Vittoria Coffee Restaurant of the Year

A restaurant setting benchmarks for food and service, pushing the hospitality industry forward and supporting Australian producers.

Saint Peter

Paddington

In many ways, Saint Peter’s ambition was always too big to fit into the teeny dimensions of its original site. Rumours from the kitchen included Julie Niland’s famed lemon tarts being baked in a rickety oven jammed into the corner of the storage room. Of the couple peeling back the drywall in the dining room and discovering brick and sandstone, then leaving it exposed, because that’s all their budget allowed.

If the surrounds were modest, Josh Niland’s cooking was revolutionary: dry-aged fish; crisps made from fish eyes; caramel made from Murray cod fat; garum made from guts and trimmings, cuts rarely given a spotlight. The sourcing, from the country’s finest fisherpeople, was equally impressive.

Now, after launching Fish Butchery, Charcoal Fish, Petermen and Fysh (in Singapore) and winning a few James Beard awards for his cookbooks, Saint Peter finally has a setting worthy of its reputation.

Step into the new dining room and the emotions are of anticipation, clamour, excitement. Walk out, and it’s with a sense that this restaurant fully delivers on its promise, with all the best bits of the Nilands’ career distilled into one site.

There’s the bar, where oysters and snacks reign, from longspine sea urchin on toast to Fish Butchery’s epic tuna cheeseburger.

There’s the a la carte lunch, where barbecued garfish comes with pine nut salsa and crumbed King George whiting comes with (excellent) chips.

Then there’s the tasting menu featuring the likes of fish bones ground into noodles, smoked bar cod roe spun into a tart, and coral trout served with a selection of its parts. A vastly improved wine list by Houston Barakat ties it all together.

It’s the restaurant we’ve all been waiting for, and what’s even more exciting is that it feels like they’re just getting started.

New Restaurant of the Year, presented by Aurum Poultry Co.

One of the most exciting openings of the past 12 months that also has a fresh point of view and contributes positively to the broader community.

Firepop

Enmore

Raymond Hou and Alina Van are proof positive that the best things in life – and on Enmore Road – come about through hard work and determination.

Before opening their first brick-and-mortar restaurant in March, Van and Hou were serving Blackmore wagyu skewers and Port Macquarie lamb through their mobile food stall at breweries and regional shows across the state. If you’ve ever seen the Firepop sign at a festival, you will know the scent of cumin and fat-on-charcoal immediately.

It hits all the right receptors at the new digs too, an elegant two-storey space where the husband-and-wife team also smoke Caciocavallo cheese, champion local producers such as Moonacres Farm, dress silver trevally crudo with mandarin oil and pour lesser known – but serious – wines.

Meanwhile, if we awarded Dessert of the Year, the buttermilk panna cotta with white balsamic strawberries would be a top-five contender.

Vittoria Coffee Regional Restaurant of the Year

The best beyond metro limits – a celebration of its surrounds with a strong
connection to the local community.

You Beauty

Bangalow

Dolled-up prawn toast is having a moment at hatted restaurants everywhere, but chef Matt Stone takes the Australian-Chinese concept further. Crocodile toast.

Specifically, croc tail blitzed with ginger, soy and coriander, spread across sliced baguette and fried. In other hands it might come across as a gimmick, but at You Beauty it speaks to Stone’s ambition of sustainability through creativity.

Like the rest of the menu, it’s also delicious, whether you’re a Bangalow local dropping in for a beer and happy-hour bar snack (we love the rabbit rillettes, too) or a tourist keen for a long lunch with the greatest hits of Northern Rivers produce.

Jersey milk mozzarella from cheesemaker Debra Allard, say, teamed with lightly smoked Coopers Shoot tomatoes and peaches marinated in pandanus vinegar by wild-food forager Peter Hardwick. You Beauty, you little ripper.

Oceania Cruises Chef of the Year

A chef at the forefront of dining, setting new standards, leading by example and contributing positively to their broader community.

Paul Farag

Aalia, Sydney

Ummak huriyya. Sea urchin waraq simsim. Quail skewer with molokhia and barberries. If your experience of Middle Eastern food is limited to kofta and hummus, a visit to Aalia can feel like swapping a mono speaker for seven-channel surround sound.

Paul Farag was an apprentice under Michael Moore at The Summit, before head roles at Four in Hand, Monopole and Fish Butchery. It was Surry Hills’ Nour, however, where the chef really tapped into his Egyptian heritage, diving headfirst into Arabic food culture and history, and transforming conceptions of what Middle Eastern cuisine in Sydney could be.

At Aalia, Farag took things to another level of precision, and his cooking has only become stronger and more innovative at the Martin Place restaurant since it opened in 2022, redefining family favourites and street food staples of Lebanon, Turkey, Iran and North Africa.

Importantly, he also nurtures the talents of younger chefs, boosting individual team members’ confidence to follow their own point of view and ambition in the kitchen.

Vittoria Coffee Legend Award

For an outstanding long-term contribution to the hospitality industry.

Bill Granger

It’s telling that when we were compiling a list of 40 dishes that have defined Sydney dining over 40 years of the Guide, Bill Granger’s avocado toast was first on the list. In truth, it equally could have been his much-imitated scrambled eggs, his ricotta hotcakes, or simply the small pleasure of a flawlessly executed flat white.

What Granger, a former art student with an eye for design, started in a small corner cafe in Darlinghurst in 1993, soon went global, his pared-back but sharp cooking and effortless service style defining Australian cafe culture for locals, and the world.

With more than a dozen cookbooks, and 19 restaurants in cities including Tokyo, London, Seoul and Honolulu, Granger’s cooking went much further than breakfast, though, his sunny approach extending across all-day menus and inspiring countless chefs and home cooks.

Bill may have left us, but his legacy, and legend, will last forever.

Bill Granger Trailblazer Award

A new award, in partnership with Bill Granger’s family, and named in honour of Bill’s hospitality, warmth, integrity and entrepreneurial spirit.

Baba’s Place

Marrickville

The Trailblazer Award is given to a person, team or business approaching things from their own perspective and in doing so, pushing Australian food forward. The winner should have a unique point of view and embody hospitality in its truest sense, with a focus on community above all.

It’s for these reasons (and many more), that the inaugural winner is Baba’s Place, a freewheeling celebration of the suburban Sydney experience grounded in the stories of immigrant families and their shared experiences of food and cooking.

Like bills embodied a particular sense of Australia, Baba’s Place does the same, proudly drawing on the Lebanese, Macedonian and Greek heritages of co-owners Alex Kelly, Jean-Paul El Tom and James Bellos for the decor and the dishes, and reclaiming the narrative around what Australian cooking is and can be. A path laid down for all of us to follow.

Cultural Change Champion

A new award shining a light on those making the hospitality industry a better place to work.

Women and Revolution

A grassroots movement founded by women for all women working in the male-dominated wine and hospitality sectors, Women and Revolution takes out our inaugural Cultural Change Champion award.

The accolade comes for its outsized role in fostering positive, safe and empowering work environments and culture in Australia’s hospitality industry.

“We run many platforms, but the community aspect is huge,” says WaR president and co-founder Bridget Raffal.

Some of those platforms include Outspoken, an educational program upskilling participants and driving gender equity; a buddy system that connects those new to the field with industry veterans; and a centralised safe space for women in wine and hospitality to tap into an active community of winemakers, retailers and sommeliers.

A recent partnership with the Australian Human Rights Commission’s Speaking From Experience project broadened the movement’s impact.

Food for Good Award, presented by Lightspeed

A big thinker with bright ideas that betters the community.

Rice Fund

For the past three years, Soul of Chinatown has been on a mission to uplift and advocate for the storied Haymarket precinct through storytelling, events and community engagement.

Entirely dependent on donations and volunteers, Rice Fund is a separate charity initiative within the non-for-profit group, created to aid elderly Chinese-Australians and Asian-Australians experiencing isolation.

And is there a better way to get together with old friends and new ones than over yum cha? In addition to donating thousands of bags of culturally specific groceries to community centres across Sydney, Rice Fund also hosts group excursions for seniors to Chinatown. Many participants haven’t visited the area in years, let alone sat down in one of its restaurants for dim sum and tea.

With more funding, it’s the kind of program that could be scaled and replicated across the country, simultaneously supporting elderly Australians and small, family-run businesses.

Young Chef of the Year, presented by Smeg

Founded in memory of chef Josephine Pignolet, and judged by a panel of industry professionals, this award is for a committed and skilled young kitchen talent under 30.

Luke Bourke

Rockpool Bar & Grill, Sydney

Graduate of the National Indigenous Culinary Institute, advocate for First Nations ingredients, mentor to Indigenous chefs, Rockpool Bar & Grill sous-chef. Luke Bourke has packed a lot in, and that’s without even mentioning stints at est., Noma Australia and The Ledbury in London, which followed a tour of Ireland with twin chef-brother Sam to spotlight native ingredients.

Needless to say, drive and ambition are part of his make-up, as is a passion for the foods of his heritage. Growing up on Dharug Country, Bourke dreams of returning to Western Sydney to open a restaurant with his brother and older sister Teagan (also a chef), employing First Nations cooks and building a menu grounded in place.

“Not just farm to table, but our backyard and culture to your plate,” he says. “Using native ingredients grown on our land, drawing on 60,000 years of culture to create a food journey that showcases Indigenous heritage in all its glory.”

Oceania Cruises Service Excellence Award

Executes the highest standard of hospitality relevant to their establishment, from attitude and skill to knowledge and personality.

Maureen Er

White Horse, Surry Hills

Surry Hills’ White Horse pub was built in the 1930s, and has enjoyed stints as a live music joint, piano bar and brasserie, plus a slightly suspect hangout for bikers and cops. After a $6 million renovation and relaunch in April, the White Horse 17.0 may be the hotel’s most successful iteration yet. It’s certainly the most delicious and professionally run.

General manager Maureen Er is key to its success, coming to the refurbed boozer after roles at Cho Cho San and Tetsuya’s, and co-ordinating a well-rehearsed floor team across a hatted dining room and cracking upstairs bar.

Calm, poised, friendly and wholly informed, Er confidently recommends wines from the 100-strong list, talks guests through some of the more left-field dishes (“brie ice-cream”, come again?) and ensures your glass is never less than half-full. Service at a pub has rarely been so on song.

Bar of the Year

The best all-round bar that nails hospitality, drinks and vibe while contributing to its broader community.

Double Deuce Lounge

Sydney

Opened by Sebastian “Cosmo” Soto, Charlie Lehmann and Dardan Shervashidze in 2019, and now starring general manager Alicia Clarke on the tools too, Double Deuce just keeps getting better with age.

Drinker, beware though. With its 1970s-channelling fitout and ever-accommodating engaged bartenders, that “one last” cocktail can go from nightcap to party-starter before you can say, “more furikake-seasoned French onion dip, please”.

There’s also zero pretence at the CBD basement boozer, which is the way we like it. Just music, good times and excellent White Russians.

Drinks List of the Year

A wine and drinks list with its own unique identity, featuring options that pair with the restaurant’s food and style across a range of prices.

Stonefruit

Tenterfield

It’s hard to say if Stonefruit has the only drinks list in the world with two pages of New England and Granite Belt wines next to grower champagne from Egly-Ouriet and Dhondt-Grellet, but we’re pretty darn certain it does.

Alistair Blackwell and Karlee McGee have huge admiration for local growers, and at the same time offer a diverse selection of Australian and European bottles, and exciting vermouths, cocktails, spirits and beers.

Ganevat? Robinot? Frederic Cossard? In… Tenterfield? It’s true.

Sommelier of the Year

A wine professional who has a deep knowledge of the subject while helping to influence and inspire.

Caitlin Baker

Such and Such, Canberra

The intent of Such and Such’s wine list is clear from the get-go. “Wine should be accessible, not used to create exclusion or draw boundaries of superiority.” Indeed.

Baker’s support of independent producers who respect the land is unwavering, plus she’s a gun on the floor, always finding the precise pour for each guest.

In 2021, Baker also founded Venus Vinifera, a not-for-profit for women, non-binary and those with trans experience based in Canberra. Through specialised education events, the organisation aims to inspire and create safer spaces.

Critics’ Pick of the Year

Recognises an exceptional restaurant among the Good Food Guide Critics’ Picks that brings something special and vital to NSW.

Gursha Ethiopian

Blacktown

Husband-and-wife Yibeltal Tsegaw and Rahel Woldearegay moved from Ethiopia to Australia two decades ago and opened Gursha in 2017. Tsegaw runs the modest dining room, guiding newcomers through the differences between mitmita and berbere spice blends, while Woldearegay leads the one-woman kitchen.

The tangy injera is some of the best around, and the restaurant is also something of a community club for Sydney’s East African families, who regularly gather here for thick and fiery wots. There is laughter, there is music, and the air is heavy with incense and potent coffee.

You don’t walk away from a weekend lunch at Gursha – or any Ethiopian table, for that matter – thinking, “Well, that was a bit dull, let’s just stay home next time.”

Cafe of the Year

Great coffee, tea and drinks? That’s a given. The winning cafe also takes pride in its food and service.

Ona

Marrickville

Some cafes are just happy to pull you a no-frills espresso, slice some sourdough and call it a job done. Others will take you on a tour of Ethiopia, Columbia and Brazil through single origin beans, blends, cold brews and pour-overs. Maybe there will be a breakfast roll with caramelised onion, fried egg and free-range bacon.

Then there’s Ona, which does all of the above at its flagship Marrickville site, as well as offering a leather-bound coffee menu that reads like a wine list, noting provenance, terroir and tasting notes. A cup of nitrogen macerated filter coffee made from Iris Estate beans grown in Panama can be yours for $32.

No interest in anaerobic fermentation and tteokbokki rice cakes with your toast? No worries. Ona, importantly, is also a beaut little spot to catch up with mates, or chill in the lush courtyard with your dog.

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