Curtin Indian restaurant Daana has been recognised at the Restaurant and Catering Association (R&CA) NSW/ACT Awards for Excellence, with chef Sanjay Kumar taking out Chef of the Year for the ACT.

The award-winning Daana was also named Indian/Sub-continent Restaurant of the Year and took out the Consumer Vote category at awards on Monday 7 December.

“Winning this prestigious award gives us the encouragement to present a more unique dining experience for all our guests,” said Sanjay.

“What a year to win this!”

Sanjay runs Daana with his wife, Sunita, who says the awards confirm Daana’s approach to showcasing Indian cuisine differently is working. The restaurant also took out the Consumer Vote and the Best Indian Restaurant Awards in 2019.

Another Canberra business to clean up at the R&CA Awards is Ricardo’s Café in Macquarie, which recorded wins in both the Breakfast Restaurant and Coffee Shop categories.

Molto Italian in Kingston was named ACT’s Best Italian Restaurant, as well as being named the ACT Restaurant of the Year in the major awards.

Doma Group’s Hotel Realm took out the ACT award for Function Convention Centre Caterer, as well as Caterer of the Year, both of which it also won in 2019. The Hyatt Hotel’s Tea Lounge won the ACT’s Casual Dining major award, as well as the Café Dining category.

R&CA CEO Wes Lambert said the awards are one of the most important nights in the hospitality calendar.

“It is always such an amazing experience to recognise some of the state’s finest hospitality businesses who showcase the very best our industry has to offer.

“Each category represents some of the best and most unique food and dining on offer across the great state of NSW and the ACT.”

For the full list of ACT R&CA Awards winners, head to the R&CA website.