Everyone Who Won at Our First Annual Awards Night

Last night, on the first day of summer, some of Sydney’s favourite venues, from Hot Listed newcomers like Olympic Meats and Silver’s Motel to icons like Ormeggio and Saint Peter, gathered at Baba’s Place in Marrickville. It was the ideal debut for the inaugural edition of Best of 2025 – an end-of-year celebration of Sydney’s hospitality industry and the people, places and dishes that defined it in 2025.

In the past, our annual Best of Broadsheet round-ups have lived exclusively online. They’re always a nice opportunity to reflect on the previous 12 months. But in a year as monumental as 2025, filled with landmark openings and milestone moments for the city’s institutions, it was time to go bigger.

“This is really an opportunity to have a party before you all go into the hardest slog of the year,” said Broadsheet editorial director Katya Wachtel in a speech on the night.

“It’s a tough industry, but you all make it look seamless. We love your venues, a lot of our memories are at your venues, and we celebrate in your venues, and our cities would not be what they are without you.

“So thank you for everything that you do, and we can’t wait to keep writing about you next year.”

These are the venues – and people – that took home Best of 2025 awards on the night.

Hottest of the Year: Grandfathers

Broadsheet’s Hot List, which launched late last year, spotlights the venues defining Sydney drinking and dining right now. There are plenty of well-established favourites on the list, but many more are new. And this year – from Homer and Sakura House to Bessie’s and Corner 75, just to name a few – we had a lot to choose from.

“It always feels like a really big year in hospo, but 2025 has felt particularly large,” said Broadsheet’s Sydney food and drink editor, Grace MacKenzie. “I’ve definitely had my work cut out for me keeping up with everything that you guys are doing.

“I feel incredibly fortunate to do the work that I do, but more so – I feel incredibly fortunate to eat in Sydney.”

And among such a crowded field of new and delicious venues in town to choose from this year, one venue stood out in contention for the Hottest of the Year award, proudly sponsored by Kia.

“Our Hottest of the Year is going to a CBD restaurant from a team whose latest restaurant moved away from the cuisine that we know them for, and it was also their largest,” said MacKenzie. “Even though it was different in so many ways, the service, the delivery, the attention to detail – and also the attention to fun – was all there.

“Our Hottest of the Year is Grandfathers.”

Accepting the award, co-owner Andy Tyson said, “This is the first thing we’ve ever won, I think”.

“Thank you to our staff, our customers, our parents, our partners and our industry colleagues here,” said Tyson. “We think that Sydney should be up there with London, Paris and New York as one of the great dining cities of the world – and I think everyone in this room is making that a reality.”

People’s Choice: Olympus Dining

In 2025, one restaurant on The Hot List – and the rest of the site – was a clear favourite: Olympus Dining, the smash-hit restaurant whose opening a year ago arguably kickstarted Sydney’s Greek revival this year.

It wasn’t just one of the most popular stories of the year when we published it. If anything, Olympus only got more attention from Broadsheet readers as the year went on.

“If you ask me, the best experience of a restaurant is somewhere where you can step inside and lose track of time,” said Broadsheet’s national assistant editor Lucy Bell Bird.

“That’s really exemplified by our People’s Choice recipient tonight, which combines this beautiful feeling of escapism, with pared-back and beautifully prepared Greek food.”

It was a full-circle moment for Olympus head chef Ozge Kalvo. Prior to joining Olympus, she worked in the kitchen at Baba’s Place, and a framed photo of her parents adorns the dining room.

“I’m very glad we make you feel like that – this is our purpose,” said Kalvo, accepting the award. “And receiving this in front of my parents’ photo, here? I had an amazing time here, and being at Olympus is great, and this year has been great. Thank you.”

The Ten-Year Club

This year was even bigger than usual for milestone birthdays. On Monday night, the Ten-Year Club Awards, proudly sponsored by Nab, acknowledged the restaurants and bars that celebrated a decade of trade this year.

“Our first recipient needs very little introduction,” said Dan Cunningham, Broadsheet’s features editor (food and drink). “It was one of the hottest restaurants in Sydney then, as it is today.

“Everybody give it up for Firedoor.”

Firedoor chef-owner Lennox Hastie accepted the award, saying, “Thank you very much, really I was not expecting it. It’s so amazing to see this room – so many new restaurants, so many new people I’ve never met before.

“Everyone in this room has a fire inside them – and that’s a passion for the industry. Whether it be front of house, whether it be the kitchen. Because it is a lot of work, but I love it. I loved it when I opened the restaurant, I love it now – I love it even more because I’ve a team of amazing people behind me. Ten years is a big year for me, not just because of that decade but also because I bought out my business partner, so it’s just me now, which is a little bit scary sometimes. But when you’re surrounded by great people, it’s really more rewarding than before. So thank you very much.”

Next up came Bennelong, the harbourside institution within the Sydney Opera House.

“I haven’t been with Bennelong for 10 years, but I have been for three years,” said restaurant manager Daniel Unterrainer. “It’s been quite outstanding to see what it was three years ago and what it is now – and after 10 years.”

“It’s an outstanding building with outstanding people, and people make the place. Not just the chefs, not just the front of house, everybody who’s there – all the guests – everybody that go there every single day. Thank you.”

This year Australia Street was one of the hottest stretches of town, courtesy of Paisano and Daughters opening Mister Grotto, Osteria Mucca and Joe’s Tavern in swift succession. But the strip’s success all builds off the foundations laid by the team’s original venue: Continental Deli, which also turned 10 this year. Owners Joe Valore, Annabella Valore, Elvis Abrahanowicz and Sarah Doyle couldn’t make it on the evening, but we’re proud to recognise their – and Continental’s – entry into the Ten-Year Club.

The final inductee to the Ten-Year Club was The Grifter, the Marrickville brewery that’s become ubiquitous around Sydney – and the country.

“I’ve seen this place build a community like no other in the inner west,” said Cunningham. “They brew some of the best beers, but they’re also the best people as well: please give it up for The Grifter Brewing Company.”

Co-owner Matt King, accepting the award, said, “I guess we just wanted to create a really safe and happy place for people to come and drink and come to work. I feel like we’ve done a pretty good job of that, and hopefully we continue doing it.

“We have a lot of customers in the room as well tonight, so without their support, I don’t think we would have got to where we are, so thank you very much.”

The Art of Service: Yiying Koay, Sang by Mabasa

As much as service is a precise science, it’s also an art – powered by the intangibles of warmth, caring, charisma and kindness. And few places in the world do service like Sydney does. For the Art of Service award, proudly sponsored by Square, the Broadsheet team asked a shortlist of venues with exceptional service to nominate a front-of-house team member for the award.

And though every nomination was truly excellent – a testament to the depth and breadth of service talent we have in this town – one stood out: Yiying Koay, a front-of-house team member at Surry Hills’ acclaimed Korean restaurant Sang by Mabasa.

“She’s evolved into an integral staff member who is loved by the team and most importantly, by every single person she comes across during her service,” wrote Sang co-owner, Kenny Son, in his nomination.

“She has taken further interest in the culture and the language that is not her own,” he continued. “Enough to communicate and understand in Korean, which I find to be outstanding.”

We couldn’t agree more.

“Sang is my first restaurant job,” Koay said on the night. “I was working at a coffee shop, but they were looking for someone and I needed something to do during the evening.

“So I went to the restaurant, sat down and talked to Kenny and then he just asked me to come in, and now it’s three years later.”

The priority for Koay’s service style is to match the warmth that emanates from Sang – and draws so many to it.

“It’s a family restaurant, it’s a mum and dad restaurant, so people come in for a home-cooked meal and it makes everyone so happy.

“I go in, get ready, and hopefully everyone that comes in feels comfortable.”

The Best of 2025 is proudly presented by Square, Kia, NAB and Four Pillars. The Hot List is proudly sponsored by Square.