Restaurant of the Year: Anzani New Mediterranean Restaurant
WITH Cebu experiencing the beginnings of a culinary renaissance, with a lot of new and exciting restaurants and food experiences, we felt the need to give recognition to one which is most geared to our hopes and expectations from the food community in this landmark award for Sun Star Cebu’s Best of Cebu Restaurant of the Year.
Since the beginning of the year, the panel has been welcoming nominations as well as scouring the city for our personal choices. There were no particular qualifications other than that these gave us great overall dining experiences. Shortlists were thoroughly discussed and, with considerable deliberation, further narrowed down to the final three for which we have tapped the expertise of an external panel of judges who have practical experience in the kitchen, on the restaurant floor and in the food industry at large. Care was also made to ensure that our selections for that panel had neither affiliations nor conflicts with the shortlisted establishments.
For this category, the shortlisted restaurants were rated for overall dining experience using a hundred-point rating system spread out over specific sub-criteria under Welcome and Departure Experience, Overall Ambience and Design, Food Experience and Service Experience.
Set magnificently overlooking the city, the restaurant’s elegance is coupled with an unexpected homey warmth and luxury — sophisticated but relaxed. An extensive menu lists stylishly upmarket gastronomic offerings at surprisingly reasonable price points. Meticulously curated three to six-courser sets available, with wines superbly matched, take away anxiety for the indecisive and make enjoying their glocal New Mediterranean cuisine thoroughly satisfying for anyone. Exquisitely cooked and presented, the food brims with fresh and stimulating flavors, if not exciting takes on classics. Well thought out assortments of serving ware and attentive, charming service add to the meals’ allure.
Last year’s Best Place To Enjoy Wine, Bellini, is an adjacent outdoor sister outfit keeping wines in Anzani’s underground wine cellar — one with a collection that had them in the running for Best Wine Selection, as well. Having declared their desire for excellence, we are delighted at how they have gone above and beyond expectations and set the bar high. Already awarded internationally — with a Michelin nomination, to boot, this time we give them validation from home.
Panorama Heights, Nivel Hills, Lahug, Cebu City, 232-7375. (Michael Karlo Lim)
CONSULTANTS
Chef Mark Mulder
Executive Chef, Consultant for Best of Cebu
Restaurant of the Year Criteria for Judging
Justinne Lou Go
Chef, Nutritionist, Foodie, Contributor to Criteria for Judging
THE JUDGES
Chef Sean McSavaney
International School for Culinary and Hotel Management’s (ISCAHM) Director of Culinary Arts
Carlos Veridiano III
Franchise Operations Director of Julie’s Franchise Corporation
Chef Erica Neal So
Entrepreneur and Pastry Chef
With a total dining experience rating average of 94.25%, Sun.Star Cebu’s Best of Cebu Restaurant of the Year is Anzani New Mediterranean Restaurant.