Australian Gourmet Traveller 2012 Restaurant Awards

Find out who won the Australian Gourmet Traveller 2012 Restaurant Awards

Depending on who you are and where your interests lie, 2011 was the International Year of Forests, the International Year of Chemistry, and/or the Year of the Rabbit. For us restaurant-watchers, though, it’s been the Year of the Carefully Placed Borage Flower. A year in which chefs judged each other by the precision of their forceps, and not the size of their blades. It’s a year when the schools of planting-based rusticity and thermometer-toting empiricism have been revealed to be headed by cooks working to roughly similar goals. Many of the best restaurants, of course, have distinguished themselves by reconciling both approaches, paying greater attention than ever to the provenance of their ingredients on the one hand, but also deploying it on the plate with evermore rigorous technique on the other.

Perhaps in reaction to the seeming high-mindedness of such things, it’s also been a vintage year for fun and irreverence in kitchens. The phrase “dude food” has gained some currency on this side of the Pacific, and a small but vocal band of chefs has brought new interest to the study of burgers, tacos and hot dogs, and elevated the likes of pulled pork and fried chicken to restaurant fare.

Speaking of America, chefs such as Animal’s Jon Shook and Vinny Dotolo and Kogi’s Roy Choi on the West Coast, and David Chang and the guys from Torrisi Italian Specialties in New York, have been as influential, in some circles, as the champions of the Spanish avant-garde and the Nordic new wave have been in others. Influences are coming from all sorts of cultures, but our reviewers have noted particularly the prominence of techniques and ingredients from Japan and the Americas.

The basics have also come under renewed scrutiny. The quality (and cost) of bread is under the microscope, and it’s become common for restaurants to offer butter made in-house. Heck, some of the more ambitious places even offer more than one. Other less-remembered traditions of pickling, curing and smoking are all the rage again, not so much for the preservative properties that once made the difference between life and death in a long winter as for the nuances they bring to texture and flavour, which can still make the difference between life and death in a long dégustation. Eggs seem to be enjoying renewed popularity, especially the slow-poached variety, and confit yolks have starred in many an entrée of late. Seeds and nuts are all over plates, heirloom carrots of unusual hue are everywhere, and the continued presence of nasturtium leaves, fennel pollen, wood sorrel, pansies and, yes, borage flowers, bears witness to the persistent influence of the new-naturalists.

Perrier-Jouët, sponsors of our awards and restaurant guide (along with Commonwealth Private), are in the midst of celebrating the 200th birthday of their marque. They couldn’t have picked a better year as far as drinking good wine in Australia is concerned, with 2011 already distinguished as a time when the grape got its groove back. Wine is being reinvested with the spirit of good times thanks to the hard work and open minds of a new generation of producers, sommeliers and drinkers, bringing it more into line with the progress made on the plate.

Let’s raise our glasses to the year’s champions.

WORDS PAT NOURSE PHOTOGRAPHY DEREK SWALWELL

This article is from the September 2011 issue of Australian Gourmet Traveller.