Gourmet Traveller reveals Canberra’s best restaurant
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Australian foodie bible Gourmet Traveller last night unveiled the winners its 2023 Restaurant Awards, and Ainslie’s Pilot has taken out Canberra’s top spot for the second year running.
Pilot has been impressing critics and diners alike since opening in September 2019—just six months before the pandemic—and has weathered two lockdowns. Almost instantly it was propelled to the top of the ‘must eat’ list – an innovative, ever-changing menu, cracking wine list and unassuming attitude have kept it there.
Gourmet Traveller praised chef Malcolm Hanslow’s “clever interplay between familiarity and surprise” and sommelier James Dickson-Hoyle’s “wine list and beverage matching skills”, calling the experience, “Effortless, but also staggeringly considered.”
Pilot owners Ross McQuinn and Dash Rumble. Photograph: Ashley St George
Two other Canberra restaurants weren’t quite so lucky. Onzieme in Kingston missed out on being named Best New Restaurant—a gong taken by Neil Perry’s new Double Bay diner Margaret, which was also named the NSW state winner of Restaurant of the Year. Burleigh Heads’ bar Paloma edged out Bar Rochford to be named best wine bar.
In deciding the awards, Gourmet Traveller singled out a winner from each state, which went on to become a finalist for the national Restaurant of the Year award. South Australia’s Restaurant Botanic took out the nation’s top honour.
Full profiles of all the winners, along with the full 2023 Restaurant Guide, feature in the October issue of Gourmet Traveller, on sale on Thursday.
Shop 5/6 Wakefield Gardens, Ainslie | pilotrestaurant.com
Feature image: Lean Timms
