Event: Monday August 27, 2018

THE WINNERS have been announced in the tenth annual Time Out Sydney Food Awards.

The awards celebrate Sydney's best restaurants in the areas of fine dining, casual dining, cheap eats and cafés.

Paddington seafood restaurant restaurant ​Saint Peter​ was named ​Restaurant of the Year at a packed celebration at ​12-Micron​ in Barangaroo on Monday night, attended by hospitality heavyweights as well as Time Out readers.

Saint Peter's wunderkind chef, ​Josh Niland​, was also named ​Chef of the Year​.

"Saint Peter heralds a new age of seafood dining in Australia,” said Time Out's National Food & Drink Editor, Emily Lloyd-Tait. "Josh Niland is opening our eyes to what can be done with fish, and he's also educating us to eat better and more sustainably when it comes to the fruits of the sea.”

In accepting the award for Restaurant of the Year, Niland paid tribute to the dedication of his team and drew warm applause from the crowd of 350 guests.

A sea change of another sort was signalled with Time Out's award for ​Best Degustation​. The all-vegetarian tasting menu by Potts Point fine diner ​Yellow​ was named best of the year, in another popular decision.

At the other end of the scale, Rosebery Vietnamese diner ​Banh Xeo Bar​ was judged ​Best Cheap Eat​, while ​Edition Coffee Roasters Haymarket ​won ​Best Café​.

Modern Korean offering ​Paper Bird​ in Potts Point won the award for ​Best Casual Dining Restaurant, ​making good on its victory last year in the​ ​New Restaurant category, while ​Best New Restaurant ​for 2018 was Clayton (Automata) Wells' new Chippendale offshoot ​A1 Canteen​.

Top Sydney chefs were polled on their selections for the​ Hot Talent Award​ – an award for up-and-coming chefs considered likely to be the culinary stars of tomorrow. (Previous Hot Talent Award winners include Mitch Orr, Daniel Puskas, Daniel Pepperell, Mike Eggert, Jenna Whiteman and Analiese Gregory.) This year, ​Ahana Dutt​ from Lennox Hastie's Firedoor​ took the prize.

The ​Legend Award​ this year was given to the Surry Hills restaurant that has revolutionised Thai food in Sydney, ​Spice I Am​.

To choose the Food Awards winners, Time Out critics scoured Sydney's restaurant scene, dining anonymously and paying for their meals. However, Time Out readers also had the chance to vote for their favourite restaurant in the ​People's Choice​ award.

Their selection? The Haymarket outpost of restaurant ​Ho Jiak​, where excellent Malaysian cuisine is punked up with the likes KFC and Indomie packet noodles.

Attendees at the Time Out Food Awards 2018 were greeted with beers by ​Gage Roads Brewing Co​, Old Fashioneds made with​ Starward ​whisky, and fine wines from the ​Jacob's Creek Barossa Signature​ collection. Delicious snacks came courtesy of the ​12-Micron kitchen.

Deputy Lord Mayor Jess Miller​ and ​TIme Out MD Michael Rodrigues​ introduced the evening by talking about City of Sydney initiative to eliminate drinking straws in the hospitality industry, ​Sydney Doesn't Suck​.

Following the formal part of the evening ​everyone received a copy of the ​Time Out Magazine​ spring Food Awards issue. The free magazine will be given out this Thursday August 30 at Central Station, Parramatta Station and Wynyard Station, and on Friday August 31 on Pitt Street near Martin Place and at Newtown Station.

Reviews of all the award winners and nominees can also be read online at timeout.com/sydney​.
FULL LIST OF NOMINEES AND WINNERS:

Best Café Edition Coffee Roasters Haymarket - WINNER The General Eatery and Supplies Goodbye Horses Joseph Hyde Morris

Best Cheap Eat Banh Xeo Bar - WINNER Gogyo Ho Jiak Haymarket
Spicy Joint Wish Bone

Best New Restaurant A1 Canteen - WINNER Bert's Chula Juan Bowl and Tea Moon

Best Casual Dining Restaurant Paper Bird - WINNER Hartsyard LP's Quality Meats Saint Peter Yan

Best Degustation Yellow - WINNER Aria Automata Momofuku Seiobo Sixpenny

Hot Talent Award Ahana Dutt, Firedoor - WINNER James MacDonald, Hubert Eilish Maloney, Saint Peter Tim Mifsud, Quay Cian Mulholland, Momofuku Seiobo

Chef of the Year Josh Niland, Saint Peter - WINNER Eun Hee An and Ben Sears, Paper Bird Joel Bickford, Aria Daniel Puskas, Sixpenny Jordan Toft, Bert's

Restaurant of the Year Saint Peter - WINNER Aria Bert's Billy Kwong Ester Fred's Hubert
Paper Bird Sixpenny Yellow

People's Choice Award Ho Jiak Haymarket - WINNER

Legend Award Spice I Am - WINNER

NOTES FOR EDITORS:

● Time Out is the global what's on brand that began in London in 1968 and now has websites/magazines in 109 cities worldwide. Time Out Sydney launched in 2007.

● Time Out reviews restaurants, cafés, bars and pubs anonymously and independently and pays for meals.

● Time Out Sydney holds separate annual awards events for Restaurants and Bars.

● Previous winners of the Restaurant of the Year Award are Ester (2017), Hubert (2016), ACME (2015), Ester (2014), Sixpenny (2013), Momofuku Seiobo (2012), Berowra Waters Inn (2011), Rockpool (2010) and Marque (2009).

● The peer-nominated Hot Talent Award is for a young chef not yet in charge of a kitchen whom Time Out predicts will be a culinary star of tomorrow.

Contact Person: Shelley Strauss - Marketing and Activations Executive Email : shelley.strauss@au.timeout.com Number: 03 8415 8003