Picture yourself in a buzzy restaurant, a drink at your fingertips, listening to your dining companion tell you about the gorgeous but highly stressed rescue dog she’s just acquired. A dish is placed in front of you. You say thanks to the waiter, and pop in a mouthful as you scroll through iPhone close-ups of the dog.

Suddenly, you sit up in your chair. This dish. It’s delicious. You focus. You thought it sounded good, but this is extra. It’s better than it sounded on paper, greater than the sum of its parts. For the Good Food team, these are the moments that crown our year. These are the places we drag our nearest and dearest back to at the first opportunity.

Here then, are the dishes that made us sit bolt upright in 2023.

—Ardyn Bernoth, National Good Food editor

Asparagus with mussel beurre blanc and tarragon oil at Enoteca Boccaccio, Balwyn

As soon as the calendar ticks over to spring, I scan menus for asparagus dishes. I loved the sparrow grass served with ’nduja at Messmates in Warragul, and with ajoblanco and bottarga at Napier Quarter in Fitzroy. But the pick of this year’s crop was the version at Enoteca Boccaccio, the long-awaited wine room above swanky Balwyn supermarket and wine retailer Boccaccio.

There, the plump spears were topped with tiny, tender mussels and lapped by a buttery sauce dotted with green, licoricey tarragon oil so good that I immediately called for bread so as not to waste a drop. It’s no longer on the season-driven menu but you could count on finding something equally good in its place. enoteca.boccaccio.com.au

RUNNER-UP

Cantabrian artisan anchovy on crouton with smoked tomato sorbet at MoVida Aqui, Melbourne CBD

On paper, this tapas dish shouldn’t work. A wafer-thin toast raft, an anchovy, and a quenelle of smoky tomato sorbet? Preposterous! But over the past two decades it’s become a Melbourne cult classic. To taste it is to get it. movida.com.au/aqui

Roslyn Grundy

Corner Inlet flathead, zucchini and pickled cucumber at Pipi’s Kiosk, Albert Park

Scientists have shown food on aeroplanes tastes worse due to our tastebuds being altered at altitude. So can they prove that eating by the sea makes food taste better? After a lunch at this airy beach-side spot on a sparkling summer day, I reckon this theory has legs.

Of course, it could all come down to the kitchen’s hearth imparting just the right amount of ironbark char on each slender piece of flathead, leaving the flesh buttery, the skin smoky. Or maybe it was the vibrant zucchini sauce, as summery as the sunshine outside. Further investigation is needed. pipiskiosk.com.au

RUNNER-UP

Quince, white chocolate and salted honey petit choux at Reine & La Rue, Melbourne

In the unofficial year of choux pastry, one airy puff emerged head and shoulders above the rest. Its top crackled like a record needle dropped on vinyl, the inside was light as tissue paper and crowning the top was jewel-coloured quince, my favourite winter fruit. reineandlarue.melbourne

Emma Breheny

Calamari, pork, radish and thyme at O.My, Beaconsfield

“If you opt for the four-course, you’ll miss the calamari.” My heartfelt gratitude goes out to our waiter for the heads-up upsell, because what a calamari it was. Hidden under a thicket of fermented radish batons were tiny, tender curls of scored calamari, retracting to resemble children’s-sized pasta shapes. But this was no alphabet soup; the pork consomme had such clarity, in both flavour and appearance.

A standout example of the clever and often surprising flavour combos (see also: broad beans, prosciutto and mulberries) at this year’s worthy Vittoria Coffee Restaurant of the Year. Thanks for twisting my arm. omyrestaurant.com.au

RUNNER-UP

Connie Carbone pizza at Paesino Pizzeria, Keilor

Portable pizzaiolos Dough Religion graduated to a shopfront midyear, and their carbonara-inspired topping merges two of my favourite things. The crust is puffed like a pool float and dotted with leopard spots, and a bianco (white) base of melted fior di latte is finished with swirls of egg yolk, crisp pancetta, grated pecorino and an assertive attack of cracked pepper for a pizza that really floats my boat. @paesino_pizzeria)

Annabel Smith

Pad kaprao at BKK, Melbourne CBD

I can’t stop thinking about the pad kaprao, aka holy basil stir-fry, aka the chilli tingle my lips will never forget. It was only meant to be a one-off, as Bangkok shophouse Phed Mark brought their cult dish to buzzy Thai restaurant BKK for this year’s Melbourne Food and Wine Festival.

Luckily for us, the famously hot dish was such a hit that it’s now a permanent fixture at BKK. Choose your chilli level from one to five (go the four, I dare ya) and prepare for pork, holy basil, Thai basil, four types of chillies and a magic secret sauce that’s wok-fried, layered over rice and topped with a crispy fried egg with perfect goog factor. Spicy, salty, sweet and utterly addictive. Pad kaprao, you complete me. her.melbourne/bkk

RUNNER-UP

Scallop mornay pie at Country Cobb Bakery, Kyneton

This old-fashioned country bakery has a constant queue out the door. No wonder. It seems to have won just about every pie prize in Australia. I’m working my way through the extensive menu (can confirm, all excellent) but it’s the scallop pie that has stolen my heart.

Satisfyingly deep-filled with a generous portion of plump scallops swirled through a rich creamy mornay, it’s usually scoffed in the car to leave a scattering of flaky pastry evidence down my front. Guilty as charged. countrycobbakery.com.au

Andrea McGinniss

Tiramisu at Grill Americano, Melbourne CBD

I realise it is highly controversial to nominate this dish, given our Good Food Guide editors declared tiramisu one of the most overrated trends of 2023. But here’s the thing. Running through the centre of this elegant, showstopping incarnation is a fine seam of chocolate.

Chris Lucas, owner of Grill Americano, says he was lunching in Lake Garda, Italy, where he had one similar. “I want the recipe,” he said to the waiter. “I was sent out the back to see nonna. She handed me the recipe,” he says.

These days “secret weapon” pastry chef Michaela Kang makes up to 15 large dishes of this tiramisu a day. The seam of chocolate adds texture, finesse and, having eaten it recently, I can still almost feel the gentle crunch and taste the pure, simple flavours. grillamericano.com

RUNNER-UP

Saffron spaghettini, prawns, lemon butter, bottarga at Mister Bianco, Kew

I ate this very recently; is it a case that the things I love most are those I can still taste? I adored this classic dish, you could almost have made it at home, but let’s be honest, not with anywhere near this flavour and deeply comforting satisfaction. Could not have loved my first look at this new incarnation of a suburban favourite more. misterbianco.com.au

Ardyn Bernoth