Last week's Good Food Guide Awards hero the rock stars of the hospitality scene. But there is still so much excellence to celebrate.

Here we bring you another serving of our favourite eating and drinking experiences in Melbourne.

MOST EXCITING EXPANSION AWARD

Frankie's Tortas & Tacos

It's not every day a restaurant comes along as tiny in stature and mighty in output as Frankie's Tortas & Tacos. When the Fitzroy food stand appeared three years ago it took off, speedily selling out of its signature al pastor tortas (Mexican sandwiches filled with hot grilled pork, Oaxacan cheese, salad, and hot sauce).

It's a thrill, then, to see Frankie's graduate to a fully-fledged 40-seater just around the corner, in an old Johnston Street burger joint, that retains its food-truck roots with a dash of neon-lit LA diner aesthetic.

The new digs allow the team to step into boozier territory, too, with mezcal negronis, tepache seltzers and hard-to-find Mexican lagers. Don't miss the ode to the discontinued Choco Taco, made here with Billy Van Creamery caramel-chilli ice-cream –Ellen Fraser.

BEST VIBE AWARD

1800 Lasagne

The term "good times" gets thrown around a lot these days, but this rollicking Italian bar slash diner is truly deserving. 1800 Lasagne does the classic Italian hospitality thing right, with charisma and confidence, in a room that feels like it's always been there.

Beyond-friendly staff pour Montenegro spritzes, amaretto sours and filthy martinis, while tunes are 100 per cent algorithm-free – local record store owners and occasionally a live jazz band are in charge.

Big bowls of pasta will have you fuelled up in case the dance floor kicks off, and the rest of the menu is tight enough to quell any anxiety over what to get. Lean in, order one of everything, and give yourself over to the experience –Ellen Fraser.

BEST TRICKED-UP JUNK FOOD AWARD

McScallop at Serai

A gussying-up of fast-food classics has become a badge of honour for chefs keen to show off their playful side. It's also a boon for diners who like to pretend they've never been tempted by the yellow arches but secretly have a good working knowledge of the drive-through process.

Which leads us to Ross Magnaye's McScallop at Serai, which has won our hearts with its kick-ass combination of a fried scallop, a stonkingly rich crab fat sauce, papaya pickle and a toasted pandesal bun. Please don't take it off the menu –Larissa Dubecki.

MEATIEST MENU AWARD

Vlado's Steakhouse

Some of us don't eat meat, and some of us eat nothing but. If you take umbrage with roughage, if you're a sprout-doubtin', lettuce-lynchin', blood-hungry tater hater, then you need a restaurant that entrees with a sausage, "appetises" with a mixed grill and sentences you to hard time in gout jail with a thick slab of prime Australian wagyu. You need Vlado's Steakhouse in Richmond. Reckon it'll take off? Six decades of packed service reckons yes. Good salad, too –Frank Sweet.

SHOULDN'T-WORK-BUT-DOES AWARD

Keso gelato at Kariton Sorbetes

Do cheese and crackers belong in ice-cream? If Footscray's Kariton Sorbetes keso gelato is anything to go by, absolutely. This store is nostalgia overload for the Filipino community, who appreciate the crushed Skyflakes crackers (similar to Saladas) mixed through the bourbon vanilla and cheddar base. Salty bursts come in the form of roasted cashews and grated cheddar. For the rest of us, this is the gelato we never knew we were missing –Sofia Levin.

RESTAURANT COUTURE AWARD

Di Stasio Carlton

Classic starched black and white? Forget it. At Di Stasio Carlton, the staff uniforms – an insouciant mix of crumpled linen and crisp green and white stripes – not only match perfectly with the emerald-coloured glassware, they also transport diners to some sunny spot in Italy.

Come to think of it, they probably also help fight the staff shortage, because who wouldn't want to look so chic while they wait tables? –Larissa Dubecki.

BEST UPSELL AWARD

Caviar bump at Entrecote

Although the caviar bump is available in several restaurants now, Entrecote's is the OG. It's difficult to resist a trolley spooning out $32.90 worth of sturgeon fish eggs onto your fist, accompanied by ice-cold vodka (that'll be extra).

There's a dedicated "bump master" with the spiel and swagger, which explains why the restaurant churns through four kilograms of the stuff a week. Just last week a table ordered six bumps for each person, and they're expecting the extravagance to skyrocket as Christmas approaches. Go ahead, take our money –Sofia Levin.

THE AL PACINO METHOD ACTING AWARD

Brigitte Hafner

When it comes to commitment to the cause, there's no one quite in Brigitte Hafner's league. Any visitor to Tedesca Osteria will quickly realise the hottest ticket in regional dining is a literal concept thanks to Hafner going mano-a-mano with a blazing hearth.

To the untrained eye it might look more like a controlled bushfire, which explains her ash-smudged all-black outfit and the occasional burn mark at the end of each service. We honour her sacrifice from the bottom of our greedy hearts –Larissa Dubecki.

MOST SPECTACULAR FLYING UNDER THE RADAR AWARD

Shokkan

The crustacean dip at Shokkan is one for marron diehards. As flavour-packed as it is Cheetos-hued, served with feather-light fish-skin crackers, it's a dish that exemplifies what this pop-up izakaya is all about: complementary textures, amped up flavours, and we-could-hang-it-on-the-wall level plating.

Throw rare and unusual sake pairings into the mix – maybe a cherry-scented red rice junmai genshu from Kyoto – and a hushed, earth-toned space that seats just 14, and you've got yourself one seriously special dining experience. Imagine how things will escalate when Shokkan moves from testing phase inside fine diner Gaea (by the same crew) to its own space next year –Ellen Fraser.

HANDHELD ANCHOVY CANAPE AWARD

Nick and Nora's

This was a title long held by MoVida's famous finger food, the Cantabrian anchovy with smoked tomato sorbet. But there's a new big-little fish in town.

At Nick and Nora's, the cocktail bar from the Speakeasy Group (Eau de Vie, Boilermaker House), there is a white anchovy on lightly curried egg with a strip of lardo, all sitting on a piece of toast.

The roaring '30s bar is named after murder-solving duo Nick and Nora Charles from author Dashiell Hammett and it would be a crime not to order this with your next drink –Paul Chai.

STRONGEST REBRAND AWARD

Royal Oak Hotel

The crew behind local haunts the Marquis of Lorne, Union House and the Mount Erica are masters of the subtle pub revamp, and have struck gold again at the Royal Oak Hotel in Fitzroy North.

A sympathetic renovation, a paint job and a new menu have turned this 1871 mainstay from not to hot, with a new tribe discovering its vintage dining room and glorious new circular bar embellished with nostalgic '70s branding. It makes us wonder which other retro gems deserve a jolt back to life –Michael Harry.

GREATEST END TO A MEAL AWARD

Petits fours at Attica

Even the most seasoned degustation diner will be pushing maximum density by the end of Ben Shewry's indulgent 10-ish course tasting menu at Attica. But then a tall, ridiculously glossy red cart is wheeled to the table with reverence. The striking contraption is a Boby trolley, a legendary piece of 1970s Italian design often seen on movie sets or in artist studios.

Shewry has filled its modular drawers with meticulously crafted petits fours, in shapes such as macabre chocolate sculls and plush scarlet lips. Choose as many as you can fit in – it's the A La (Red) Carte –Michael Harry.

BEST BREAD AWARD (PART 1)

Best bread, huh? Hmmm. Toughie. Could it be the internet-breaking focaccia made popular by Hope St Radio's Ellie Bouhadana? Or is it actually that blindingly white Woolworths roll that wheezes under its bacon-jewelled blanket of sweaty cheese?

What even is bread? Something ground plus something wet? Ras Dashen's injera, Mabu Mabu's damper, the flakey jia exterior of Biang Biang's stewed pork roujiamo – do they get a look in?

And what of bread-ish things that begin with "pan" or "pain"? Is All Are Welcome's panettone bread? Lune's pain au chocolat – is that in contention? Pinoy Foodies' purple ube pandesal?

If it's flour, water and heat, might then it be the delicate bing that envelops each carving of Flower Drum Peking duck? Or Xuan Banh Cuon's more-delicate-still banh cuon, for that matter?

If the only fixed criterion is that it's a much-loved staple that brings joy to every table, well, maybe the winner is you –Frank Sweet.

BEST BREAD AWARD (PART 2)

In the hospitality industry it's said that you can judge a meal to come by its bread service. This is true at Gray and Gray Bread and Wine, where a $75 set menu kicks off with a couple of different breads accompanied by three "fats" (pictured, right).

It helps that the Northcote restaurant is under the same ownership as All Are Welcome Bakery next door.

Breads change regularly, so you might score Finnish rye, barbari Persian flatbread, focaccia or something else. Condiments could be chicken schmaltz preserved carrot butter, Georgian matsoni with preserved persimmon or salo (pork fat) –Sofia Levin.

FLAME-GRILLED MEAT AWARD

Komur

Every culture has its own interpretation of barbecue, but the most outrageously delicious version I've eaten this year was at Turkish spot KÖMÜR, a blink-and-you'll-miss-it shopfront in Ascot Vale.

Its specialty is the Adana kebab, where rich lamb mince is speared on a shish and smoked over coals, then served with crepe-thin flatbread and glistening salads and dips – heavy on the onion, sumac and garlic – plus sticky chicken wings, charred lamb cutlets, and crisp falafel.

A platter for two ($90) could feed four. There's also a monolithic Dan Murphy's across the road, so you can BYO wine match –Michael Harry.

KEENEST CROSS PROMOTION AWARD

The Que Club

We've seen the concept before at bottleshop-bars like Carwyn Cellars but Brunswick barbecue joint The Que Club really immerses you in the retail experience, with dining tables right next to the barbecues, smokers, recipe books and pots and pans that you need to create true American "que".

The restaurant imports, wholesales and retails all the barbecue kit and when you take a bite of the legendary smoked Angus brisket, you'll have to summon all your willpower not to buy a smoker and wheel it home with you –Paul Chai.

DIRTIEST MARTINI AWARD

Sea and Shell at Pearl Diver

There's a lot to live up to when you write the words "martini experience" on your menu, but Pearl Diver Cocktails and Oysters in the CBD exceeds expectations.

If you like your martinis salty, ask for the Sea and Shell at the bar. They use a custom vodka made with wakame and oyster shells produced by local distillery Saint Felix, opt for Maidenii coastal vermouth, add a dash of olive oil and serve it frosty with a spherified Sicilian liquid olive in an oyster shell. Now that's dirty –Sofia Levin.

APRES SKI AWARD

Harry Burns

Mount Buller used its pandemic downtime wisely, developing a range of new apres ski attractions including Harry Burns, which sits slopeside in the former home of Snow Pony.

It's a When Harry Met Sally-themed Asian-fusion restaurant, where you will definitely want what everyone else is having. Seek out the crisp tempura eggplant with tom yum mayonnaise, fried shallots, coriander and chilli, and the lemongrass-infused sticky date pudding and start with a passionfruit yuzu margarita –Paul Chai.

FAVE PLAYLIST AWARD

Loosie's Diner & Bar

"The soundtrack is everything. It takes you out of that daily vibe," says Clint Hyndman, co-owner of Loosie's Diner & Bar, a hidden rock'n'roll gem of a joint in Mornington He passionately curates playlists intrinsic to the Loosie's experience.

Think garage bands like The Sonics, '70s groups like Big Star, some Ramones, a dash of Little Richard or Townes van Zandt, and local bands like Tyrannamen. The music is even piped into the bathrooms so you're never jolted out of that rollicking vibe –Jane Ormond.

The Good Food Guide 2023 magazine is on sale now for $9.95 at newsagents, supermarkets and thestore.com.au.

• Catch up on all the winners and hats at the Good Food Guide Awards