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The Sydney Morning Herald Good Food Guide 2016: Hatted chefs' highlights of the year

Wayside connection: Kylie Kwong in the rooftop garden at the Wayside Chapel.
Wayside connection: Kylie Kwong in the rooftop garden at the Wayside Chapel.Anna Kucera

As if getting a chef's hat or three wasn't enough. Jill Dupleix interrogates 10 of the 2016 Good Food Guide's hatted chef brigade about the other highlights of their year.

For Martin Benn of Sepia, the highlight of the year was his new Japanese ice-shaver – and that, in spite of leaping on stage at the World's 50 Best Awards in London to accept Sepia's gong as The One To Watch in June. For other 2016 Good Food Guide hatted chefs and restaurateurs, personal and professional highlights revealed simmering passions for travel, gin, natural wine, street food, cookbooks and community.

Carrot, oxtail and hibiscus served at Momofuku Seiobo.
Carrot, oxtail and hibiscus served at Momofuku Seiobo.Dominic Lorrimer
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Chef: Gus Armstrong, eightysix, Canberra

Hats: One

Highlight: "Dining at Momofuku Seiobo​ last week. Ben Greeno​ is gone. Richard Hargreave (sommelier) is gone. The pork buns are gone. The floor manager was calling the pass. They had three times the amount of staff. The new sommelier is 23. And it was f---ing amazing! Such a slick operation, with the coolest wine matches, coolest staff, coolest food. Hands down my favourite restaurant. 5 hats!"

Massimo Bottura inspired Jason Saxby.
Massimo Bottura inspired Jason Saxby.Paolo Terzi

Chef: Martin Benn of Sepia

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Hats: Three

Highlight: "My new kakigori ice-shaving machine from Japan. It's a real challenge to perfect the consistency and density of the flake for a new dessert I am experimenting with for summer."

The Sydney Morning Herald Good Food Guide 2016, on sale from September 12.
The Sydney Morning Herald Good Food Guide 2016, on sale from September 12.Supplied

Chef: Andy Evans, Spice Temple

Hats: Two

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Highlight: "Holding the very first copy of the Spice Temple cookbook in my hands. Working on it [with Neil Perry] was a monumental task; and so much more difficult than I had ever thought it would be. I was really nervous about seeing the final product, but now I am ecstatic." (Spice Temple will be published in October by Lantern, RRP $69.99.)

Martin Benn's kakigori ice shaver.
Martin Benn's kakigori ice shaver.Vicki Wild

Restaurateur-sommelier: Nick Hildebrandt, Bentley Restaurant & Bar, Monopole, Yellow

Hats: Two, one and one

Highlight: "The arrival of our 2014 Lucy Margaux Bentley Barrel Pinot Noir from Anton Von Klopper​ in the Adelaide Hills in February. The wine is bright, perfumed and full of energy. It's so alive – and really represents how far Aussie pinot has come in the last decade."

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Chef: Dan Hong, Mr. Wong & Ms G's

Hats: Two and one

Highlight: "It has to be my recent trip to Ho Chi Minh City. I hadn't been to Vietnam in over 12 years and it was just so inspiring. Everything I ate was unbelievable, from all types of sea snails on the side of the street, to banh mi op la (Vietnam's version of the full English breakfast), banh xeo (pancakes with jungle herbs), and noodle soups like bun rieu​ and bun mam. It made me realise that Vietnamese food is the freshest, most balanced and delicious cuisine in the world."

Chef: Kylie Kwong, Billy Kwong​

Hats: Two

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Highlight: "Having regular connections, collaborations and relationships with my new friends and colleagues of The Wayside Chapel and St Canice Parish in Kings Cross has definitely been the highlight of my year. These folk bring such positivity, hope and light into our local community. They constantly remind me of what is 'real' and of what is truly important."

Chef: Joe Pavlovich, Glass Brasserie & Luke Mangan Group

Hats: One

Highlight: "Visiting the Maldives and Sri Lanka for the first time this year was an eye-opening experience. Their fresh local crab, lobster and seafood was just stunning, effortlessly executed and simply cooked with spices over wood or coal."

Chef: Michael Rantissi, Kepos Street Kitchen and Kepos & Co

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Hats: One

Highlight: "Discovering Gabriel Boudier Saffron Gin from France, infused with saffron, lemon peel, fennel seed and coriander. It's hard to find a saffron gin that isn't overly zesty, but this is beautifully herby and gently spicy. It's beautiful in our Persian Night cocktail with cinnamon and pear."

Chef: Jason Saxby, Osteria di Russo & Russo

Hats: One

Highlight: "Cooking with [celebrated Italian chef] Massimo Bottura​ at Balla, late last year. Seeing how people react to his food and cooking, his words and his passion was inspiring. It gave me the confidence to do what I wanted, which was to incorporate my curiosity and passion for native Australian ingredients into my love of Italian flavours and preparations."

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Chef: Nino Zoccali, The Restaurant Pendolino​ and La Rosa

Hats: One

Highlight: "The biggest revelations of the year for me happened on a trip to the regions bordering Italy, Slovenia and Croatia. The first was the Vitovska​ white wine of Carso, Trieste, in Italy; a stunning indigenous local white wine rarely seen outside Trieste. The second was the quality of the premium extra virgin olive oils now being produced in Croatia, often with a blend of indigenous olive varieties and Tuscan varieties such as frantoio​ and leccino. Amazing."

The Sydney Morning Herald Good Food Guide 2016 will be available for $10 with the Herald this Saturday. It can also be purchased in selected bookshops and online at smhshop.com.au/smhgfg2016 for $24.99.

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