Some restaurants have an irresistible gravitational pull: you find yourself going back again and again, whether for the food, the atmosphere, the people running the show or all of the above.

The Good Food Guide might be the home of the hats (venues that score 15 out of 20 and above) but there are plenty of places that are unhatted but are no less worthy of your time. These are the restaurants our reviewers frequent and recommend to friends time and again. We’ve anointed them Critics’ Picks, and we’ve included more than 100 in this year’s Guide.

One could argue that every one of the 450-plus venues in the 2024 edition of the Guide is a critics’ pick − every restaurant, bar, cafe and pub is hand-selected by our editors and reviewed anonymously by our team of independent critics. But the new Critics’ Pick tick symbol highlights places that may have escaped your radar in the past, yet have a magnetism worthy of multiple visits.

Some of these venues specialise in a single dish; others cook food you won’t find anywhere else; or have an incredible backstory you need to know. Whether you’re elbow-to-elbow with fellow diners or feel like you’re the only one in the room, each of these restaurants is essential, noteworthy, and groundbreaking in its own ways.

Ahead of the release of the Good Food Guide 2024 on October 31, here are 20 of our favourite Critics’ Picks ticks – including the five finalists for Critics’ Pick of the Year, a new award.

4 Sisters Kebab & Cafe

TURKISH

First, yes – there are four sisters. The Yazar family’s Safiye, Nurten, Ayse and Fatma bring different skills in cooking and business, but they share one thing: they were raised by their mum, Elif, a talented home cook. At breakfast, there’s menemen (baked eggs with green pepper and tomato) and four-cheese gozleme. Tripe, lentil and lamb shank soups each have their fans. The Iskender kebab layers grilled lamb over fried bread with clarified butter and house-made tomato paste. As well as traditional walnut baklava, there are quirky change-ups with peanut butter, coconut, even tahini. The petrol station location is unassuming, but 4 Sisters is an accessible, welcoming cove for anyone in need of refuelling.

Shop 3, 215-221 Greens Road, Dandenong South, 0473 113 065

Bar Savarin

EUROPEAN

If you think Google Maps may have steered you wrong, keep the faith. Soon you’ll come upon the mirage-like Bar Savarin, as if a cheeky chunk of Saint-Tropez were plonked in the industrial back blocks of Cheltenham. Outdoor tables are primed for summer cocktails and the L-shaped dining room oozes playful European style. There’s a tight wine list (with bottles to take home) and a flavour-packed, snacky menu. Oysters hide under shimmering gin-and-tonic gazpacho. Tiny toasts come topped with pear, gruyere and airy whipped mortadella, and a tin of anchovies with an orange wedge and chargrilled rye bread is beautiful simplicity. Add smart, friendly and well-paced service, and this diamond in the rough sparkles like stadium lights.

132 Keys Road, Cheltenham, 03 7038 0018

Dolan on Silk Road

UYGHUR

Uyghur cuisine draws on the regions surrounding Xinjiang, the autonomous province in China’s north-west that was once part of the Silk Road trade route connecting Asia and the Middle East. Those influences come together in a slow-braised chicken dish fragrant with ginger and cinnamon, served with chewy hand-pulled noodles. Lamb skewers are cumin-spiced and smoky, served hot off the barbecue, and goshnan is a flaky meat pie made with minced lamb and white pepper, sandwiched inside fried dough. Murals of Islamic architecture and colourful light fixtures add charm, but this room is all about the food. Dishes come out when they’re ready, portion sizes are generous and service is to the point.

968 Whitehorse Road, Box Hill, dolansilkroad.com.au

The Keys

AMERICAN

The Keys is a loving interweaving of many things. It has a beer garden, 12 neon-splashed lanes, a games arcade, and three bars. However you define it, the place has been crafted with longevity in mind. Outdoor tables weighing 700 kilograms are hewn from granite, lanes utilise reclaimed maple, and bowling-themed leadlight panels took a year to craft. High-quality versions of American snacks include hot wings with blue cheese, and an organic foot-long pork sausage slathered with mustard and sweet-sour relish in a crackly bun. Pub classics include chicken parma with smoky scamorza, and a retro steak diane made with wagyu striploin. Whatever you order, be sure to wipe your fingers before sticking them in a bowling ball.

Unit 1, 188 Plenty Road, Preston, thekeys.com.au

Kura

JAPANESE

At this northside go-to for sake and things on sticks, you’ll start with yakitori, of course. Smoky skewers pulled off the charcoal-fired robata are threaded with juicy chicken thigh, bouncy hearts, and fat meatballs for dunking into soy and egg sauce. Grab a stool – the best seat in the house – to observe the grill skills of chef and co-owner Ken Ibuki, former sous-chef at Kisume. Had your fill of sticks? Wood-fired edamame are a blistered umami-driven revelation, maple-dressed beef short rib is all funky sweetness, and the nigiri is the best you’ll find north of the CBD. Take advantage of co-owner Kelvin Low’s sake expertise and the impressive fleet of labels at his disposal.

Shop 1, 22-30 Lygon Street, Brunswick East, kuramelbourne.com.au

Molly Rose Brewing

ASIAN

Sometimes we want restaurants to be transcendent. Other times, we’re looking for joy. You’ll get the latter at Molly Rose, where Thailand-born chef Ittichai Ngamtrairai adheres to no rules other than deliciousness and fun. Baccala-stuffed chicken wings are dripping with gloriously spicy hot sauce, served with garlic-chive Kewpie, and spring rolls stuffed with sweet potato noodles and black fungus appeal to the base instincts of the snacking gods. A sliver of guanciale over cured trout with mandarin kosho is an elegant move, and char kwai teow is appropriately wok-stank delicious. Team it with a farmhouse ale, perhaps made with fresh plums or leftover skins from a local winemaker, and service that’s informed but jocular and friendly. In other words: these kids are in on the fun.

279-285 Wellington Street, Collingwood, mollyrosebrewing.com

Nam Giao

VIETNAMESE

The specialty at Nam Giao is the central Vietnamese staple bun bo hue, an elegant combination of rice noodles, pork hock, fresh herbs and a long-simmered bone broth brightened with lemongrass and spicy-sweet shrimp paste. Heads up, traditionalists: you might have to request blood loaf, and spice is entry-level but can be intensified with chopped bird’s eye chillies. Chewy, crystal-skinned banh bot loc dumplings in broth with spring onion oil are beautiful to behold. Bun rieu, the robust soup, comes with slippery noodles and crab-and-pork dumplings. Staff multitask at an elite level, packing takeaway orders and chatting with regulars as they go. A single-page menu in a lightbox along one wall means no choice paralysis. The only drawback? The 8pm closing time.

218-220 Springvale Road, Springvale, 03 9547 3178

Nora Thai

THAI

This blondwood shopfront just off Toorak Road holds only 20 or so diners, but loads of flavourful dishes. Aussie favourites such as pad Thai and tom yum are present, but venture deeper into the menu for southern-style dishes such as sour fish curry bristling with heat and funk, stink bean stir-fry with pork mince and juicy prawns, and kaeng bai cha plu, a slightly sweet curry generously scattered with crab meat. It’s milder than most things here, where the default chilli setting is high (but can be lowered on request). Close your eyes and, between the chilli-laced smoke in the air and the metallic thwack of spoon on wok, you’d swear you were at a beach market in Krabi.

69 Davis Avenue, South Yarra, norathaimelb.com.au

Parotta Station

INDIAN

Across the road from Brooklyn Fire Station is a station of another sort. This one’s all about parotta, the flaky, buttery flatbread. The restaurant is heralded by sunny yellow signage and inside it’s a laminate-benched, faux-brick-wallpapered, help-yourself-to-the-drinks-fridge scenario where much of the clientele comes for takeaway. The eponymous flatbread is stuffed with herbs and shredded egg for mutta parotta, while salna parotta pairs it with a sweet, fragrant masala gravy. Lamb kottu – a savoury hurricane of a dish big on black pepper with chopped egg, curry leaves and green chilli – uses sliced parotta. The restaurant is halal, so there’s no booze, but soft drinks and lassi get the job done.

28A Millers Road, Brooklyn, parotta-station.com.au

Rina’s

ITALIAN

Dinner here might be the tastiest lucky dip in town. The $75 set menu evolves each day, inspired by market produce and served on charming, mismatched vintage crockery. To open, perhaps a pair of shimmering white anchovies with slivers of green chilli, some soft sopressa and pickled cucumber, a sweet mound of caponata, and salty focaccia. As the night shimmies on, soundtracked by ’60s Italian pop, share honey-miso scallops, spaghetti with crab and tingling chilli, and charred, tender porterhouse. With its simple fitout (candle-lit wooden tables, whitewashed walls, the day’s wine selection scrawled across a mirrored wall), warm and knowledgeable staff and relaxed, unhurried pace – no timed seatings here – this intimate local is a bewitching night out.

857 High Street, Armadale, rinas3143.com

Seafood Street

CHINESE

Luminescent tanks of crustaceans are the welcoming party at this small yet raucous dining room, where large groups take advantage of family-style dining and a BYO licence. If you don’t notice how loud it is, it’s because you’re the loudest one there. The menu has many markers of Aussie-Chinese restaurants – beef in black bean sauce, sweet-and-sour pork – but the star is revealed in the restaurant’s name. Hand-select mud crab and have the chef prepare it to your liking, be that stir-fried with ginger and spring onion or topped with golden-fried garlic crisps. Order another round of crumbly spring onion pancakes and dive in before you get distracted by a clay pot of juicy tiger prawns and vermicelli, which will likely arrive still sizzling from the grill.

167 Russell Street, Melbourne, 03 9041 0605

Seven Star Pocha

KOREAN

In Korea, a pocha is a street stall offering late-night meals and soju, the national rice-based spirit. In Melbourne, Seven Star (open until 3.30am) is as close as it gets, with its laneway location pulsing with big groups and K-pop. Friends crowd around enormous dishes built for sharing, while on warm evenings tables spill onto the footpath. Bubbling cauldrons of army stew, studded with sausage, baked beans and cheese slices, are a common sight, the rich spicy broth scooped up with spoonfuls of seaweed-flecked rice. For every cheese-stuffed omelette or sizzling bulgogi there are harder-to-find dishes such as soondae, a chewy noodle-stuffed blood sausage, or ganjang gejang, raw soy-marinated crab, split for harvesting the sweet gelatinous meat.

Shop H, 535 Little Lonsdale Street, Melbourne, se7enstar.com.au

Shamiat

SYRIAN

This triple-pronged food empire is the work of Helda Almorani and Atallah Abo, who fled Syria in 2016 and opened this restaurant soon after. After a recent renovation, the space is filled with mosaics and lanterns, an adjoining sweet shop sells baklava and rice pudding, and a cafe next to that does breakfast banquets. In Syria, Helda was a cook of great renown, and her food shines brightly here too. Fatteh is a lovely layering of pita, chickpeas and lemony tahini-yoghurt. Mujadara is pure comfort, the rice studded with lentils and fried onions, and tabbouleh is bright and crunchy. It’s bittersweet that Almorani and Abo were forced to leave their homeland, but wonderful they are sharing their gifts with the people of Melbourne.

64 Victoria Road, Northcote, shamiat.com.au

Warung Agus

INDONESIAN

There’s sandalwood in the air and Bintang on the menu. Block out the occasional “ding” from the 57 tram and you’d swear you were in Ubud. Family owned and run since 1989 – though the team took a hiatus last year after a near-catastrophic fire – Warung Agus is known for its excellent-value set menus. A plate of prawn crackers with satay sauce kicks things off: simple, generous and an absolute plate-scraper. Steamed fish is pumped-up with a garlic-lemongrass sambal, and grilled chicken comes with caramelised tamarind. Save room for the roast pork, the meat imbued with candlenut and shrimp paste, its cellophane-thin skin all fatty, salty crunch. This dish alone could keep this place in business for generations to come.

305 Victoria Street, North Melbourne, 03 9329 1737

Vola Foods

CAMEROONIAN

One street back from Sydney Road, follow the hum of African tunes and you’ll find a sparse patch of land holding a shipping container, a few picnic tables, a large charcoal grill and – more often than not – a decent queue. Make it to the front to access a range of barbecue specialties made with spices from owner Ashley Vola’s home country of Cameroon. Snack on akara, fluffy black-eyed pea fritters, or grab a share platter of tomato-soaked jollof rice, chargrilled whole fish, sweet fried plantains and beef suya, musky with the scent of charcoal. It’s a year-round affair, with seats shaded from the summer sun and gas heaters rolled out in winter. Whatever the temperature, don’t skip the house chilli sauce – it’s more bark than bite.

30 Ovens Street, Brunswick, volafoods.com.au

The five finalists for The Age Good Food Guide 2024 Critics’ Pick of the Year Award are...

Kafeneion

GREEK

Much of the menu at Con Christopoulos’ Kafeneion could have come off a Greek grandma’s stove. Slow-cooked dishes dominate: peas with artichokes, lemon and dill; fall-apart pork stewed with potatoes and lemon and celery leaves. Sweetbreads are a delight – fried crisp on the outside, creamy in the middle and served with lemon. More photo-worthy? Cured bonito fanned across the plate in satisfying slabs, firm and sweet and wholly reliant on the excellent quality of the fish. Service is no-nonsense but professional, while the restaurant feels like it’s been in this space, previously occupied by bar-cafe Self Preservation, for decades. A pop-up whose term has already been extended once, Kafeneion promises to be as true to the spirit of this city wherever it ends up.

70 Bourke Street, Melbourne, kafeneion.com.au

Ras Dashen

ETHIOPIAN

Ras Dashen proudly announces its identity through wall art depicting Ethiopian scenes, crafts the colours of the Ethiopian flag, and the scent of frankincense that accompanies the traditional coffee service. Wats (stews) and tibs (stir-fries) arrive in black taba bowls with spongy, fermented injera flatbread doubling as cutlery. Doro wat is made with fall-apart chicken and boiled egg, its gravy fragrant with warming ginger, fenugreek and coriander, while kitfo is minced beef served raw, mixed with the chilli-based spice powder mitmita and niter kibbeh, the spiced clarified butter. Try dulet for a similar preparation made with tripe. There are no starters or sweets. “We just drink Ethiopian beer or coffee,” says co-owner Alemitu Alemeo. You should do the same.

247 Barkly Street, Footscray, rasdashenethiopianrestaurant.com

Red Gum BBQ

AMERICAN

Round a bend in the road to find a bustling repurposed truck repair shed, its roller door thrown open, meat smokers humming away like burly cars toiled over by mechanics of meat. There’s 12-hour pulled pork, fall-apart brisket with a peppery dry rub and more, all smoked low and slow, piled onto metal trays and rounded out by classic American sides: pickles, slaw, potato hash. Certified B Corp Red Gum composts, rejects single-use plastics, and prints the provenance of free-range meat on all menus. Vegetarians have a seat at the table thanks to a bonanza of buttery cornbread, rugged fried eggplant, mac and cheese and meaty smoked mushrooms. Ask for extra napkins.

87 Arthurs Seat Road, Red Hill, redgumbbq.com.au

Soi 38

THAI

Follow the scent of sweet barbecued meats and fish sauce into a laneway carpark and join the long but fast-moving line that’s as much Soi 38 as a bowl of boat noodles. After earning cult status through lunchtime noodle soups, these days Soi 38 does dinner, too, with the same pulsating energy. The menu boasts 12 variations on papaya salad, a perfect fiery and acidic sidekick to black Angus brisket, one of many grilled items with dark charry edges. Add deep-fried pork jowl or intestine for more crunch, or enjoy the textural contrasts of yum mama, a tangle of squid, prawns, raw onion and instant noodles. Don’t skip the bottleshop in a ticket booth opposite, with wines to complement Thai flavours.

38 Mcilwraith Place, Melbourne, soi38.com

Xuan Banh Cuon

VIETNAMESE

Banh cuon is one of the great breakfasts of Vietnam, and where better to admire its exuberance than at this ferociously downlit family diner? Rice-flour crepes are filled with minced pork and mushrooms then scattered with fried shallots and pork floss, ready to plunge into nuoc cham. On the same plate are thatched potato fries, snappy school prawns and a little pork loaf for good measure. You need to order this dish – the restaurant’s named after it – but you’ll need soup, too: snail-icious bun oc, crab-tacular bun rieu or banh da cua Hai Phong: caramel-coloured noodles in broth with dilled-up fishcakes, beef in betel leaf, pork and more. A savoury kaleidoscope and singular delight.

232 Hampshire Road, Sunshine, 03 9365 8992

The winners of The Age Good Food Guide 2024 Awards will be announced on October 30, presented by Vittoria Coffee and Oceania Cruises. The Age Good Food Guide 2024 will be on sale from October 31, featuring more than 450 Victorian venues, from three-hatted destinations to regional wine bars, lively noodle specialists and 30-year-old icons. Venues listed in the Guide are visited anonymously by professional restaurant critics, who review independently. Venues are chosen at our discretion.