Red Hill’s Tedesca Osteria has claimed top honours at the Gourmet Traveller Restaurant Awards, taking out Restaurant of the Year for the first time on a night that saw Victoria bag three of seven national awards – more than any other state.
Staged in an early 20th-century weatherboard farmhouse, chef and owner Brigitte Hafner’s intimate slow lunches have turned heads since Tedesca’s opening in early 2020, earning her the magazine’s top gong from a strong field that included Hobart’s Fico and Saint Peter in Sydney. “Tedesca sprung from something I’d been thinking about for a long time,” says Hafner. “I grew it in my heart, from my thoughts, from conversations and how I like to cook.”
Andrew McConnell’s newest project Gimlet was crowned Best New Restaurant, meanwhile, and Jung Eun Chae of Melbourne’s six-seater apartment restaurant, Chae, took out Best New Talent, rounding out an incredible evening for Victorian talent that follows a torrid 20 months for the restaurant industry.
For details of all the night’s winners, see the November issue of Gourmet Traveller, or visit gourmettraveller.com.au.