Over the last few months I have had many thoughts about how Eat Out magazine could evolve, the format of the restaurant awards and this year’s judging process.

It has really challenged and inspired me but the biggest, and definitely not the easiest decision, was changing the judging process, criteria and the judges. Arnold Tanzer and Peter Goffe-Wood have worked with me for five years and given me endless support and commitment. As Arnold said, “It's certainly an end of an era and gaining many a kilo!” And boy do I agree!

At this stage I can’t reveal too much about the new process and the people involved. What I can however say is that we will be introducing regional awards for special genres of food. This will acknowledge restaurants across SA that do phenomenal things, and Eat Out is the perfect platform to recognise this. I’m looking forward to welcoming another era and a mammoth eating out extravaganza that will reveal some real gems.

Happy eating!

Abigail