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Who Made the Cut at the Brisbane Times Good Food Guide Awards 2016

Who Made the Cut at the Brisbane Times Good Food Guide Awards 2016

by Mireille Kilgour : August 14th, 2015

On June 29, the Brisbane Times Good Food Guide Awards 2016 ceremony celebrated the very best of Queensland's culinary scene. A total of 14 awards were presented during the evening, recognising rising talents, culinary contribution, dining diversity and the friendly, authentic experiences that are placing Queensland firmly on the global food stage.

These three restaurants were just a few of the suburban and regional winners on the day and many more were awarded a coveted Good Food Guide hat. While Esquire is the only three hat restaurant in Brisbane, the city is home to many two hat restaurants, including Urbane, an icon in the Brisbane dining scene. Hatted regional highlights include A Touch of Salt, Room81 andCoast, Harvey Bay's premium eaterie.

And for the fourth year running, Esquire Brisbane was named the Vittoria Coffee Restaurant of the Year, retaining its three hats and cementing its position as one of Australia's most awarded and innovative restaurants.

Restaurant of the Year – Esquire

Esquire delivers on every front. Split into two sections, diners can enjoy a more casual setting at Esq, feasting on foods such as Moreton Bay calamari and beautifully tender Kobe rib eye or they can opt to indulge in a seamless flow of perfection in Esquire's more formal setting.

Esquire's message is clear – fine dining can be fun and attention to detail is everything. Take the popcorn parfait for example. The chefs roast corn over coals, and then juice it. They add cream, eggs and sugar and put it under pressure in liquid nitrogen until it froths. Then they freeze it. They blanch tarragon to preserve the colour and oils, hang and dry it for a few days, blend it with oil, then hang it again. The salty-sweet popcorn ice cream is served with dots of tarragon oil for a dessert you will never forget. It's these details that make Esquire a clear candidate for Best Restaurant and a very deserving winner for 2016.

Esquire is a spacious restaurant carefully filled with bespoke furniture. The view is spectacular if you can dare to look away from the exciting kitchen and the food is equal parts alchemy, art, imagination and skillful cooking.

Brisbane Times Good Food Guide editor Natascha Mirosch describes Ryan Squires and the team at Esquire as, "incredibly creative with what they put on the plate. The deliciousness of the food, the precision service and the aesthetics of everything, from the room to the ceramics, is always spot on".

Regional Restaurant of the Year – Wasabi Restaurant and Bar

The Santa Vittoria Regional Restaurant of the Year was awarded to Noosa's Wasabi Restaurant & Bar. Recognised as one of Australia's best Japanese restaurants, Wasabi has once again held on to its two hat title.

Wasabi Restaurant & Bar is a fashionable space with a strong sense of attention to design detail. With spectacular river views, amazing sunset vistas, and a contemporary sensibility that is deeply rooted in Japanese purity, Wasabi is a memorable dining experience.

The current menu is designed to showcase seasonal produce from their farm at Honeysuckle Hill, as well as other regional ingredients, including locally caught fresh seafood. Their continued goal is to increase the flexibility and creativity in the kitchen and to reward diners with the next stage of Wasabi's ongoing evolution.

Choose the Omakase and Chef will present you with a series of innovative and sometimes 'surprising' plates. It may just lead you to try something you would never think of ordering. Opt for A La Carte and try the day's best sashimi, a daily assortment of sushi rolls or try the delicious soy and okinawa black sugar braised lamb belly. In the bar, why not try a Japanese-style distilled spirit infused with seasonal farm ingredients or a Razuberi cocktail, a mix of house-made raspberry shochu, tea liqueur and suishin sake?

People's Choice Award Winners – Indulge Café

One of the most talked about awards was the Brisbane Times Good Food Guide 2016 People's Choice Award, given to Indulge Café in Bundaberg. Voted as Queensland's favourite restaurant, not by critics but by ordinary Australians, the country town café beat some of Brisbane's most prestigious restaurants to take out the title.

For anyone who has eaten at Indulge, the win will come as no surprise. Owners Amanda and Larry Hinds know the food they like and despite being told their kind of food wouldn't work in Bundaberg, it now dishes up a breakfast and lunch service in epic proportions.

The Hinds' both grew up in the country and Amanda's personal connection to the land shines through in the food. An excellent relationship with local farmers and producers ensures an ever-changing menu that reflects the very best of local produce. What's not sourced from nearby growers and suppliers is made in-house.

Among the breakfast dishes that have locals coming back day after day is their brioche with cider-creamed onions, Toulouse sausage, double-smoked bacon, poached eggs and gingered beetroot relish. Lunch winners include the 6 hour slow-roasted Burnett lamb. Mouth watering yet? If not, perhaps their famous macarons, cakes, friands and tarts complete with smashed macadamia and maple butter or passionfruit curd will get you salivating.

Want to treat a friend to their choice of these restaurants? Buy them a Good Food Gift Card and let them pick the one that takes their fancy.

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Mireille Kilgour

Mireille Kilgour has been an entrepreneur for 35 years in the hospitality sector. French born, she has been an accomplished business owner and operator for a number of Sydney venues. Leading the industry with high profile institutions such as Lamrock Café Bondi, she has endless passion for the industry, and now has the pleasure of supporting restaurants to fill their tables with the new Good Food Gift Card program.