All eyes will be on Melbourne tonight, when the Australian city hosts the annual World’s 50 Best Restaurant Awards.
Make no mistake: Canberra may be the seat of Australia’s government but Melbourne is without a doubt the country’s foodie capital. Or as local restaurateur Andrew McConnell told the Evening Standard: “Twenty years ago it was a rite of passage for young Australian chefs to earn their stripes working in Europe. Now what we’re seeing is European, American and Asian chefs coming here. It’s a very exciting time for Melbourne.”
Scores of leading chefs and food commentators will be making their way to Melbourne’s Royal Exhibition Building this evening, for what has been dubbed the Oscars of the food industry.
It’s the first time that the awards have been held in Australia and only the second time they have been held outside London. The coup can largely be attributed to Tourism Australia - a World Travel Awards’ 2016 winner - which was heavily involved in bringing the World’s Best 50 awards night, Down Under.
This year’s awards event coincides with the 25th Melbourne Food and Wine Festival and will be streamed live to Federation Square, the world's first public screening.
And for good reason: the World’s 50 Best Restaurants Awards has built up a reputation for being the greatest food show on earth, with past winners such as Spain’s El Bulli (the first number one) rocketing from relative obscurity to global recognition almost overnight. Elsewhere Denmark’s Noma famously had 100,000 people trying to book a table the day after it won top spot.
The awards are determined by the votes of a body of almost 1100 chefs, restaurateurs, food media and global gourmets. Each member can cast 10 votes - of which four must be for restaurants outside of their home region. Members can only vote for restaurants they have visited in the past 18 months.
For the full low-down, visit www.theworlds50best.com
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