The Eat Drink Design Awards are an annual event celebratinginnovation 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. Some we’ve tried, others are on the top of the list but all-in-all these are the places that are paving the way for great design in the hospitality category:

Best Bar

Garden State Hotel by Techne Architects

95 Flinders Lane, Melbourne 3000

“Design inspiration centres on a large cascading beer garden, a startling oasis in the middle of the CBD’s network of laneways”

Best Restaurant

Higher Ground by DesignOffice

650 Little Bourke St, Melbourne 3000

“The empty brick shell of the former power station was inhabited to create six new connected levels which wrap around the perimeter to form a suite of intimate tiered platforms”

Best Café

The Crux and Co by Architects EAT

35 Albert Rd, Melbourne 3000

“The Crux & Co design is inspired by form and materiality from the art deco, such as the curve expressions on the joinery metal work; the curved cork ceiling, and the window and door profiles”

Best Retail

Lune Croissanterie by Studio Esteta

119 Rose St, Fitzroy 3065

“The interior gestures were intentionally minimal and clinical. The rough and raw quality of the existing warehouse was retained creating contrast against the transparent ‘cube’ insertion that forms a shrine to the croissant”

Best Identity

Crisp by Under One Roof

Multiple stores around Melbourne

“Crisp needed a reinvigorated brand that would excite consumers to live a better life and eat fresh food more often.”

The winners will be announced on November 8th 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.

Architecture and Design: Eat Drink Design Awards 2016