For the Good Food team, summer is more slip-slop-slap than slap-up dinners. On our breaks we seek out retro hotels and motels, coastal breweries and shady beer gardens, south-east Asian cuisines in surprising locations, superlative sandwiches and detour-worthy baked goods. Here’s our hit list for those hitting the road this January (and beyond).

Victoria

Dunetown by Sailors Grave Brewing, Cape Conran

After a spot of beachcombing at Cowrie Bay, I’ll be blowing the foam off a cold one at Dunetown, Sailors Grave’s new brewery between Cape Conran Coastal Park and Marlo at the mouth of the Snowy River in Victoria’s far east. Chris and Gab Moore’s eclectic brews lean into briny seaside flavours such as the Down She Gose sea salt and seaweed gose or seasonal releases featuring oysters or uni.

Dunetown’s Mexican-leaning onsite food truck Tumba Taco’s menu continues that sense of place, considering nearby Orbost is corn-growing country. Following cervezas (poured from 16 taps!), and Baja California-style fish tacos (here with battered gummy shark, pickled fennel and mango salsa) on hand-pressed corn tortillas, I’ll say porque no los dos to scoops of vanilla horchata (rice milk) and Mexican chocolate ice-cream churned by the local legends at Long Paddock in Lindenow. − Annabel Smith

85 Marlo Plains Road, Cape Conran, sailorsgravebrewing.com

Mahob at Moo’s, Meeniyan

A beloved weatherboard cafe in south Gippsland now wafts aromas of lemongrass, coconut and makrut lime on Friday and Saturday evenings, as owners Woody Chet and Chanthida Penh serve a contemporary Cambodian menu. I’m there for the duck curry built around a red kroeung (spice paste) and the amok, a steamed fish dish made with local catch from San Remo. But I’m also excited to try crunchy chicken ribs lifted by kampot pepper, ideally with a frosty glass of beer from one of several Gippsland breweries on the list. − Emma Breheny

89 Whitelaw Street, Meeniyan, mahob.com.au

Barragunda Dining, Cape Schanck

So fresh, it’s still being built, Barragunda Dining is taking shape inside a glass pavilion on Barragunda Estate. When the doors swing open mid-February, the team will welcome up to 40 people at a sitting. Simone Watts (ex-Coda, Daintree Ecolodge) will oversee the veg-forward four-course set menu, using produce grown or raised just beyond the glass. Expect dishes such as tomatoes with smoked stracciatella and tomato leaf oil, all produced on-site. − Roslyn Grundy

113 Cape Schanck Road, Cape Schanck, barragunda.com.au

1860 Romsey, Romsey

Not so much a restaurant as a recently beautifully renovated, sprawling beer garden shaded by apple and chestnut trees, with a handsome, historic pub attached, no prizes for guessing what year it was built in a small Macedon Ranges town, 1860 Romsey is just the type of unpretentious community hub that has me already Googling real estate in the area. Add to that a solid menu offering top quality renditions of all the pub bistro classics − steaks, parmas, burgers − and a wine and beer list favouring local drops, and it has great Aussie pub written all over it. All this just one hour from Melbourne makes it extremely daytrip-doable too – if only that wine list wasn’t damned good. − Andrea McGinniss

119 Main Street, Romsey, the1860.com.au

NSW

Casa Lu, Wollongong

Casa Lu has been calling my name since it opened this month, luring me south for Italian-style sandwiches on stone-baked schiacciata bread. From the 13 sangers on offer, it’s numero tre I’d order − a hulking hoagie stacked with mortadella, stracciatella, green olive and pistachio on bubbled slabs of Tuscan flatbread. I’d also need something sweet for the road, perhaps the Swedish cinnamon buns topped with crunchy pearl sugar.

Owners Maria Luciani and Keana Lufe don’t cut corners, with all bread and pastries baked daily and sauces made from scratch. Many of the fillings come from the duo’s other restaurant, K.malu Kitchen & Bar on Keira Street, including the three-hour slow-cooked porchetta. − Erina Starkey

84C Kembla Street, Wollongong, casalu.com.au

Sea Sea Hotel Kitchen and Bar, Crescent Head

Sometimes you want a holiday packed with ace restaurants every night; other times you’re just keen to sit by a pool, drink frozen margaritas and read a tattered Penguin Classic. This is exactly what I did the other week at Crescent Head’s Sea Sea Hotel, which opened in November under the direction of designer George Gorrow (one of the co-founders of denim label Ksubi) and his wife, Cisco Tschurtschenthaler.

The boutique rooms are inspired by Australian surf culture and a time when Rodriguez was topping the charts, while chef Daniel Medcalf (of Cabarita’s No. 35 Kitchen and Bar) has put his name to a kitchen largely championing Macleay Valley produce.

While I can only vouch for the poolside burger and barbecued prawns at this point, the menu is heavy with local seafood requiring a return visit, such as whole snapper and salt-and-pepper spanner crab, not to mention a drinks list written in collaboration with Mike Bennie of Sydney’s P&V Wine + Liquor Merchants. I’m down with any place where you can drink Loire Valley muscadet, eat line-caught red emperor and wear thongs at the same time. − Callan Boys

30-34 Pacific Street, Crescent Head, seaseahotel.com

Paste, Mittagong

If you don’t have time to travel much beyond Sydney this summer, make a day out of visiting this hatted Thai restaurant in the Southern Highlands. Paste is the Australian outpost of chef Bee Satongun’s original Bangkok venue, which has been awarded Michelin stars in its time. Satongun, who was named Asia’s best female chef by the World’s 50 Best Restaurants in 2018, has created a menu with modern twists on familiar Thai favourites as well as lesser-known regional dishes, using the best produce Australia has to offer. I’m keen to try her take on khanom jeen – a type of Thai fermented rice noodle – which she serves with king crab. − Isabel Cant

105 Main Street, Mittagong, pasteaustralia.com

Yakka’s Wine Bar, Berry

As if anyone needed another reason to visit picturesque Berry, there’s now a pop-up wine bar pouring pet-nats on a leafy verandah off the main street. Yakka’s Wine Bar has moved into the WorkLife co-working space until Easter, where it’s serving a snacky menu − featuring baguettes from Kiama bakery Slow Dough and artisan charcuterie from LP’s Quality Meats in Sydney − alongside lo-fi Aussie wines. I loved the thoughtful range and friendly vibes at their Port Kembla record and wine shop, which closed in December, and I’m looking forward to trying their new house label wine on a warm afternoon soon (ideally, after visiting the Berry Donut Van). − Bianca Hrovat

3/68 Albert Street, Berry, yakkahouse.com.au

Tasmania

Analiese Gregory’s 10-seat restaurant in a farm shed, Huon Valley

There’s no name just yet for what may be the most keenly awaited restaurant of 2025. Opening at the celebrated chef’s farm property a 30-minute drive south-west of Hobart in March or April, it will be the antithesis of the restaurants Gregory has worked at, which include Sydney’s three-hatted Quay and The Ledbury in London. For her, that means low stress and low-key.

It’ll be a two-person operation – Gregory plus front-of-house pro Nikki Friedli – offering only two or three services a week, and a set menu. “It’ll be just lunches because in a countryside setting like this, lunch is the better meal,” Gregory says. − Sarah Norris