In the 2004 edition of The Sydney Morning Herald Good Food Guide, editors Matthew Evans and Lisa Hudson noted the introduction of the $54 main course, the increasing popularity of “modern Asian” restaurants, wine lists becoming more diner-friendly, and Surry Hills as the suburb with the most “good eating”. The only thing I would change today is “$54” to “$78″.

It’s cyclical stuff, this food trends business. The 1993 edition of the Guide reports that steakhouses and bistros are “making a comeback”, and truer words couldn’t be spoken about dining in the CBD three decades later. I’m hard-pressed to name a bigger dining trend than the proliferation of grand brasseries and pricey bits of cow over the past 12 months. Peak porterhouse has been reached.

Here are six trends Good Food would like to see more of though (and four that need to stop).

Lamb: it’s the new beef!

Well, not quite, but we are seeing a lot more lamb at Sydney’s top-end restaurants. Suppliers such as Gundagai Lamb, Margra and Milly Hill are increasingly marketing “premium” sheep for their marbled fat and taste, and, well, have you seen the price of rib-eyes lately?

The Barnsley chop (also known as the saddle chop or double-loin chop) is particularly suited to take on Big Steak thanks to its commanding presence and competitive pricing. Clam Bar served a cracking Kinross Station Barnsley that ate like wagyu this year (as did Armorica Grande Brasserie and Poly in Surry Hills), but the CBD steakhouse recently swapped it out for a lamb-centric mixed grill instead. More lamb options beyond slow-cooked shoulder everywhere, we say.

The return of midnight snacks

After the lockout laws and pandemic decimated the late-night economy, and Golden Century served its last pipi on Sussex Street, it seemed that post-midnight dining in the CBD would be limited to kerbside kebabs forever. But things are changing. Not enough to run the length of Pitt Street screaming that “late-night dining is back, baby, pour another Manhattan!“, but enough to get us excited about eating clams at Bistro George after the last ferry leaves.

The old Golden Century site has been reborn as Royal Palace Seafood Restaurant and trades until 3am on weekends, and Jimmy’s Falafel has expanded to serve more post-clubbing pitas near Ivy. Its neighbours MuMu and Bar Totti’s are open for sambals, skewers, antipasti and schnitzels until 2am Thursday to Saturday, while Big Poppa’s has reopened up on Oxford Street with after-hours pork chops and pasta. Now we just need public transport to come to the party.

The two-sip shout

In 2022, Sydney’s top restaurants were locked in a bitter war to see who could provide the best and booziest martini (it’s an ongoing fight between a’Mare, Clam Bar, The Gidley and Margaret). But this year, we saw the snack-sized cocktail take off, no doubt partly due to reports of punters drinking less alcohol across the board.

Maybe Sammy in The Rocks has spruiked a “mini martini” since it opened, but when Le Foote put a “two-sip” negroni on the drinks list, the concept seemed to go into overdrive.Promenade Bondi Beach now offers a tiny $10 margarita to get you modestly primed for lunch; Babs in Enmore does a cracking two-sip Vesper; and mini martinis have also been spotted at Darlinghurst’s Love, Tilly Devine, The Rover in Surry Hills, The Charles Grande Brasserie in the CBD and Bar Heather, Byron Bay.

Sexy, smoky cabbage

Hispi. Sugarloaf. Wombok. All fun to say and delicious to eat, especially when it’s a locally grown cabbage variety charred and licked with beef fat like the one at The Schoolhouse Restaurant in Orange. Whether it’s due to the rising cost of meat and other vegetables, or just because cabbage is great, the grilled brassica is having a moment.

There are smoky cabbage kebabs with harissa labne at CBD Turkish favourite Maydanoz; there is cabbage braised in whey and kombu before a spin over charcoal at Tothy Brothers Deli in the Northern Beaches. Bangalay Dining in Shoalhaven Heads on the South Coast rocks a rolled-and-roasted savoy with confit garlic, while North Sydney’s Poetica wood-grills sugarloaf to be supercharged with biquinho chillis for a $36 main course.

Catch of the year: swordfish

Two of the hottest restaurants to open this year came out swinging with a swordfish dish pitching to be a signature. Aforementioned Poetica pours buttery fish stock over dry-aged, lightly charred swordfish full of clean and direct flavour, while Le Foote in Le Rocks features a swordfish “rib-eye” fragrant with a gently piccante tomato oil. Juicy stuff.

More great swordfish can be found a Neil Perry’s Margaret (in ceviche form with lime, chilli and pressed coconut milk); Cirrus at Barangaroo (miso-glazed and doused in wasabi and mussel butter); and the brand-new Martinez in Circular Quay (grilled and topped with a herby sauce gribiche).

Kosho beyond yuzu

XO appears in this year’s Guide with more frequency than a noughts-and-crosses tournament, but another flavour-booster is becoming just as prevalent. Japan’s favourite tarty salt-fermented citrus paste, yuzu kosho, has been popping up in more and more restaurant dishes over the past five years, and in 2023 we began to notice other versions of the form. Mandarin kosho enhancing Tweed Coast tuna with celtuce at Bar Heather in Byron Bay, for example, orange kosho pumping up kingfish crudo at Ballina’s Lola Dining, and lime kosho with local yellowfin sashimi at The Milton Hotel.

Four trends we never want to see again

“A surcharge applies … ”

For as long as there have been penalty rates, restaurants whacked an extra 10 per cent on the bill for Sunday services, more if it’s a public holiday. However, lately we’ve seen Saturday service charges too, which is getting a bit rich when the restaurant is only open four days a week. Here’s an idea: absorb the extra staffing costs across food and drink prices every day of the week, so customers aren’t penalised for wanting to dine on the weekend – you know, the two days most people like to book a nice table and catch up with mates.

$200 steak, $5 sauce

C’mon. What are you doing? We get that bearnaise doesn’t whisk together on trees, but when a steak costs more than a week’s worth of groceries, at least one sauce on the house shouldn’t be too much to ask. Also, a pox on any restaurant that charges for mustard.

“Could we please see the label?”

Sorry if you’ve heard this one before, but apparently many restaurant staff across NSW have not: wine ordered by the glass should be poured at the table. No one’s accusing staff of switching bordeaux for boxed De Bortoli, we diners just like the small sense of occasion and a squiz at the label. If it’s a $10 glass of house red, fine. Slosh that plonk wherever you like. But when we’re paying upwards of $20 a glass, some actual wine service would be nice.

Avruga “caviar”

It may look like the eggs of an ancient sturgeon, but avruga is just Spanish herring reformed to look like fish roe and contains none of the depth or complexity of real-deal caviar. Restaurants need to stop listing it on the menu as such. This has been going on for years, mind. As Good Food Guide co-editors Simon Thomsen and Joanna Savill wrote in the 2009 edition of the book, “You wouldn’t call a sausage a fillet steak, so don’t call this caviar”.