There’s no doubt that it’s an investment to eat at the five restaurants in the running for The Age Good Food Guide 2024 Restaurant of the Year award.

For starters, there’s the time it takes to travel from Melbourne to each venue: two hours to Braein the Otways, an hour or so to Moonah on the Bellarine Peninsula, and a good hour by train to Beaconsfield to head to O.My.

A meal at most of the crop is a leisurely affair: why would you want to rush?

Of course, there’s the financial commitment too. It’s $360 to settle in for lunch or dinner at Brae, $285 for the full menu at Amaru, $220 for seven courses at O.My and $210 at 12-seat Moonah. Etta is the only a la carte restaurant in the crop but it also has a “leave it to us” menu for $100.

Each of the five restaurants nominated offers value and a unique experience – that’s why they’re on the list – but the restaurateurs themselves are the first to admit they are not accessible to all diners.

Moonah owner and chef Tobin Kent experimented with a $100 breakfast menu. It’s been so successful, he’s added it to the permanent offering. “The dining room faces east, so it’s beautiful in the morning, and the billabong we overlook is calm and quiet at that time,” he says. “A fine dining breakfast isn’t common, but it’s a good opportunity to offer people a cheaper alternative that’s a bit more approachable.”

It costs more than your regular cafe eggs on toast, but Kent says people often comment on the value of a menu that includes house-made croissants, pickled seafood and more. “It includes a glass of sparkling, as much coffee and tea as you want, and three courses of food, and we use the same handmade crockery we do for lunch and dinner.”

O.My co-owner Chayse Bertoncello launched a cheaper four-course menu this winter and believes it’s the smartest business decision he has made in 10 years of running the farm-to-table restaurant. “We’ve got old regulars returning to the restaurant,” he says. “It’s a bit more approachable for the punters.”

The $150 shorter menu is still a generous meal. “Four courses is just a number, really,” says Bertoncello. “There are snacks, bread, three savoury courses, then dessert and another dessert.”

As it happens, 80 per cent of people who book a four-course meal end up upgrading to the longer menu anyway. “Once they’re here, they think, let’s just go for it,” he says. “It’s about getting that foot in the door.”

Amaru offers a shorter $225 menu at lunch but also has its sibling wine bar, Auterra, across the road. A similar ethos of careful sourcing and clever cooking drives the wine bar’s kitchen, resulting in dishes such as pickled ox tongue with a sambal emulsion and roasted cashew puree ($10) and drop-dead delicious stuffed barbecued chicken wing with caramelised onion butter (a steal at $9).

“A lot of people don’t have $300 to drop on a night out at a restaurant,” says Good Food Guide co-editor Ellen Fraser. “People will still save for those once-in-a-lifetime experiences but for the day-to-day, they like being more relaxed and snacky and have the option of dipping in without breaking the bank.”

At Etta, owner Hannah Green is happy for people to experience the restaurant in the way that suits them at the time.

“We started as a neighbourhood restaurant and we still do share plates and loud music but I would like to think that the produce we serve, the wines on the list, the education of our staff is the same calibre of any fine-dining restaurant,” she says.

More than half her guests opt for the tasting menu but if there’s a free table and someone pops in for a lower spend, Green’s fine with that, too. “It is what it is, it’s a sign of the times,” she says. “People tend to see us as a ‘restaurant restaurant’ these days but if there’s a spot and you want snacks and a glass of wine, that’s great. Come on in.”

The finalists

These are the five finalists for The Age Good Food Guide 2024 Restaurant of the Year award. The winner will be announced on Monday night.

Amaru

Complex, nuanced dishes and matched drinks, often delivered to the table by the chefs themselves.

Shop 5, 1121 High Street, Armadale, amarumelbourne.com.au

Brae

Refined, intelligent cooking using the bounty of the surrounding orchards and garden.

4285 Cape Otway Road, Birregurra, braerestaurant.com

Etta

The neighbourhood restaurant of dreams, with good food, fine wine and warm hospitality.

60 Lygon Street, Brunswick East, ettadining.com.au

Moonah

A celebration of land and sea at a destination diner overlooking a billabong.

95 Minya Lane, Connewarre, moonahrestaurant.com.au

O. My

At this moody fine diner on the city’s fringe, the brothers who grow the vegetables also cook and serve them.

70 Princes Highway, Beaconsfield, omyrestaurant.com.au

The winners of The Age Good Food Guide 2024 Awards will be announced on October 30, presented by Vittoria Coffee and Oceania Cruises. The Age Good Food Guide 2024 will be on sale from October 31, featuring more than 450 Victorian venues, from three-hatted destinations to regional wine bars, lively noodle specialists and 30-year-old icons. Venues listed in the Guide are visited anonymously by professional restaurant critics, who review independently. Venues are chosen at our discretion.

The Age Good Food Guide 2024 will be on sale from October 31.