I’ve just been invited to the birthday party of a two-year-old and would ordinarily expect balloons, cupcakes and maybe a bubble machine. Instead, I’ll probably get blue swimmer crab croquettes, salmon en croute and champagne because the two-year-old happens to be a restaurant.

Given the dynamic nature of the hospitality sector, a two-year anniversary is definitely worth a party; there’s something poignant about going into your third year with a defiant “We made it!” fist-pump.

Let’s not forget, however, those who’ve survived multiple decades and are still going strong. They were our pioneers.

There was no luxury country house with an ambitious dining room when Alla and Allan Wolf-Tasker opened Lake House in Daylesford 40 years ago.

No Cantonese restaurant as elegant and wine-driven as Melbourne’s Flower Drum almost 50 years ago.

And no restaurant design that sits as lightly on a river bank in the Australian bush as Glenn Murcutt’s Berowra Waters Inn, built for Gay and Tony Bilson 50 years ago (now run by chef Brian Geraghty).

It’s been quite the year for special birthdays, so crack open the champagne (they certainly did) for Sydney’s harbourside Catalina (30 years), Abhi’s Indian restaurant in North Strathfield (35), Pilu at Freshwater (20), Sails on Lavender Bay (48), Bistro Moncur (31), Sean’s Panaroma (31) and Icebergs Dining Room and Bar (22).

In Melbourne, bake a cake for the inimitably Parisian France-Soir in South Yarra (38), Cafe Di Stasio in St Kilda (36), Attica in Ripponlea (20 next year) and Brae at Birregurra (11, but it may as well be 22 because country years are twice as hard as city years). Even little Tipo 00 pasta bar in the CBD is turning 10 this year, causing older diners to wag their fingers and say, “I remember when you were born, and now look at you.”

Most of these venues are family-run, sometimes across generations. The big daddy is Beppi’s in Sydney’s Darlinghurst, just two years shy of its 70th birthday and now run by Beppi and Norma Polese’s son, Marc, which surely makes it the oldest family-owned restaurant in the country.

The celebrations shouldn’t just be for the owners, but for the staff, suppliers and regular diners as well. I raise a glass to them all, whether just beginning or nearing the end.

theemptyplate@goodweekend.com.au