Vittoria Coffee Restaurant of the Year

A restaurant setting benchmarks for food and service, pushing the
hospitality industry forward and supporting Australian producers.

Moonah

Connewarre

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Of the handful of restaurants at the pinnacle of Australia’s dining scene, some are simply very good at what they do. Others are genre-defining.

What Moonah owner-chef Tobin Kent is delivering at this 12-seat hideaway is an astounding tribute to Victoria’s coastline, and utterly different from the food of his contemporaries.

Dining here is like immersive theatre. There’s the setting, on the edge of a billabong where birds swoop and sing; the simple but elegant country room; the meticulously calibrated dishes that look and taste like the landscape around you.

This is no coincidence. While many chefs celebrate Australia through native ingredients, Kent goes one step further, delivering a concept that is extraordinarily regional. Ingredients come from no further than 200 kilometres away, though the vast majority are sourced much nearer.

A bowl of mussels, flavoured only with their own broth and sparkling wine, tastes like the breeze that blows along the Great Ocean Road. Other dishes evoke the Otways’ forest floor, or Victoria’s tidal rivers as they meet the sea.

A restaurant of this calibre that represents not only the best of Australia, but zooms in on one specific region, is a thrilling development for a country that remains somewhat unsung on the international stage. Moonah is, without doubt, genre-defining, giving the term “coastal Victorian cooking” its own place in the pantheon.

New Restaurant of the Year, presented by Aurum Poultry Co.

The most exciting opening of the past 12 months, representing what’s fresh and thrilling about dining in Victoria right now.

Bar Olo

Carlton

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Sometimes a restaurant comes along that’s so exactly what it ought to be, that embodies its time and place so well, it feels inevitable. But is this a restaurant, or is it a bar? The beauty of Bar Olo (sibling to Scopri) is how successfully it straddles both.

It draws on the Italian history of Carlton, the area’s current boom of excellent cocktail and wine bars, and the best of this city’s hospitality, rolling it all into a package that meets diners on their terms.

Come for a drink, come for a three-course dinner, but don’t come looking for cutting-edge dishes, or to revel in newness. Instead, witness textbook execution of what Melbourne does so well: Italian classics cooked with care, fantastic cocktails, superb wine and exceptional service.

It may appear to be a simple, cosy room, but there’s magic behind those curtains.

Victoria is spoilt when it comes to regional dining. But a destination restaurant that’s as much for locals as out-of-towners? That’s rare.

Messmates, on a sleepy strip of shops, is imbued with warmth. It starts with the enthusiastic welcome, and extends to the soothing fitout and unfussy but considered cooking.

Perhaps the sincerity comes down to the family connection. Messmates is run by siblings Chris and Jodie Odrowaz and their respective partners, Jess Odrowaz and Michael Clarke, who divvy up roles in the kitchen and on the floor.

Chris and Jodie’s dad grows organic produce for the 50-seater at his nearby farm – it’s his Swiss chard in the rustic cheese pie and his rhubarb atop the outstanding custard tart – and just about everything else comes from nearby.

Another bonus for city slickers: it’s a short walk from the train station. Messmates is country hospitality, reborn for the 2020s.

Oceania Cruises Chef of the Year

A chef at the forefront of dining, setting new standards and doing something original while never losing sight of diner enjoyment.

Jung Eun Chae

Chae, Cockatoo

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It takes guts to open a restaurant that’s unlike any other, and determination to do things your way without bending to trends. A strong sense of conviction is necessary to trade just two days a week, and to serve only six people at a time. And you need an unwavering sense of hospitality to do it all in your own home.

At her eponymous restaurant, Jung Eun Chae doesn’t manage a kitchen team, break down whole animals or have a marketing team. Instead, over many months, she tends to kimchi, soy sauce, gochujang and doenjang – cornerstone Korean ingredients made using centuries-old methods.

The restaurant atmosphere is intimate: just the chef, a few lucky diners, and shelves lined with the preserves, enzymes and ferments responsible for the incredible depth of flavour in each nourishing dish.

There’s no wine list but there is house-made cheongju, the rice wine, fragrant with fermented mandarin.

In an industry where working at speed is lauded, Chae’s slow-food philosophy is liberating. That’s not to say experiencing it is easy. Her cooking and her endearing nature have captured the attention of tens of thousands of online fans, many of whom you’re competing against when entering the monthly ballot for a rare seat.

But the chef’s reach extends beyond the restaurant. A new cookbook, Korean Slow Food for a Better Life, brings her food into homes everywhere. And in her own way Chae is inspiring a whole new generation of chefs, showing there are viable paths forward other than the one most travelled.

Young Chef of the Year, presented by Smeg

The ultimate accolade for a committed and talented chef aged 30 or under with an exciting culinary viewpoint, a social conscience and strong leadership potential.

Saavni Krishnan

Manze, North Melbourne

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Curries will not be on the menu at the restaurant Saavni Krishnan dreams of opening. Indian flavours are intrinsic to her cooking, but she’s determined to show there’s more to the food of her birthplace.

Having trained at top restaurants including Etta, Fred’s and Riley Street Garage, Krishnan is part of the next generation of chefs to proudly weave together their heritage, European technique and Australian influences to create a fresh new cuisine.

At Saadi, the regular pop-ups she runs with her husband, Sriram Aditya, Krishnan serves comte tarts with vadouvan-spiced asparagus, kingfish crudo on thattai rice crisps, and steamed rice dumplings in kombucha-tomato broth.

In her current role as sous chef at Manze, Krishnan has seen the benefits of more forgiving work rosters, something she plans to adopt.

Former Fred’s head chef Danielle Alvarez describes her as an “excellent, fearless cook”. The judges of the award saw a future leader brimming with ideas.

Vittoria Coffee Legend Award

Celebrating an inspirational individual who’s made an outstanding contribution to the hospitality industry over many years.

Greg Malouf

6 April 1959–19 September 2024

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Greg Malouf will live on in many memories as Melbourne’s master of Middle Eastern cuisine. The Lebanese-Australian chef trained widely before sharing his skill, obsession and irrepressible joy for the food of his heritage with a worldwide audience.

From the early 1990s, he schooled this city in halwa, dukkah and bisteeya at his restaurants O’Connell’s and MoMo.

Despite receiving two heart transplants, Malouf never let his health hamper his ambition. He moved from Melbourne to London in 2012, then to Dubai.

There he opened restaurants, trained chefs and continued to co-author cookbooks with ex-wife and long-time friend Lucy Malouf. The pair were working on their ninth book together when Greg died, aged 65.

Malouf was a cheeky friend and an exacting teacher and employer, but he ran his kitchens with respect. Along with his food, that will be his legacy.

Oceania Cruises Service Excellence Award

A professional who executes the highest standard of service relevant to their establishment, reflected in their knowledge, skill, attitude and personality.

Rajnor Soin

Vue de Monde, Melbourne

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The most remarkable moment during a night at Vue de Monde isn’t simply a delightful interaction with the person serving you, be it a waiter, sommelier or chef. It’s when you look around and realise that every table is getting the same joyful service.

Much of that is due to the training and mentoring of the team, driven by restaurant manager Rajnor Soin.

He credits his psychiatrist parents with instilling a desire to understand what makes people tick. But the seamless mix of elegance and fun Soin brings to Vue de Monde’s dining room is all his own.

His magic is not only in delivering the smooth, sophisticated experience guests expect at a restaurant of this calibre. It’s in ensuring that experience is warm and free from artifice.

Achieving that while motivating an entire team is excellence on a whole other level.

Katie McCormack Young Service Talent Award

A new award recognising a front-of-house professional aged 30 or under who consistently strives for excellence and shows genuine passion for hospitality.

Nicole Sharrad

Alta Trattoria, Fitzroy

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On first glance, Nicole Sharrad’s career path seems unconventional. After front-of-house roles at Africola, Attica and Hazel, she was drawn to the outdoors. A horticulture certification led to work in the kitchen garden at Brae and now, as restaurant manager at Alta Trattoria, she has a more holistic understanding of produce.

Her service style is composed and personal; she studies Piedmontese literature to find cultural tidbits to share with Alta’s guests.

“Nicole is well rounded in a way that is truly refreshing,” says judge Hannah Green. “She exudes calming strength, and has taken the initiative to expand her own career.”

These attributes align with the values of this award, created in honour of the late Katie McCormack (co-founder, Congress & Lagotto).

“Katie always made sure people in her venues felt seen, loved and looked after,” says judge Bronwyn Kabboord.

In future, Sharrad hopes to see more women-owned venues, and dreams of opening a country restaurant with a kitchen garden of her own.

Critics’ Pick of the Year

A venue that brings something special to our dining scene and is consistently on our critics’ hit lists.

Danny’s Kopitiam

Glen Waverley

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In 1975, Danny Ko opened Hawthorn’s Penang Coffee House, one of Melbourne’s first Malaysian restaurants. Today – aged 78 – he still wields the wok, though now it’s at his low-key, order-at-the-counter restaurant Danny’s Kopitiam.

Opened in 2002, the simple 32-seater has become legendary for its impeccable char kwai teow, intense curry laksa, beef rendang flavoured with homegrown lime leaves, and village rice strewn with dried anchovies.

There are no strict recipes, no weighing of ingredients; everything is prepared by feel and taste. It is truly a place to treasure.