The nominees have been announced in nine categories for the 2017 Time Out Sydney Food Awards.
Now in their ninth year, the awards celebrate Sydney’s best restaurants in the areas of fine dining, casual dining, cheap eats and cafés.
Billy Kwong, Ester, Firedoor, Fratelli Paradiso, Fred’s, Hubert, Long Chim, LP’s Quality Meats, Momofuku Seiobo and Saint Peter will compete for Restaurant of the Year.
Danielle Alvarez at Fred’s, Paul Carmichael at Momofuku Seiobo, Mat Lindsay at Ester, Josh Niland at Saint Peter and Daniel Pepperell at Hubert are all up for the Chef of the Year award.
Time Out’s awards are focused at the more affordable end of fine dining, with awards for Best Cheap Eat and Best Casual Dining Restaurant, but there’s also an award acknowledging the luxe, once-a-year style of offering – Best Degustation.
Time Out’s national food and drink editor Emily Lloyd-Tait paid tribute to the unpredictable nature of Sydney dining in 2017.
“We have sharp, inspiring, driven chefs in this city, and the fact there’s always somewhere new to try keeps everyone on their culinary toes,” she says.
“But they also know how to loosen the collar. High-end chefs cook burgers, wine bars are pouring world-class wines to house party soundtracks and offering restaurant-quality dinners like it’s no big thing.”
Like Melbourne, Time Out critics scoured Sydney’s restaurant scene, dining anonymously and paying for their meals. However, this year, readers have the chance to vote in three People’s Choice awards.
In addition to the People’s Choice: Best Restaurant Award, sponsored by Beer the Beautiful Truth, there are two awards sponsored by MasterCard — People’s Choice: Best Bakery and People’s Choice: Best Fast Food.
Voting is now open in these categories here and closes on Thursday August 31.
All the winners will be revealed at a sold-out night of food, drink and celebration at Porteño on Cleveland on Monday September 25.
Image credit: Merivale