Food is food and booze is booze, but both of these glorious gifts from the heavens are always made better if the surrounds are designed to punch you in the face with panache, and then gently guide you through your experience in a habitat of nice things. Last night, the Eat Drink Design Awards took place in Melbourne to celebrate the very best of hospitality interiors from Australia and New Zealand.
Top gong for Best Café Design went to Higher Ground in Melbourne, with design team DesignOffice being lauded by judges for "considerable restraint in defining the space, creating a host of experiences at different levels" where "each occupant is rewarded with a different voyeuristic perspective on the gathered crowd."
The Best Bar Design went to Adelaide this year, with bin-alley turned log cabin booze vendor Pink Moon Saloon taking out the top prize. Judges praised the bar for being completely sustainable, which can be taken down and returned to its former function at any time, and by the fact the design by Sans-Arc Studio "taps into that deep Australian memory of long-forgotten cubby houses and sheds."
Heston Blumenthal's first permanent digs in Australia, Dinner by Heston in Melbourne, clinched the award for Best Restaurant Design, with the judges frothing on the feeling that "you are somewhere special, and special things are about to happen." Praise went to designers Bates Smart for "eschewing the brittle formality that can accompany the high-end gastronomic experience," and instead aiming for something that is "equal parts theatrical and delightful."
Best Retail Design went to Lune Croissanterie in Fitzroy, crafter by the team from Studio Esteta, and Pink Moon Saloon took out their second gold in the Best Identity Design Category. Sydneysiders featured heavily in the shortlists, but didn't take any top awards this year. Il Bacaro in Melbourne was also inducted into the Hall of Fame, with the team from Chris Connell Design taking their place among the antipodean design legends.
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