Innholdsfortegnelse for September 2025 i Gourmet Traveller

SUBSCRIBE NOW magshop.com.au/gmt Details p152 Welcome to the September issue, that gripping time of year when we shine a spotlight on the movers and shakers at the top of their game with the Gourmet Traveller Annual Restaurant Awards. To find out who took home trophies – including the coveted (and peer-voted) Chef of the Year and Best New Talent – head to page 63. Alongside the Awards, we release our Annual Restaurant Guide. A painstakingly curated list of the most outstanding dining establishments around Australia, it’s always a mammoth undertaking. This year, we’re showcasing a total of 100 exceptional venues, so believe me when I say it’s been an intense few months. Not that I’m complaining. Getting to visit some of the world’s finest restaurants as part of my job…

Alto chardonnay vinegar A gorgeous and nuanced finishing element, this traditional Spanish-style chardonnay vinegar will tie together any dish with the ideal balance of sweet and sour. Pour carefully over seared buttered scallops, use in a mignonette for oysters or dress a shaved fennel salad with finesse. $29 for 500ml, grassandbone.com.au Joseph la casetta aged vinegar A detailed process sees white grape juice reduced over a woodfire to a sherry-like state before being barrel-aged for a minimum of five years. The end result is a potent vinegar with subtle notes of caramel and berries. Best used alongside olive oil as a dipping vinegar. $32.50 for 375ml, simonjohnson.com Wild Mother tarragon apple cider vinegar This robust Tasmanian-made vinegar takes the herbaceous tang of tarragon to another level. There’s a fresh fruity…

You made wine for 15 years before switching to gin. Was it a smooth transition? I came in a bit naïve, expecting a slower pace, but it turned out to be like vintage every day. The first year and a half was a crash course in distilling, with so much more to learn than I imagined. I’ve loved the creativity, intensity, and working with a team I’ve always admired. You were inducted into the Gin Guild a few years ago, so you’ve clearly mastered it. How did that feel? I’d been working at Four Pillars for about three years, and the night before, we’d won the IWSC International Gin Producer of the Year, so we were on an absolute high. The whole experience was incredible. All the top gin and…

SERIOUS SEAFOOD It’s been a big year for seafood, with farmed Tasmanian salmon floated in parliament, an algal bloom affecting the industry off South Australia, and the countdown on to mandatory country-of-origin labelling on menus from July 2026. In the wake of this turbulence, sustainability, traceability and ethical sourcing has become a big consideration for restaurants, fish and chip shops and home cooks. “Nowadays, people know the impacts that things like overfishing and climate change have, so they want to know more about what they’re eating,” says Peta Morton from the Australian Marine Conservation Society and GoodFish, whose online Sustainable Seafood Guide includes a traffic light-style classification. “We’re seeing chefs around the country pledge to avoid red-listed species, not just because their customers expect it, but because they want to…

Nadine Ingram’s sourdough puff pastry Dial up Middle Eastern dishes with honey Tony Tan shares his best recipes Saucy secrets from Rosheen Kaul’s kitchen GF Roasted salt and pepper chicken drumettes with cucumber salad SERVES 4 // PREP 10 MINS // COOK 30 MINS 2 Lebanese cucumbers, thinly sliced into rounds on a mandolin 2 tbsp light soy sauce 1 tbsp each rice wine vinegar, mirin and sesame oil 80 gm (⅓ cup) Kewpie mayonnaise Finely grated zest of 1/2 lime, plus 1 tbsp lime juice 1 cup (loosely packed) coriander 1 spring onion, thinly sliced 1 jalapeño, thinly sliced into rounds 1 long red chilli, thinly sliced into rounds Steamed jasmine rice and lime wedges, to serve SALT AND PEPPER CHICKEN 30 gm (¼ cup) cornflour ¼ tsp each…

Braised beef brisket with chilli-oil sauce SERVES 4-6 // PREP 30 MINS // COOK 1 HR 50 MINS “I first wrote about the Cantonese classic, beef brisket, in my book Hong Kong Food City. It’s traditionally cooked with chunks of daikon and is served with oyster sauce or chilli sauce,” says Tony Tan. “This recipe is a breeze to make and is perfect on a cool spring day – the charm lies in the balance of spices, which enhances the distinctive beef flavour. This version is rather magical, especially with a robust chilli-oil sauce. You’re more likely to encounter this dish at specialty food stalls rather than in Chinese restaurants.” 1 kg piece beef brisket, fat trimmed 1 tbsp vegetable oil 20 gm ginger (about 4cm), sliced 2 large garlic…

DINING OUT IS JUST ONE ELEMENT OF AN OVERSEAS holiday – but there’s no denying it’s an important one. Knowing which recommendations to trust can be tricky, so who better than revered Australian chef Neil Perry to guide your upcoming bookings. From a Michelin-starred Japanese omakase to relaxed European and US fine-diners, it’s exceptional produce and great hospitality that are key. “For me, that’s exactly what you want when you’re eating out,” Perry tells Gourmet Traveller. “To enjoy the experience, enjoy the company, and enjoy the hospitality of the restaurant.” THE RIVER CAFE London, UK “There aren’t many better places to be on a balmy English summer day than on the terrace at The River Cafe. I first went there in 1995 and loved the whole produce-driven nature and quality…

WELCOME TO OUR GOURMET TRAVELLER ANNUAL RESTAURANT GUIDE, an expertly curated selection of the best dining around Australia right now. This year we celebrate the country’s top 100 restaurants, from regional finediners to city wine bars, bistros, trattorias, izakayas and many more. Each venue must excel from welcome to farewell, with service, design, originality, consistency and atmosphere each carefully considered. But the most crucial area of excellence is always the food. It’s an exciting snapshot of how we like to eat out in 2025 and beyond. Happy dining. HOW THIS WORKS The Guide is divided by states, with an individual winner leading each. All remaining entries are listed alphabetically and not ranked. Rather, every restaurant featured in this Guide should be considered gold standard. All of the restaurants reviewed were…

State winner Saint Peter SEAFOOD 161 Underwood St, Paddington (02) 9167 3703 saintpeter.com.au Price guide $$$$$ Bookings Essential Wheelchair access Yes Open Lunch Thu-Sun; Dinner daily Start with an Oyster Shell Martini, stirred tableside. That’s the best way to begin Josh Niland’s journey beneath the waves at his endlessly innovative fish restaurant, now housed inside Paddington’s Grand National Hotel. Move on to the real thing with a supplementary selection of South Coast oysters, bracingly fresh and briny. Next, you’re likely to follow a fish through many guises – yellowfin tuna, say, served as tartare on a fermented rice cake, then wrapped in pastry as a Wellington, then as a petit four of bone marrow fudge – each showcasing the secondary cuts that are the backbone of Niland’s renowned scale-to-tail craft.…

State winner Marmelo PORTUGUESE 130 Russell St, Melbourne (03) 7035 2999 marmelorestaurant.com.au Price guide $$$ Bookings Recommended Wheelchair access Yes Open Lunch and dinner Tue-Sat Historically, hotel restaurants in Australia don’t have a great reputation. This offering from Sydney’s Ross and Sunny Lusted, attached to new hotel Hyde Melbourne Place, turns that reputation on its head. Channelling Portugal from its striking design – warm earthy tones via brick, timber, tile and fabric details – to the menu and wine list, Marmelo also spruiks excellent local produce, perhaps lightly cured Corner Inlet garfish, ribboned onto skewers and flavoured with coriander seeds and apple cider vinegar, or superb fried lamb sweetbreads teamed with local mushrooms and a fried egg. Flavours are admirably bright across the menu, from the paella-like Arroz de Marisco,…

What’s new on the GT dining radar  Hayman Island celebrates 75 years of guests  Spring on the farm with Matt Moran  Essential Australian vinegars  SYDNEY In Double Bay, Neil Perry has taken a second swing at the site that once housed Song Bird, transforming it into an Italian restaurant called Gran Torino. “The basis of all Italian cooking is to do so with the seasons, so the menu will reflect what is at market that day,” says Perry. “Antipasto and pasta to start, before moving on to a beautiful selection of seafood and meat for main course.” This might look like olives all’Ascolana stuffed with veal and parmesan; and pressed buffalo curd with grilled treviso and hazelnuts, before moving onto the dedicated crudo section, perhaps in the form of wild…

I first met Yibeltal and Rahel through my work with Powerhouse Parramatta. Their home-style cooking captures the joyful spirit and soulful traditions of Ethiopian cuisine. Meals at Gursha are about more than food – they’re about sharing stories and culture, fostering the sense of belonging that makes Blacktown unique. SINCE 2017, HUSBAND-AND-WIFE TEAM Yibeltal Tsegaw and Rahel Woldearegay have welcomed diners to their Ethiopian restaurant in Blacktown with the warmth and generosity that define the cuisine they grew up with. For them, food is more than nourishment – it’s a celebration of flavour, culture and connection, with stories and traditions shared around a single plate. The couple migrated to Sydney from Addis Ababa, Ethiopia’s capital city, in 2001, joining Woldearegay’s sister and her husband who had already made the move.…

TASMANIA HAS LONG HELD A QUIET CONFIDENCE IN THE AUSTRALIAN WINE world, its combination of cool-climate precision and pristine fruit daring you to look deeper into the glass. But what was once considered a place for textbook pinot noir and sparkling wine has evolved into something far more dynamic and personal. A new generation of winemakers is reshaping the island’s wine identity, driven by experimentation, independence and a deep connection to place. Some are native Tasmanians returning home with sharpened intent; others are mainlanders drawn by the island’s wild beauty and untapped potential. Their wines are thoughtful, often minimal-intervention, and unafraid to colour outside the lines. What defines this new wave isn’t rebellion, but refinement. There’s deep respect for structure, but also room for play – whether that means showcasing…

IS IT POSSIBLE TO TELL WHEN A RESTAURANT is independently run or part of larger group? Not always. But sometimes it’s as clear as slipping into a mismatched chair at Bondi restaurant Sean’s and being enveloped in a salty handmade aesthetic. Scallop shells that decorate the quirky room, like so many barnacles accrued over its 32 years eyeballing the beach, are simpatico with a soulful chalkboard menu that’s deeply personal and resolutely ethical. “When we found Sean’s, we felt so liberated that we could do what we want,” says Moran. “Before it we had two restaurants in pubs, so we were very much having to compromise. It’s not as personal as catering to someone who’s coming to your restaurant because it’s exactly as you want it to be.” His enthusiasm…

Grilled citrus and radicchio salad with labne and honey walnuts SERVES 4 AS A STARTER OR SIDE // PREP 15 MINS // COOK 30 MINS (PLUS COOLING) A bright, textural salad where smoky citrus, bitter leaves and earthy beetroot meet refreshing, creamy labne and sweetly spiced walnuts. If blood oranges are out of season, Cara Cara oranges make an excellent substitute. 1 bunch baby beetroot, trimmed and scrubbed 60 ml (¼ cup) extra-virgin olive oil 2 blood oranges, peeled, plus 2 tsp finely grated zest 1 tbsp Sherry vinegar 1½ tbsp leatherwood honey ½ head of radicchio di Treviso, trimmed, leaves separated 1 red witlof (see note), trimmed, leaves separated ½ cup each (loosely packed) parsley and mint 500 gm labne, at room temperature ALEPPO HONEY WALNUTS 100 gm walnuts…

OVER TIME, I’VE COME TO REALISE my saucy superpower in a professional kitchen can be very easily translated for the home cook. Making sauces isn’t inherently difficult – especially as many don’t actually require any particular skills or confidence in the kitchen, or even turning on the stove. I’d say the biggest day-to-day gripe of cooking for most is not figuring out what you want to eat, but rather it’s how you want to eat it. Say, it’s 2pm, and you feel like having lamb chops for dinner. You stop by a butcher to buy some, but you’re stuck for ideas on what to do with them. That’s where I come in. Buy the thing you want to eat, cook it how you like, then smother it in a sauce…

Maroon mood Object of desire MAROON MOOD Shades of burgundy combine with walnut timber for a sophisticated aesthetic exuding cool. 1 Genuine B9 Bentwood armchair, $379, Apex. 2 Noosa 52 DC Ceiling Fan White and Bamboo 18w LED Light, $669, The Lighting Superstore. 3 Otto vase in Amber, $109, Città Design. 4 Breathe # 202201 by Paul Snell, $9000, Studio Gallery. 5 Grazia & Co Harvey Swivel armchair, POA, Designcraft. 6 Deborah Ehrlich hand-blown crystal Lupine vase (20cm), $290, Abask. 7 Olivia rectangular extension dining table, $4099, IconByDesign. 8 Maroon Red Terrazzo STP-28, POA, Stone & Tile Projects. 9 Plain Rug custom order, POA, Poliform Australia. 10 Wine and Unwind Dark Red paint, $62 for 1 litre, Tint. CANDY CRUSH Retro touches and bold pops of colour create a kitchen…

State winner The Agrarian Kitchen Restaurant AUSTRALIAN 11A The Avenue, New Norfolk (03) 6262 0011 theagrariankitchen.com Price guide $$$$$ Bookings Essential Wheelchair access Yes Open Lunch Fri-Sun As an opening gambit, the first course of The Agrarian Kitchen Restaurant’s eight-course set menu is pretty hard to beat. Served in a stylishly appointed section of a working greenhouse, it features artfully plated raw vegetables fresh from the verdant kitchen garden, perhaps accompanied by deep-flavoured, house-made miso and a glass of Derwent Valley sparkling wine. It’s a breathtaking overture for what’s to follow in the light-filled, high-ceilinged dining room. The approach – strictly seasonal cooking that heroes ingredients over cheffy flashiness – is never at the expense of flavour or creativity. There might be house-made cheeses, many in classic Euro style, sublimely…

State winner Essa AUSTRALIAN 181 Robertson St, Fortitude Valley (07) 3177 1011 essa.restaurant Price guide $$$ Bookings Recommended Wheelchair access Yes Open Lunch Fri and Sun; Dinner Tue-Sat At Essa, no ingredient goes unsung. Take the floral sweetness of rivermint honey rounding out the spicy house-made ’nduja with “intentionally burnt” bread. Or the sea herbs, an unexpected but purposeful garnish, adorning the grilled Moreton Bay bug with bay leaf butter. Head chef and co-owner Phil Marchant’s mastery of the wood-fired grill is seen in the charred tri-tip steak, marinated in shio koji and served with deeply savoury king oyster mushrooms, parsnip purée, burnt greens and a jus made from the bones, and the seared swordfish skewer lifted with bright capsicum piperade and macadamia cream. These touches capture a whimsical elegance…

State winner Gibney CONTEMPORARY 40 Marine Pde, Cottesloe (08) 9468 1540 gibneycottesloe.com Price guide $$$$ Bookings Recommended Wheelchair access Yes Open Lunch and dinner daily George Kailis’ magnum opus isn’t just a restaurant, it’s a statement. A statement that insists Perth’s most famous beach demands an equally distinguished dining destination. Enter this seaside manor where magnetic, extroverted waiters roam, the tables are double-dressed, and luxury ingredients star in sophisticated remakes of brasserie classics. Head chef James Cole Bowen’s vitello tonnato features supple poached veal, blinged up with pickled onion and anchovy mayo. Spaghetti smothered in clams, lardons, garlic and chilli is a nod to the American steakhouse, as is the tinkly jazz soundtrack. Baked-to-order madeleines, meanwhile, speak to a reverence for timeless desserts. Old-world glamour like this is never cheap…

Drinks news from around Australia Meet distiller Sarah Prowse of Four Pillars Tasmania’s thrilling wine evolution How to mix a Plum Club Sour SPRING FORWARD It’s that time of year when you can’t figure out what to wear, but we’re embracing the seasonal shift with Petaluma’s Piccadilly Valley Chardonnay. A mineral-driven drop bridging winter richness and spring zest, it offers bright citrus and white peach layered with delicate oak. $60, petaluma.com.au TRIPLE THREAT Cheers to Tasmania’s Poltergeist Gin range, which took home three Master medals at this year’s Global Spirits Masters. With wins across London Dry, Contemporary and Cask-Aged categories, this trio proves Australian distilling is nothing short of world-class. From $80, callingtonmilldistillery.com SPOTLIGHT ON Gordon and Ross Purnell, the brothers behind Sydney bars Disco Pantera and Tigra, talk their…

BERRIES AND CITRUS HAVE NEVER BEEN FAR AWAY from gin cocktails. First sipped in Philadelphia’s Bellevue-Stratford Hotel in the early 1900s, the Clover Club would become the go-to for sharp-tongued journalists and well-heeled businessmen. Pink, frothy, somewhat sour and disarmingly elegant, it heroed the raspberry and delivered charm in spades, just like the revelrous gentlemen’s club that inspired it. At Three Wolves, Cairns, co-owner Andrew Paré makes a Plum Club Sour that whispers of its roots while embracing Far North Queensland flavour. “We chose the Wolf Lane Distillery Davidson Plum Gin as it adds a unique, sweet flavour from our region,” Paré explains. “The passionfruit syrup gives a slight tartness, but then this is balanced out by the vanilla liqueur. These flavours scream of the tropics.” MAKE IT YOURSELF For…

RESTAURANT OF THE YEAR Saint Peter PADDINGTON, NSW IN THEORY, SAINT PETER AT THE GRAND NATIONAL HOTEL is not a new restaurant. To owners Josh and Julie Niland their new spacious Paddington premises is more or less business as usual: presenting the ocean’s finest fish – from cheek to eye, from scale to skeleton – in some of the most creative dishes you’ll find anywhere on the globe. To diners, the new enterprise is a supercharged take on the original Saint Peter. The dining room is no longer a squishy counter, but instead a luxuriant texture-mélange of rich leathers, art curated by the nearby Olsen Gallery and a hanging garden of dried kelp. The charming service team operates not unlike a school of fish – gliding in precise harmony from…

PUFF PASTRY IS THE UNION OF A DOUGH CALLED DÉTREMPE AND A BLOCK OF butter shaped into a sheet, which becomes known in this application as beurrage. The two are folded together in harmony with consideration to temperature and texture in order to create hundreds of layers. The difference between full butter puff and rough puff is mainly the resulting texture of the layers with the rough puff being crumblier, rather than flaky, because the flour and butter are merely rubbed together. Full butter puff layers become more developed and stable through the laminating process, where distinct and even separation of the détrempe and the beurrage occurs. When they go in the oven, steam forces them apart causing the “puff”. If making a sourdough starter from scratch, you will need…

A devilish Tasmanian road trip Inside Hamilton Island’s latest hotel opening Cruising around the subcontinent Neil Perry’s global guide to dining out I HAVE A CONFESSION TO MAKE. I’VE BEEN writing about food and travel for 20 years, and for most of this time, I had no idea what a “good restaurant” really meant. I’ve written confidently about interior design, the menu, the execution of dishes, the wine list, the music, the atmosphere, sustainability credentials, my fellow diners, the service. Until recently, though, I failed to think about how a restaurant treats its people. But the fact is, whether we’re talking about institutional racism in the hiring process, sexual harassment in the kitchen or homophobic bullying in secretive staff WhatsApp messages, crummy workplace culture should render a restaurant immediately unpalatable.…

WE’RE MIDWAY THROUGH A TOUR OF Tropical Spice Plantation in central Goa, where parakeets flit in the treetops and we’re told to keep our eyes peeled for monkeys. Our guide, Pooja, is pointing to a fruit shaped like a pear, the colour of autumn leaves, and with a curled brown tail protruding from its base. We’ve already seen peppercorns growing on vines, the bark that will become cinnamon, and the vanilla pods that grow from flowers painstakingly hand-pollinated with toothpicks. “This is cashew fruit,” says Pooja. “That curved part attached to the bottom is the nut: every fruit has just one.” She explains the laborious process of removing the prized nut and I vow to appreciate every single cashew henceforth. There’s a flurry of discussion in my group, a mini-busload…

While there’s no category (yet) for Best Soundtrack in our Restaurant Awards, you don’t need to be Mozart to know that music is key. The playlist matters, but even more fundamental is the delivery. In a world where tunes have been hijacked by Big Tech, it’s a delight to know there are still mavericks out there. Jack Pitt and Ross Giblin are long-time collaborators on the art and science of loudspeakers. Painstakingly handcrafted in Tasmania, their designs furnish some of the finest dining establishments around. This thoughtfully scaled-down version, complete with solid bronze waveguide, means you can pop on some grooves and turn any meal at home into a feast for all the senses. How’s that for sound advice? Pitt & Giblin Superwax Mini speakers in Tasmanian Blackwood and Moss,…

State winner Lunetta ITALIAN Upstairs, 60 Red Hill Dr, Red Hill (02) 6262 3364 lunetta.au Price guide $$$ Bookings Essential Wheelchair access No Open Lunch Fri-Sat; Dinner Wed-Sat This landmark building first opened as the Carousel Restaurant in 1963, and sits atop Red Hill like a retro spaceship. It reopened in November under new owners following a dazzling renovation by design firm ACME (Gimlet, Margaret), with Lunetta Trattoria serving more casual fare at ground level and a separate fine-dining offering upstairs. Here, executive chef Tristan Rebbettes oversees a polished, Italian-ish menu with many dishes cooked over flames in the open kitchen. An icy Martini served on a silver tray is an excellent start, followed by thick hunks of molasses-glazed sourdough with whipped Pepe Saya butter and a precise beef tartare…

State winner Staġuni MEDITERRANEAN Marananga School, 457 Seppeltsfield Rd, Marananga 0401 943 223 staguni.com.au Price guide $$$ Bookings Recommended Wheelchair access Yes Open Lunch Fri-Mon; Dinner Thu Housed in the 1922 Marananga Primary School building, this artfully restored Barossa dining room offers generous communal plates inspired by chef Clare Falzon’s Maltese roots and childhood meals at her grandmother’s house. Tables are piled with hobz biz-zejt (thick slices of bread with olive oil, tomato and capers). A tumble of thinly sliced beef with white anchovy mayonnaise, sunflower seeds, currants and fresh mint is like a North African reboot of a classic Italian vitello tonnato, while mussels in Gorgonzola and white wine sauce are a slurp-fest of impressive depth and flavour. The wine offering is scrawled on a large blackboard encompassing European…