The winners of the 2022 Restaurant & Catering Awards for Excellence in Victoria and Queensland have been announced and among the winners are at least two Greek restaurants and one Greek Australian chef.
In Victoria, Mavs Greek Restaurant at Geelong won the award for ‘Best Greek Restaurant’ over finalists Alatonero at McCrae and Eleni’s Kitchen + Bar at Yarraville.
In Queensland, Santorini Restaurant Grill Bar at Newstead also won ‘Best Greek Restaurant.’ They beat two finalists: Nostimo at South Brisbane and Xenia Grill at Coolangatta.
In a post on Instagram, the owners of Santorini Restaurant Grill Bar expressed their joy at winning the award just over one year after opening.
“What a great team, from our chefs to the front of house, passionate people fully committed to share with the community the Greek traditions, through food, music and dance!” the post read.
At the Queensland awards ceremony, Michael Tassis was also named ‘Restaurateur of the Year’ and in a post on social media, he thanked everyone for their support.
“I’m so humbled and grateful for this recognition. The team at Rest Catering are all doing such amazing things for our industry,” Michael said in the post.
While the 2022 Restaurant & Catering Awards for Excellence have been finalised in Victoria and Queensland, the award ceremonies for New South Wales (September 19), South Australia (August 22), the Northern Territory (August 29) and the Australian Capital Territory (September 12) are still to come.
There are a number of Greek restaurants named as finalists in these awards as well.
In NSW, JAAKS Restaurant & Bar at Kyle Bay, Koutouki at Leichardt and The Apollo at Elizabeth Bay have all been named finalists in the ‘Best Greek Restaurant’ category, whilst Bill Drakopoulos’ The Fenwick at Balmain East is up for ‘Best Contemporary Australian Restaurant – Informal’ and Cafe Leura at Leura is in the running to win ‘Best Cafe Dining.’
In South Australia, Agapi Greek Cuisine at Hyde Park, Eleni’s at Renmark and ESTIA Restaurant at Henley Beach have all been named finalists in the ‘Best Greek Restaurant’ category; Kalymnos Pastries at Torrensville is in the running to win ‘Best Patisserie / Bakery / Dessert Bar’; George Diakomichalis from Kalymnos Pastries and Jim Symonakis from Eleni’s are finalists in the ‘Chef of the Year’ award; and in the running for ‘Front of House Employee of the Year’ are Alexandra Bouyessis from Kalymnos Pastries and Phillipa Dyer and Vanessa Mcglinchey from Eleni’s.
To find out more about these finalists and the awards please visit this website: https://bit.ly/3QyFEvX.
*Please note: If you are a Greek-owned business or restaurant who won or is a finalist in the Awards, please send us an email to info@foreignlanguage.com.au.
