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Latest Postsyesterday 8.37pmAnd that’s a wrapBy Annabel Smith
Thanks for following our live coverage of The Sydney Morning Herald Good Food Guide awards, presented by T2 Tea and Oceania Cruises.
Read all about the ceremony in our news story here, peruse the full list of hats and find out more about all the major award winners.
Download our Good Food app to explore all 500 Good Food Guide reviews, and pick up the paper tomorrow for the special Good Food Guide liftout.
The 100 Essential Restaurants list is the hero of the liftout, and is now available to browse in the Good Food app, and will be published online on Thursday.
And come back at midday tomorrow for the low-down on which restaurants gained or lost their hats – one final shoutout to Olympic Meats for their hat, and that snack pack.
Bronte and I are off to fetch ourselves some Portuguese tarts. Over and out!
Photo: Good Foodyesterday 8.33pmWant a Good Food Guide reviewer in your pocket?By Erina Starkey
With more than 3000 reviews and recommendations and expanded coverage of independent restaurants, cafes, bars and pubs across NSW, the ACT and Victoria, the Good Food app makes it easier to find where to eat.
Photo: Dion GeorgopoulosReaders can browse The Sydney Morning Good Food Guide in full, including the A-Z list, or explore collections of one-, two- and three-hat venues, Critics’ Picks, the 100 Essential Restaurants, regional restaurants, and the best cafes, bars and more.
The home of the Good Food Guide, the app is free for premium subscribers of The Sydney Morning Herald and also available as a standalone subscription. You can download the Good Food app here or search “Good Food” in the App Store or Google Play.
Photo: Good Foodyesterday 8.30pmWhere is the after-party?By Bianca Hrovat
From the bar: The ceremony might have ended, but the party carries on.
Sommelier of the Year Ze Brunton (formerly of Olympus Dining in Redfern, now at The Hawkesbury at the Grand Saddles Lodge in Mount White) is probably headed to Newtown wine bar She Loves You to celebrate.
“It’s the perfect neighbourhood spot, where the team are always warm, welcoming and have a perfect drink for every punter,” she said. The bar, co-owned by Women and Revolution acting president Sophie Otton, doesn’t have a menu.
Brunton will be joined by former Sommelier of the Year, Bridget Raffal, who co-owns new restaurant-bar Claret Club in Darlinghurst. But first, Raffal is taking the team back to her acclaimed Marrickville wine bar Where’s Nick for a bottle of champagne.
Guests depart Carriageworks after the conclusion of the SMH Good Food Guide awards ceremony.Dion GeorgopoulosSommelier Caitlin Baker, who took home the Cultural Change Champion award for her education and community-building organisation Venus Vinifera, is headed to CBD margarita micro-bar, Cantina OK!
“Nothing better than a margarita or whatever crazy-delicious special they’ve got on,” she said. “Good vibes, great service.”
yesterday 8.30pmOpening two venues in two weeks? No worriesBy Siena Fagan
From backstage: Executive chef Khan Nguyen says that opening the Bentley Group’s first bar, Vespertine, was every bit as hard as opening a restaurant. The group’s South-East Asian restaurant Ashe opened just two weeks before the Bar of the Year winner.
“It’s challenging from all the perspectives,” owner Brent Savage said. “As a team, we really had to work together to get it done, and everyone stepped up to the plate and did an amazing job.”
Their live music offering is driven by a desire to fill the room before, during, and after dinner.
“We want to make sure, you know, that we bring in the music that Sydney has to offer,” bar manager Callum Farrand said. “Really put our name on the map for Sydney music.”
While they didn’t agree on a collective favourite Sydney bar other than their own, they happily shared their favourite drinks from Vespertine’s menu: the Amaro Sour and the Chartreuse Slushie.
yesterday 8.26pm‘Get down here right now’: Panicked phone call after winner misses awardBy Siena Fagan
From backstage: A big part of Saint Peter’s Drinks List of the Year win was the cocktail menu, of which bar director Samuel Cocks was the architect.
Cocks, however, was running errands in his slides when the accolade was announced. By the time we caught up with him almost four hours into the event – about two hours after Drinks List of the Year had been crowned – he was wearing proper shoes, and holding his frame in hand.
“I received a call from Kieran [Bellerby], our development chef, like, ‘Get down here right now’,” Cocks said.
“I was literally just running errands, just in my slides, so yeah, raced home, got changed, came here straight away, so yeah, very quick.”
The mad dash was worth it. Cocks called the win: “Absolutely amazing. It’s incredible for not only the wine team as well, but the cocktails to get the recognition, yeah, just absolutely spectacular.”
yesterday 8.22pmAnalysis: Sydney v Melbourne: Who won the battle of the hats?By Callan Boys
Tonight, two restaurants were awarded three hats – the highest pinnacle in Good Food’s scoring system: Stanmore’s modestly sized Sixpenny and Josh Niland’s voyage of fish-based discovery, Saint Peter.
The last time Sydney had only two three-hatted restaurants, it was 1988 when Berowra Waters Inn and Claude’s topped the Good Food Guide charts. The only time it happened before that was in the first edition of the Guide, published in 1984, when Berowra Waters and Reflections (Peter and Beverley Doyle’s Palm Beach fine-diner) were awarded the top scores.
This is largely because two three-hatted Sydney restaurants also closed in 2026. UK-based chef Clare Smyth didn’t renew her contract at Crown and is focusing on a new London restaurant instead; and after 38 years of running Australia’s flagship fine-diner, restaurateur Leon Fink called it a day at Quay. Chef Peter Gilmore held three hats at Quay for 23 consecutive years, which is a run that will probably never be broken, but all things come to an end, and it was time for Gilmore and Fink to move on to other projects. (Gilmore was honoured with a Good Food Guide Legend recognition at this evening’s awards.)
But in terms of interstate rivalry (which Melbourne seems to care about more than Sydney), there’s no escaping the fact that Victoria now has more three-hatted restaurants than NSW. At The Age Good Food Guide Awards on October 12, Melbourne claimed four three-hatted restaurants – Yiaga, Amaru, Minamishima and Vue de Monde, plus Brae in regional Victoria.
This will surely change over the next two years, with Crown Sydney investing in a fine-diner from Swedish mega-chef Björn Frantzén to replace Oncore, and independent operators with three-hat ambitions that are very close to realising them. In the meantime, at least Sydneysiders can say the Harbour City has more restaurants with one or more hats. The new total is 125, compared to 105 in Melbourne. So there.
yesterday 8.18pmWho got the hats? Here’s the full listBy
yesterday 8.14pmA year of great lasagne and a tiramisu with a twistBy Andrea McGinniss
From the bar: It may have been a sunny spring afternoon in Sydney, but Sydney Morning Herald Good Food Guide editor Callan Boys had something more wintry on his mind.
“The best lasagne of the year in a year of great lasagnes was from Palermo in Penrith,” he said.
“It had everything you want in a lasagne – the right amount of pasta to sauce to meat ratio, a lovely long slow bake in the oven and nice crunchy bits on the edge which, of course, are the best thing in a lasagne.”
Don’t mind if I tiramisuyesterday 8.09pmOne of the best-dressed (and most awarded) chefsBy Emily Holgate
Lauren Eldrige (right) pictured with, from left, her fellow judges Louis Tikaram and Phil Wood, and Young Chef of the Year winner Peter Fiander.Sitthixay DitthavongFresh off the back of winning last year’s coveted Good Food Guide Chef of the Year award, Lauren Eldridge stuns at this evening’s awards ceremony in a cascading floor-length baby blue dress by Australian fashion label Elliatt.
While known for her intricate pastries, Eldridge steers savoury in her time away from the kitchen, with a penchant for La Panchina Pizzeria in Surry Hills. Her hot tip? Order one slice at a time, and have a little negroni on the side.
For more of the best-dressed guests, read our story on The Met Gala of hospitality.
yesterday 8.09pmWatch: Regional Restaurant of the Year winner’s powerful messageBy Christopher Harris
From the podium: Troy Rhoades-Brown, owner of Muse Restaurant in the Hunter Valley, was quick to thank his staff and his “beautiful wife” while accepting Regional Restaurant of the Year. Then, he delivered a powerful message to those gathered in the room.
“Independent restaurants and [those] in the regions are such an important part of the hospitality industry,” he said.
“It’s arduous and hard sometimes, and there’s some great highs and some great lows, but there’s so much pride and passion and so much joy and deep joy that comes from representing an area,” he continued.
“I’d just like to say thank you so much to the restaurants and the chefs that were actually [also nominated] in this category. So many of them I’ve looked up to in many ways for a long time. So congratulations to them as well.”
He also singled out fellow Hunter Valley dweller Bistro Molines and its owners Robert and Sally Molines.
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