Presenting the finalists for Restaurant Personality of the Year
Next month, we will reveal our winners and the full guide to Australia’s best restaurants at a glamorous gala evening at The IXL Atrium, Henry Jones Art Hotel in Tasmania and in our September issue.
To make sure you receive a copy, delivered to your door, subscribe now at magshop.com.au.
And the nominees are…
Alice Tremayne | Corner 75
Sydney | NSW
There are many styles of restaurant service. Showy. Chummy. Formal. Each of them has their place, but there’s one style that can perhaps be described as the Goldilocks of them all: the understated, easy professionalism demonstrated by Alice Tremayne, restaurant manager at Corner 75. “She makes every guest feel genuinely welcome, but never with the need to be loud or overbearing,” says one former colleague. To customers at the Hungarian-Australian restaurant, she’s like your most dependable friend: the one who places your plate just so, catches the candle flame before it flickers too low,
and is always pleased when you walk through the door.
In short: A poised professional who fills a room with true warmth.
Angie Giannakodakis | Taverna
Melbourne | VIC
The Melbourne dining scene would be a poorer place without Angie Giannakodakis. She’s obviously done great things for Hellenic cuisine and culture in Melbourne, working in iconic Greek restaurants (The Press Club), owning others (Epocha, Elyros, Taverna), always present with wit, wisdom and brilliant advice about which Greek wine will go best with your fasolakia. But Giannakodakis is a consummate hospitality geek too, one who thinks deeply about the industry. Her measured championing of issues like the importance of business skills and staff mental health have been as effective as her efforts to raise public appreciation of assyrtiko.
In short: The love for hospitality is strong in this one.
Benn and Mork Ratanakosol | Minima
Canberra | ACT
Brothers Benn and Mork Ratanakosol grew up in the restaurant trade, with their parents running successful Thai diner Sukothai in Yarralumla for almost 20 years. They branched out with Kingston venue Morks – Mork in the kitchen and Benn on the floor – before opening sleek pan-Asian wine bar Mínima in 2024. Riffing on “third culture” cuisine balancing Thai and Chinese flavours with Euro techniques, they bring passion and experience to Canberra’s food scene. Beloved by the local hospo community, a visit to their 22-seater is like dropping into a friend’s place, warm and welcoming.
In short: Talented brothers make a brilliant double act.
Sarah Hollway | Salopian Inn
McLaren Vale | SA
After 38 years in hospitality, the last 11 at McLaren Vale’s Salopian Inn, Sarah Hollway hasn’t skipped a beat. Watching her work a room is a thing to behold, her superpower a well-honed ability to gauge the level of contact and banter each diner is willing to enjoy. If the answer is “high” expect copious local knowledge and belly laughs. Workplace satisfaction is written all over her face. “I love it that co-owners Karena Armstrong and Alex Marchetti are both so inspirational and I feel like part of a family,” she says. After a few hours in Holloway’s hands, diners do too.
In short: Decades of digging deep at McLaren Vale’s community institution.
Ryan de Villiers | Wildflower
Perth | WA
It’s a good thing Ryan de Villiers dropped out of his degree. It’s a good thing he spent a gap year in the UK and fell in love with hospitality, prompting a return to his homeland of Zimbabwe to attend hotel school. And it’s a good thing that he’s now in Perth overseeing Wildflower, Como The Treasury’s marquee dining room. A warm, knowledgeable and deeply engaging presence, de Villiers’ blend of professionalism and personality mirrors Wildflower’s polished, future-classic Australian cuisine. He clearly loves his work, as do diners (re)discovering a restaurant entering a promising new era.
In short: Good things come to those who wait.
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