Deft knife skills. Leadership. Business savvy. Creativity. The ability to literally stand the heat – and the cold. Becoming a great chef in a competitive food city like Melbourne takes all these skills – and more.

The Age Good Food Guide senior reviewing panel has shortlisted five chefs who have risen above the pack to earn a shot at the coveted Citi Chef of the Year title. These are the finalists we believe bring something special to Victoria's dynamic and ever-evolving dining scene. Good luck to all five nominees at The Age Good Food Guide 2016 awards on September 21.

Ben Shewry​, Attica

It's been a huge year for New Zealand-born Ben Shewry. In June, his restaurant, in an unremarkable shopping strip, was once again named Australia's top restaurant at The World's 50 Best Restaurants awards, coming in at 32. Last month during Gelinaz!, an international chef shuffle, he briefly took over the kitchen at Belgian fine diner In De Wulf​ while Yoshihiro Narisawa​, from Narisawa in Tokyo, cooked at Attica. Oh, and also last month he announced that he'd become the restaurant's sole proprietor. Expect more challenging, thought-provoking and plain delicious dishes to come.

In a farmhouse kitchen atop a hill in the Otway hinterland, Dan Hunter is capturing the flavours of the surrounding farms and waters in a series of cleverly honed dishes. Hunter turns gatherer, serving pine mushrooms he's picked nearby with braised wagyu and black garlic, and stinging nettles with ricotta, dehydrated brassica leaves and crunchy wafers of chicken skin. This is seasonal eating writ large.

In Dave Verheul's kitchen, even the small things get a sprinkle of stardust – butter for the house-made sourdough is churned with creme fraiche and sesame seeds, and a simple green salad is showered with toasted seeds. And yes, he also makes the plates on which his careful compositions rest. The Kiwi chef brings old techniques and smart new ideas together in a history-soaked site in Carlton, where the high timber stools are some of the most sought-after seats in town.

Plenty of chefs burn for their art, but few as visibly as Florent Gerardin, the Frenchman and Vue de Monde alumnus at the helm of Melbourne's Pei Modern. He cooks like a chef quite literally on fire. You can see the cogs turning. You can read it in a menu energised by fistfuls of eclectic ingredients only available though having an ear firmly pressed to the ground. You can taste it in the snacks. These are boundary-pushing but also grounded by strong, classic technique learned through masters like Joel Robuchon​. A sea urchin chip sandwich chased by tommy ruff with bone broth and kale says it all.

There's a CV any chef would envy: stints at The Fat Duck in Britain, ElBulli and the Arzak lab in Spain and two years as co-owner of The Estelle in Northcote. Then, just over a year ago, Ryan Flaherty achieved his dream: chef-patron of his own 30-seater. Flaherty is doing it his way at Mister Jennings in Richmond, delivering a menu that balances daring dishes such as icy shards of kangaroo, wasabi and nashi pear with crowd-pleasers like boudin blanc dagwood dogs. And from next month, Flaherty steps things up with 12- to 15-course dinners for up to six people at a specially crafted table inside the kitchen.

The Age Good Food Guide 2016 will be available for $10 with The Saturday Age on Saturday, September 26, from participating newsagents, 7-Elevens and supermarkets, while stocks last.