesday 6th September for $14.99 with a copy of The Sydney Morning Herald. It can also be purchased online at www.smhshop.com.au for $24.99. Also in the newspaper on September 6 is this year’s Sydney Good Food Month program.

This year’s award winning restaurants will be amongst the 7,000 reviews going live in the new Good Food app, which brings together The Sydney Morning Herald, The Age and the Brisbane Times Good Food Guide reviews. There is already a wealth of reviews on the app, with all New South Wales and Queensland 2017 reviews live from September 6 and Victorian reviews to follow on September 12 after the release of The Age Good Food Guide results.

Vittoria Coffee Restaurant of the Year
Quay

Citi Chef of the Year
Federico Zanellato (LuMi Bar & Dining)

Best New Restaurant
Restaurant Hubert

Santa Vittoria Regional Restaurant of the Year
Paper Daisy (Cabarita Beach)

Café of the Year
Paramount Coffee Project

Vittoria Coffee Legend
Leon Fink (Fink Group)

Citi Service Excellence
Astrid McCormack (Fleet)

Josephine Pignolet Young Chef of the Year
Noel Jelfs (Eleven Bridge)

Food for Good Award
Parliament on King

Best Bar Food
Bar Brosé

Wine List of the Year
Monopole

Bar of the Year
Continental Deli Bar & Bistro

Sommelier of the Year
Tim Watkins (Automata)

Regional Wine List of the Year
Fleet

Best Cheap Eat
Bovine & Swine Barbecue Co

The Streets of Barangaroo People’s Choice
Dead Ringer

Hatted restaurants

Sydney (and suburbs):

Three hats
The Bridge Room, Quay, Sepia

Two hats
ARIA, Automata, Bennelong, Bentley Restaurant & Bar, Est., Ester, Guillaume, Icebergs Dining Room & Bar, Lucio’s Italian Restaurant, LuMi Bar & Dining, Momofuku Seiobo, Monopole, Mr. Wong, Ormeggio at The Spit, Oscillate Wildly, Pilu at Freshwater, Restaurant Hubert, Rockpool Bar & Grill, Sixpenny, Spice Temple, Tetsuya’s

One hat
10 William St, ACME, Ajo, Aki’s Indian Restaurant, The Apollo, Baccomatto Osteria, Bar Brose, The Bathers’ Pavilion, The Bellevue, Berowra Waters Inn, Billy Kwong, Bistrode CBD, The Boathouse on Blackwattle Bay, Bodega, Buon Ricordo, Catalina, China Doll, Cho Cho San, Continental Deli Bar & Bistro, Cottage Point Inn, Da Orazio Pizza + Porchetta, The Dolphin Hotel Dining Room, Felix, Firedoor, Fratelli Paradiso, The Gantry, Gastro Park, glass brasserie, Hartsyard, Izakaya Fujiyama, Jonah’s, Kepos & Co, Kepos Street Kitchen, LP’s Quality Meats, Mercado, Ms.G’s, Nomad, One Ford Street, Otto Ristorante, The Paddington, Porteño, The Restaurant Pendolino, Sagra, Sean’s Panaroma, Sokyo, Stanbuli, Sushi-e, Uccello, Vini, Yellow

Regional NSW:

Two hats
Aubergine, Biota Dining, Fleet, Muse Restaurant, Paper Daisy

One hat
Bistro Molines, Caveau, Courgette, Darley’s Restaurant, eightysix, Eschalot Restaurant, Fins, Lanterne Rooms, Lilotang, Lolli Redini, Margan, Monster Kitchen & Bar, Muse Kitchen, Ottoman Cuisine, Pearls on the Beach, Pialligo Estate Farmhouse, Restaurant Como, Restaurant Mason, Rick Stein at Bannisters, St Isidore, The Stunned Mullet, Subo, Temporada, Tonic, Town Restaurant & Cafe, Waters Edge, Zanzibar, The Zin House.

Image: Restaurant Hubert | Credit: The Sydney Morning Herald

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Chris Singh

Chris Singh is an Editor-At-Large at the AU review, loves writing about travel and hospitality, and is partial to a perfectly textured octopus. You can reach him on Instagram: @chrisdsingh.