The winners of the Eat Drink Design Awards have been named for 2023, representing the most exceptional, innovative and beautiful hospitality venues in Australia. The Award winners are at the forefront of design in the realm of restaurants, bars, cafes, hotels and food retail destinations, and together they act as a prism through which the dining and cultural habits of Australians can be surveyed.
The winners are an illustration of Australia’s status as a “world-leading” country in hospitality design, and provide a roadmap to the most compellingly designed places in which to eat, drink and commune.
The Eat Drink Design Awards jury explained the strength of the entries in this year’s Awards along with the major themes that emerged from the winners.
“There was a diverse aesthetic in this year’s winners expressing a lot of individuality, suggesting clients have allowed their design teams to lean into strong concepts and narratives. Plenty of examples of ambitious interiors offer complete sensory experiences, drama and bespoke craftsmanship.
“The very high level of design execution and attention to detail deserves extra praise this year, given the social and economic climate these works have occurred within. The judges applauded those designs that took risks and tried something innovative; yet at the same time, they praised designs that spoke softly and will likely retain relevance for decades in an industry with a proclivity for impermanence.”
In a huge coup for NSW’s hospitality design sector, four out of the seven award winners were Sydney venues – Best Restaurant Design joint winners, Best Café Design and Best Hotel Design:
Joint winners for Best Restaurant Design, Beau and Dough by Smart Design Studio and Kiln, Ace Hotel Sydney by Fiona Lynch Interior Design are separated by a short five-minute walk in the city of Sydney. The dual winners, which are very different from one another, provide guests with stunning new spaces to drink and dine. Beau and Dough deftly handled the design of two separate venues in one, and the jury were impressed by its confident sense of permanence and timeless aesthetics. The jurors observed Kiln, Ace Hotel Sydney represented a new standard in high-quality hotel dining in the city of Sydney. Its lofty heights and loving nods to its historical site – as Australia’s oldest known ceramic kiln in the 1820s – secured its shared triumph.
S’wich Bondi by Studio Shand on Bondi Beach was awarded Best Café Design for its effortless confluence of urban chic and Bondi’s laid-back culture, with loving updates to the Art Deco building. A worthy gem for one of Australia’s most iconic neighbourhoods.
South Australian suburban bar Dolly by Genesin Studio took home Best Bar Design for its innovative, bold design and tactile materiality.
Best Hotel Design winner, Capella Sydney by Bar Studio is a stellar example of adaptive reuse; a government building painstakingly restored and given a new lease on life with a variety of hospitality spaces.
Le Tao’s flagship store by K. Holland Architectural Interiors encapsulates the soul of Japanese design. Its commitment to minimalism, geometry and raw stone materials established it as a clear winner of the Best Retail Design category.
Kōri Ice Cream by Principle Design was named winner in the Best Identity Design category. The jury delighted in its bombastic aesthetics that eschewed the typical ice creamery aesthetics.
The Award Eat Drink Design Awards winners for 2023 are:
- Best Restaurant Design – Beau and Dough by Smart Design Studio, Surry Hills (NSW)
- Best Restaurant Design (joint winner) – Kiln, Ace Hotel Sydney by Fiona Lynch Interior Design, Sydney (NSW)
- Best Café Design – S’wich Bondi by Studio Shand, Bondi Beach (NSW)
- Best Bar Design – Dolly by Genesin Studio, Unley (SA)
- Best Hotel Design – Capella Sydney by Bar Studio, Sydney (NSW)
- Best Retail Design – Le Tao by K. Holland Architectural Interiors, Melbourne (Victoria)
- Best Identity Design – Kōri Ice Cream by Principle Design, Hawthorn (Victoria).
In addition, one landmark venue is honoured with induction into the Hall of Fame. The accolade recognises enduring excellence in the design of a hospitality venue of more than 10 years standing. In 2023, Bistro Moncur (1993) by Tzannes was named the latest addition to this venerated list of iconic dining destinations. Bistro Moncur joins previous Eat Drink Design Awards Hall of Fame inductees such as Pellegrini’s, Bills Darlinghurst, Cafe Di Stasio, Cumulus Inc., Cookie and Icebergs.
