Carmody’s Restaurant at Southport Sharks has won the Best Contemporary Australian Restaurant – Informal Award at the 2020 Queensland & Northern Territory Restaurant & Catering Hostplus Awards for Excellence.
Restaurant Manager Socky Soares is delighted with the outcome.
“It is our honour to receive the best contemporary Australian restaurant award. It signifies all the hard work that our team has produced, particularly during a challenging year in hospitality. We’re delighted to add this to other recent awards including Best Wine List at the 2018 Wine List of the Year Awards along with Best Pub/Club Food at the 2018 Restaurant Industry Peer to Peer Awards.”
Head Chef Nathan Hay was also pleased with the result.
“Comfortable, inviting, nourishing and enticing are the mantras that guide our culinary way, and the tremendous support of our diners has ensured we can provide the distinct Carmody’s experience during these difficult times. Our passion for providing food that is bold, different and full of flavour is what drives us. We are honoured and humbled that the commitment and hard work of our staff have been recognised.”
More than 60 local restaurants, cafes and catering businesses gathered to celebrate the achievements of their peers who were judged in over 40 categories, with the winners announced at the Awards for Excellence ceremony held at Victoria Park.
The Awards for Excellence is a nationally recognised, independently judged awards program that celebrates exceptional service and culinary talent across the state. The Awards for Excellence is the only program in Australia where the judging criteria is determined by consumers who rank what is important to them in the dining experience.
The Awards are judged by an independent team of trained judges who anonymously visit the venues to determine the restaurant/café winners. The scores are based on the entire dining experience from food to the customer service experienced when the judges anonymously dine.
Caterers are assessed on all aspects of their catering business including operations, food, service, staffing and event/site outcomes to determine the catering category winners.
R&CA CEO Wes Lambert says, “Carmody’s Restaurant should be proud of their achievements. Running a hospitality business isn’t easy, especially during the COVID-19 pandemic – there’s a lot of effort and energy that goes into to making it work through a crisis. But when you get the right mix of staff, products, produce and service, the results can be extraordinary.”
R&CA is the industry association representing tens of thousands of restaurant and catering businesses across Australia. View the full list of category winners in the 2020 Australia Restaurant & Catering Hostplus Awards for Excellence.