The capsicum plants are in the ground and the tomato seedlings are doing well but it’s the celery – and a new trick with newspaper – that Stephanie Alexander is most excited about this month.

Australia’s restaurant stars took a well-deserved night off to toast their peers and applaud the winners of GT’s 2012 Restaurant Awards, held this year at Sydney’s Opera House.

At home again after trips to England and Jamaica, Stephanie Alexander plants fruit trees and roses in anticipation of the warmer weather.

Australia’s restaurant stars took a well-deserved night off to toast their peers and applaud the winners of GT’s 2012 Restaurant Awards, held this year at Sydney’s Opera House.

Introducing the GT Restaurant Guide for the iPhone.

We’ve cleaned our plates, we’ve drained our glasses, and we’re proud to present the Australian Gourmet Traveller 2012 Restaurant Awards. Check out the slideshow for our award winners or click here for the Gourmet Traveller Top 100 list.

The first leg of the 2011 Great Barrier Feast series saw Quay’s Peter Gilmore take his award-winning show on the road. The results were mixing-bowl-lickin’ good, says Frances Hibbard.

Restaurants need room for magic: in a sense of place, in chaos, even in a napkin, writes Fergus Henderson.

Name-dropping? Forgery? The key to securing a table at Australia’s top restaurants is patience. Join the queue.

Stephanie Alexander loses her carrots to an unexpected pest, and tells of her visit to a spectacular cookery-school garden in Ireland.

The hottest (and coolest) places to imbibe and graze have been tried and tested. Meet GT’s 2012 Restaurant Awards nominees.

Stephanie Alexander returns from the UK, where she admired all manner of gardens including a vertical planting of tomatoes, calendula and nasturtiums.

Anthony Bourdain, the straight-shooting American chef-at-large and writer, tells Pat Nourse how French food got its groove back and why David Chang is still “the guy”.

Britain’s original bad boy of restaurants has always loved the cooking traditions of France. Leo Schofield talks to Marco Pierre White.

Many hands make light work: Stephanie Alexander gets olive-preserving tips from Pietro Demaio and rose-pruning assistance from Maggie and Colin Beer.

Where do you take the world’s most fearsome restaurant critic for dinner when he comes to town? To his favourite Bondi restaurant, naturally, and the choice of Sean’s Panaroma, the venue for our reception for our columnist Adrian Gill, was a smashing success by any measure.

One Ultimate Dinner, six superstar chefs. We caught up with them over lunch to talk kitchen technology, the universe and everything.

Stephanie Alexander travels to the UK, but not before mulching the strawberries, planting the broccoli and deciding which rose bushes to buy on her return.

Our favourite critic-at-large, AA Gill, launches a new book at the Sydney Writers’ Festival this month. He talks with Pat Nourse about travel, writing, and his urge to get to Timbuktu.

Stephanie Alexander prepares for the “straggly months” in her late-autumn garden, and there’s still plenty of work to be done in the hothouse.

Stephanie Alexander takes comfort in homemade pickled cucumbers and pesto while mourning the loss of her dear Manchurian pear tree.

Stephanie Alexander finds putting up with possums and eradicating black spot from the roses less difficult than predicting nature’s twists and turns.

Almost 10 years since its close, the reverberations from this Melbourne restaurant are still felt in kitchens across the country. With chef Donovan Cooke opening The Atlantic, we renuite the alumni of Est Est Est to tell the story of when rock ’n’ roll met fine dining.

Someone’s got to do it: a taste-test of the nation’s top ice-cream brands. The masters of all things sweet, Adriano Zumbo and Peter Gilmore, dish up their (sometimes chilly) verdict.

When nature asserts itself, Stephanie Alexander finds comfort in a handful of blueberries and some marvellous black Krim tomatoes.

Here at GT, our thoughts go out to everyone affected by the flooding in Queensland. Here are the fundraising efforts we've rounded up so far.

“From Paris with Love” was the theme of the recent Silver Ribbon Exposure Gala for the OCRF. And in true Gallic style, we had a ball. PHOTOGRAPHY DANIEL MAHON

We asked 65 of Australia’s leading chefs what they were throwing on the barbie this summer. Forget corn cobs and charred sausages – here’s what they had to say.

Right royal feast: What’s on the menu at the wedding of the century? Pat Nourse pops the question to chefs of the realm.

Two protégés of chef Thomas Keller, two very different solo ventures. Shane Mitchell reports from the USA.

Having staked the tomatoes, hand-pollinated the zucchini and mulched the whole garden, Stephanie Alexander is ready for a beach holiday.

Gourmet Traveller's state editors give you the lowdown on their favourite dishes of 2010.

Native ingredients are a mainstay of René Redzepi’s food. Here in Australia, he foraged for our indigenous produce.

On the cusp of summer, Stephanie Alexander is searching out new homes for her pimientos de Padrón plant, pumpkin vine and lettuces.

Leo Schofield reports from the set of TV’s Iron Chef as three of Australia’s culinary superstars go to battle.

Perhaps the most basic food known to humans, milk is now among the most processed, writes Will Studd.

What better reason to leap out of bed this weekend than some more of the nation’s best breakfasts? Just add coffee.

What better reason to leap out of bed this weekend than 43 (in no particular order) of the nation’s best breakfasts? Just add coffee.

It’s time to prune the grapevine and find space for tomatoes, eggplant and cucumbers in Stephanie Alexander’s garden.

The people behind Australia’s favourite restaurants gathered at Flower Drum in Melbourne to toast the winners in Gourmet Traveller’s 2011 Restaurant Awards.

Multicoloured tomatoes, stripy eggplant, vibrant broad beans and heavenly celery have sprung to life in Stephanie Alexander’s garden.

In April the number-one spot in the World's 50 Best Restaurants poll was taken from El Bulli by Noma, a restaurant in Copenhagen. In October, Noma, a cookbook by chef René Redzepi, hits the shelves and Redzepi will visit Australia to promote it in conjunction with the Sydney International Food Festival and Phaidon. On the eve of his return to Australia trip, Redzepi spoke to Gourmet Traveller chief restaurant critic Pat Nourse.

Melbourne's Flower Drum was the scarlet setting this year for the Australian restaurant business's night of nights, the Gourmet Traveller Restaurant Awards and the launch of the 2011 edition of the GT Australian Restaurant Guide.

We’ve downed forks, the votes are in, and we’re proud to present the Australian Gourmet Traveller 2011 Restaurant Awards.

This list has been compiled using our star ratings, moderated by our state and national editors. Every restaurant listed in the Guide should offer a winning dining experience; any that achieve a placement in the Top 100 represent another order of excellence again.

There’s a riot of colour in Stephanie Alexander’s garden, from exotic South American tubers to purple-podded peas.