The Winners of the 2025 Eat Drink Design Awards Have Been Revealed

Last month, the shortlist for the annual Eat Drink Design Awards comprised 64 Australian and New Zealand venues with exceptional design. On the list were compact wine bars, reinvigorated pubs and a fancy butcher. And the overarching design trend for 2025 was clear: a whole lotta steel.

Now, the winners have been announced.

Best Restaurant Design went to Latin American diner Norte at Mermaid Beach on the Gold Coast, while Bar Julius at the recently opened Eve Hotel in Sydney took out Best Bar Design.

A solid showing from Melbourne saw Palace Coffee in the CBD win Best Cafe Design. Suupaa in Cremorne, with its Japanese konbini inspired fit-out, snagged awards for Best Identity Design and Best Retail Design. The highly competitive Best Hotel Design award went to Melbourne Place.

Sydney Greek diner The Apollo was also inducted into the Eat Drink Design Awards Hall of Fame – joining other Sydney institutions Bills Darlinghurst and Bistro Moncur.

The year’s jury includes Entrecote and Hopper Joint founder Jason M Jones, Good Food’s national restaurant editor Callan Boys, Ritz and Ghougassian director Jean-Paul Ghougassian, Nice Projects co-founder Simone McEwan, and Interiors AU editor and jury chair Cassie Hansen.

“Many winners … impressed the jury with their rich materiality, using woods and fabrics sourced locally and used liberally,” Hansen said in a statement. “The jury was delighted by this homage to Australia – using local materials to express the Australian identity but without any pretence.”

Here’s the full list of winners:

Best Bar Design: Bar Julius by SJB (Redfern, NSW)
Best Restaurant Design: Norte by J.AR Office (Mermaid Beach, Qld)
Best Cafe Design: Palace Coffee by Kerry Kounnapis Architecture Practice (Melbourne, Vic)
Best Hotel Design: Melbourne Place by Kennedy Nolan (Melbourne, Vic)
Best Retail Design: Suupaa by IF Architecture (Cremorne, Vic)
Best Identity Design: Suupaa by A Friend of Mine (Cremorne, Vic)

eat-drink-design.com