These are the summer scorchers to bookmark when you want destination dining, Chinese by the sea or polished Middle Eastern snacking in a city laneway. Plus the restaurant openings of 2023 to count down to.

ALREADY OPEN

La Vetta

Daytrips to the Macedon Ranges might be anchored by a visit to Marnong Estate's restaurant La Vetta, where Salvatore Giorgio (ex Scopri) is grilling prawns and steak tagliata, twirling seafood through scialatielli pasta and pairing calamari fritti with squid ink aioli. Architecturally designed cabins are there for weekenders.

2335 Mickelham Road, Mickelham, marnongestate.com.au

Shi Hui Shi

No country town is complete without an Aussie-Chinese restaurant, and although Sorrento might feel more city than country, it's now got the Chinese restaurant to match. Nestled within Hotel Sorrento, which recruited George Calombaris as culinary director earlier this year, Shi Hui Shi ticks the boxes of Cantonese (steamed fish), Sichuan (kung pao cauliflower) and crowd-pleasers (fried ice-cream). The dining room is a love-letter to 1960s Hong Kong and the kitchen is led by Jerry Yi (ex Red Spice Road).

5-15 Hotham Road, Sorrento, hotelsorrento.com.au/shi-hui-shi

COMING SOON

Al Dente Sapori

From takeaway pasta business to grocer to fine-diner, lockdown business Al Dente has kept us on our toes. Its next trick is turning the provedore next to its elevated restaurant Al Dente Enoteca into Al Dente Sapori, a more casual spot for 30 diners where spaghetti vongole (pictured), vitello tonnato and lasagne are the order of the day. Opens November 22.

163 Nicholson Street, Carlton, aldenteenoteca.com

Clover Vin De Cave

Former Etta and Embla chef Charley Snadden-Wilson is stepping back into the fire at the new 48-seat wine bar he's been working on with Lyndon Kubis (Toorak Cellars, The Hills etc). A Brick Chef oven and grill will smoke rump cap, char onions for agrodolce, and turn out plum puddings, all carried to tables by the chefs themselves. Opens any day now.

193 Swan Street, Richmond

Kin

The Brown siblings of All Saints Estate have been busy revamping one of Victoria's most iconic wineries. With pizzeria Bonnie and the swish new cellar door complete, estate restaurant Kin is the final piece of the puzzle. When it opens mid-December, it will celebrate family, from the name right down to the yabby cocktail that winks at their father's weakness: prawn cocktail.

205 All Saints Road, Wahgunyah, allsaintswine.com.au

Lilac Wine

The Mulberry Group (Hazel, Dessous) describes its latest project as a bar for locals. Bringing together talent from Aru (sommelier Richard Buck), Rascal (chef Kyle Nicol) and Adelaide's Shobosho (manager Charlotte Martin), the cosy converted warehouse will sling produce-driven food, natural wines and tap beer from December.

31 Stephenson Street, Cremorne

MoVida Geelong

Geelong's hottest eat street, Little Malop, will reach boiling point early next year when Melbourne's favourite Spanish restaurant, MoVida, opens in the mega-building that previously housed the Eureka Hotel. Expect Surf Coast produce plus signature dishes such as air-dried wagyu with poached egg and potato foam and anchovy on toast with tomato sorbet.

96-98 Little Malop Street, Geelong

Pt Leo Restaurant and Laura

Melbourne's summer playground, the Mornington Peninsula, will have diners in even greater thrall this year, after six months without the pleasures of Pt Leo Estate's two restaurants. A mid-year fire closed Laura and Pt Leo Restaurant but come December, they'll be back, Laura with its fine-dining menus, its sibling with more relaxed fare from the wood-fired oven and grill.

3649 Frankston-Flinders Road, Merricks, ptleoestate.com.au

Reine and La Rue

True to their name, the Sydney-based Nomad group isn't sitting still. After opening Nomad in Melbourne last year, Al and Rebecca Yazbek, along with chef Jacqui Challinor, are hatching plans for a spectacular restaurant, Reine, and a bar, La Rue, inside Melbourne's original gold rush-era stock exchange. Part of the Queen and Collins development, each venue will offer complete menus in spectacular Gothic Revival surrounds. Opens 2023.

376-380 Collins Street, Melbourne

Totti's Lorne

Rumours that Merivale would install a Surf Coast version of its Sydney trattoria Totti's have proven true. By February, Merivale's Justin Hemmes and his executive chef Matt Germanchis will magic up a fourth Totti's on the ground floor of the Lorne Hotel, a space previously occupied by MoVida. Germanchis, last seen at Fish by Moonlite, will deploy his seafood skills in Mediterranean dishes built for long summer days.

176 Mountjoy Parade, Lorne, merivale.com.auc

Underbar

Victoria's newest destination diner opens this month – and it's in Ballarat. Hatted restaurant Underbar has a new home inside the boutique Hotel Vera, taking the leap from single-room site to plush multi-room extravaganza with custom furniture and art commissions. Inventive degustation menus parade local artisans such as Sher wagyu and Western Plains pork on plates by ceramicist Neville French. Chef Derek Boath is also overseeing hotel breakfast and the mini-bar line-up. Opens November.

710 Sturt Street, Ballarat, underbar.com.au

Yugen omakase counter

An underground location. Six seats. A chef from one of Sydney's top sushi restaurants. Yugen's omakase bar, a beautiful thing of rough-hewn coral-coloured marble, is poised to become one of Melbourne's hardest reservations to come by. The first six weeks' bookings were snapped up in nine minutes.

The magnet is chef Alex Yu, a disciple of Chase Kojima of Sokyo. From November 18, Yu will practise his more contemporary style of omakase, the Japanese set-menu format that's a romp of surprise dishes at a chef's table. The next block of bookings will be released in December.

605 Chapel Street, South Yarra, yugendining.com.au

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

• Good Food Guide 2023: Top 10 hot and new restaurants