The Eat Drink Design Awards are an annual event celebrating innovation and excellence in the design of hospitality premises of all scales and types, retail environments for the sale of food and beverages and visual identities for both. The program recognizes and celebrates Australia and New Zealand’s best projects, rewarding design achievement in six categories. From high-end restaurants and bars to offbeat hole-in-the-wall cafes and pop-ups, the awards are a unique forum for architects, designers and their clients to present their best new projects. It is the only awards program in Australasia dedicated to this specialist area.

We’ve selected our favourites from each category within our hometown of Melbourne (plus one extra outlier that we couldn't pass). With design being such a major part of hospitality success, it's exciting to see such strength in this area. Take a look at our picks:

Best Bar

Arlechin by Six Degrees Architects

Mornane Pl, Melbourne 3000

“What was once a store room for Guy Grossi's wine collection has now been transformed into a den-like drinking room for visitors. The space promotes intimacy and understated luxury”

Best Restaurant

Abacus by Architects EAT

383 Chapel St, South Yarra 3141

“The design of this space is expansive and inspired by civic and park seating arrangements in public spaces. You would never know this was once a rundown and grey bank. Your eyes can wander through all the layers of the space from concrete planter boxes to wooden banquette seating boxes with plenty of greenery in between"

Best Café

Au79 by Mim Design

27-29 Nicholson St, Abbotsford 3067

“What was once an old garage is now 'The Gardens of Babylon'. We love the use of bright, light colours and gold trimmings to make the space playful and enjoyable to be in”

Best Retail

The Kitchens by Landini Associates

Robina Town Centre, Queensland 4226

“This one slipped in even though it's not in Melbourne. We can't go past this food and beverage precinct with a design that melds together a food court, food market and factory into one making it an immersive space that showcases the best of food, makers and retailers ”

Best Identity

Salsa's by Juicy Design

Multiple stores

“Unexpected and unusual was the brief for this rebranding exercise. We love the playful take on fresh, fun and vibrant food. It is attractive, relevant and customer-specific, three factors that make identity design successful”

The winners will be announced on November 14th and we’re looking forward to seeing if any of the Future Food picks take home a prize. You can buy tickets to the event here.

To see more about the awards and see who previous winners were, you can visit the website as well as follow them on Facebook.

Credits - all images sourced from the Eat Drink Design Awards website