The great restaurant renaissance

After a couple of fairly miserable years, many Australians are feeling excited and confident enough to head out and enjoy everything their cities have to offer – including dining out. In fact, we believe there are a number of factors that are pointing to what could become the great restaurant renaissance.

The pandemic has taught us to value so many things that we used to take for granted. We believe there’s now a pent up demand for socialising with friends and family. We could be witnessing the beginning of a new roaring 20s as Australians look to indulge and celebrate a return to a slightly more normal way of life. Restaurants are perfectly placed to capitalise on this trend.

From robots delivering food to online ordering systems, there’s been no shortage of innovative technologies lately in the restaurant world (driven in part by the pandemic). One example of such a technology is Doshii, which promises to boost workplace efficiency by connecting a restaurants’ point of sale system to ordering platforms such as Mr Yum and Uber Eats. This helps ensure there is no double handling of orders, easing pressure on staff – allowing them to focus on delivering great customer service rather than standing behind a computer or relaying orders to the kitchen.

The pandemic gave food delivery apps a big boost and that may continue to work in restaurants’ favour. While we believe people will crave the dining experience, they will also be more likely to order delivery than they were pre-pandemic thanks to increased familiarity with delivery apps such as Deliveroo and Menulog. Plus, there’s also been new services launched such as Providoor, where some of Australia’s best restaurants offer ‘finish at home’ meals. This means you order from the website and receive your box of food with it all prepped, and all you need to do is heat it up or assemble it. This has opened up delivery as an option for some of Australia’s fine dining restaurants.

While everyone is keen to jump back into normal life, the pandemic is not going away just yet. This was evidenced earlier in the year with the major staffing issues caused by the initial Omicron wave. So, although restaurants were freed of many restrictions, some were still forced to close or restrict patrons due to staff shortages. A big question many restaurant owners will have is: what happens if there is another wave? One thing that may ease some of those concerns is recent changes to isolation rules. For example, in Victoria, household contacts do not have to isolate if they have had Covid in the past 8 weeks. It’s expected that isolation rules will continue to ease (although as with anything pandemic-related, nothing is certain).

Let’s get out there and help support the local dining scene! To help us decide where to eat, we took a look at Broadsheet’s recent list of top restaurants in Melbourne. The restaurants listed define and capture the essence of Melbourne, from buzzing wine bars and more casual eateries.

And, there’s a new one that’s just opened that we know is absolutely amazing!

The great restaurant renaissance

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