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Restaurateurs Alessandro and Anna Pavoni at Vineria Luisa.

The record-breaking, westward march of the Good Food Guide hats

Why you’re more likely to find a hatted restaurant in Newtown than Potts Point this year.

  • Bianca Hrovat
“Stairway to Heaven” sashimi selection.
Good Food hat15/20

This 10-course omakase party has a ‘high strike rate of deliciousness’

From swordfish belly with finger lime to a sashimi selection on a glass stairway, R by Raita Noda knows how to coax and balance flavour. 

  • Callan Boys
Crisp-edged, whisper-thin dough topped with a spiced layer of minced meat.

I ate this ‘revelatory’ pizza daily on my Turkish holiday. Here’s how to make it

Plus a tip to turn the humble flatbread into an irresistible wrap.

  • 1-2 hrs
  • Helen Goh
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Access the courtyard by taking an amble through the wine shop.

This cute bar lets you pick wine from the bottle shop and drink it on the spot

L’Avant Cave is the sort of place you might find if you were wandering around the outer suburbs of Paris.

  • Myffy Rigby
Miso-glazed fish and edamame guacamole in crisp nori shells.
EASY

Sushi meets tacos in this nori-wrapped crispy fish with edamame guacamole

Swap tortillas for crisp nori sheets to make these fun fish ‘tacos’ the whole family will love.

  • < 30 mins
  • Jessica Brook

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Good Food Guide 2026

The Sydney Morning Herald Good Food Guide 2026 is your ultimate guide to eating out in Sydney.

SMH Good Food Guide 2026: Full list of hats

Good Food Guide Awards.

SMH Good Food Guide Awards 2026 as it happened

  • Annabel Smith
A new team has breathed new lifre into Hungarian institution Corner 75.

All the winners at the SMH Good Food Guide 2026 Awards

Lunch at Tedesca Osteria is leisurely and generous.

Five regional Victorian restaurant finalists to plan a road trip around

  • Frank Sweet and Good Food Guide reviewers
From left to right: Asela Uduwara Arachchi, Viveik Vinoharan, Angela Prajogo, Jack Huxtable, Laura Skvor.

Meet five of Victoria’s best young chefs you’ve never heard of – yet

  • Emily Holgate

SHORTS

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Eating out

Good Food Guide 2026.

What’s up, what’s down: Which restaurants gained (and lost) hats in new SMH Good Food Guide

While talent flourishes in Sydney’s west, some of the restaurants in the city’s eastern suburbs lost a hat at the launch of the Good Food Guide 2026.

  • Scott Bolles
Good Food Guide Bill Granger Trailblazer Award winner Sharon Winsor. 

‘I never allowed myself to dream this big’: First Nations woman wins Bill Granger Trailblazer

  • Bianca Hrovat
Pancho Bakery.

Sydney’s only Mexican bakery specialises in hard-to-find treats

  • Lee Tran Lam
Culinary director Mitch Orr (left) and head chef Luke Davenport.

Can this London spin-off put bounce back into Oxford Street?

  • Scott Bolles

New on the app

XOPP will be making mooncakes for the Mid-Autumn Festival.

The Download: Where to find the best mooncakes this Mid-Autumn Festival

Smalls Cellar is a natural wine shop in Kirrawee.
  • Recommended

South Sydney’s funkiest natural wine shop is run by two tattoo artists

The dining room.
  • Recommended

Wonton soup is a must-order at this homestyle noodle house in Hurstville

Coming soon: the Good Food app.

What’s for dinner? Find inspiration for every meal on the Good Food app

Outside new bar Paradise.
  • Recommended

A packed Potts Point wine bar from the team behind 10 William St

Supreme fried rice.
  • Recommended

This Cantonese restaurant is the go-to for family gatherings

Banh mi destination King’s Hot Bread.
  • Recommended

The Hurstville banh mi shop where you can get a dim sim roll

Mohinga noodles at Blue Heaven.
  • Recommended

Head to this Burmese eatery for flavourful mohinga fish soup

Hoa Hung’s soft-set tofu pudding with ginger syrup.
  • Recommended

A soft-set tofu pudding so good, it’s got people queueing

Viet Hoa Hot Bread is a 24-hour bakery.
  • Recommended

Craving a pork roll at three in the morning? This is the place

Pici carbonara with guanciale.
  • Recommended

Rovollo’s roving pasta cart delivers pici carbonara tableside

Roasted ducks and soy-glazed chickens hang alongside roasted pork at Wang Wang BBQ.
  • Recommended

Of all the Chinese BBQ shops in Eastwood, this is the one to go to

Recent reviews

Pancho, Sydney’s only Mexican bakery, specialises in hard-to-find treats

Pancho, Sydney’s only Mexican bakery, specialises in hard-to-find treats

  • Lee Tran Lam
Garaku at Prefecture 48.
Good Food hatGood Food hat16/20

Be sure to check out the loos at Sydney’s newest two-hatted restaurant Garaku

  • David Matthews
14.5/20

Greek eatery Homer Rogue Taverna is ‘the best restaurant to open in Cronulla in years’

  • Callan Boys
Nasi bungkus (wrapped rice).
13.5/20

Pick-and-mix from 30 flavours at hidden CBD lunch spot Pandawa Nasi Bungkus

  • Helen Yee
Steak frites.
14/20

‘The place is rammed’: Our verdict on Sydney’s first steak and fries restaurant, 24 York

  • Callan Boys

Essential cafes and bakeries

Customers outside Artificer, Surry Hills.

Sydney cafes aren’t what they used to be. They’re better

  • Bianca Hrovat
Cakes, like this strawberry shortcake, are Khanom Bakery founder Yeen Veerasenee’s specialty.

110 essential Sydney cafes and bakeries that really take the cake (and everything else)

What going out for breakfast means in Melbourne in 2025

What going out for breakfast means in Melbourne in 2025

  • Emma Breheny
Assorted cakes at Tori”s.

107 essential Melbourne cafes and bakeries that really take the cake (and everything else)

Brunetti restaurant in Lygon St, Carlton.

Can you truly call yourself a Melburnian if you haven’t tried these iconic venues?

  • Good Food

Recipes

Cowboy spaghetti.
EASY

Giddy up for Adam Liaw’s big, bold and beefy cowboy spaghetti

This bigger-than-Texas pasta is about as un-Italian as it gets, but it’s delicious.

  • 30 mins - 1 hr
  • Adam Liaw
Miso-glazed fish and edamame guacamole in crisp nori shells.
EASY

Sushi meets tacos in this nori-wrapped crispy fish with edamame guacamole

  • < 30 mins
  • Jessica Brook
Asian-style milk bread provides a tender base for these strawberry iced finger buns.

Helen Goh’s secret to making soft and fluffy finger buns

  • Helen Goh
Tikka chicken skewers with crunchy coconut potatoes.
EASY

Chicken tikka skewers with coconut potatoes is dinner on a stick

  • < 30 mins
  • Jessica Brook

Recipe collections

Top the risotto with pecorino or substitute with grana padano or parmigiano reggiano.

Rice, rice, baby: 20  dishes that go with the grain

Penne with grilled greens.

Turning over a new leaf: 20 of the best spring vegetarian recipes

Strawberry slab cake.

Bake, ice, go! 12 slab cakes to make and take this weekend

Christian Petracca’s burger bowl.

Burgers, balls and bowls: The 20 most popular recipes of September

This warm lamb salad has flavour for days.

14 vibrant spring salads to brighten up your plate

Chicken, capsicum and basil tray bake captures sunny day flavours.

25 bright and healthy recipes to cook this week

Helen Goh’s raspberry and lemon curd cake.

35 cakes that will make birthday wishes come true

Top this simple tart with zucchini rounds (pictured) or asparagus spears.

Five easy-breezy savoury tarts to make this week

Cherry tomato kachumber.

Perfect partners: 21 sides that turn a simple curry into a feast

Minestrone pasta soup with pork and ricotta meatballs.

A hug in a bowl: 35 recipes to cook for someone you love

Jill Dupleix's baked potatoes with peas and rough pesto.

Basil is cheap right now. Here are 25 ways with pesto (that aren’t pasta)

Adam Liaw’s oregano and lemon lamb cutlets. 

Adam Liaw’s 30 best spring recipes of all time

Our recipe writers

Explore recipes

Tips & advice

Stokehouse Pasta and Bar’s rigatoni with prawn and calamari marinara.
EASY

Stokehouse chef’s one-minute trick for tender seafood pasta

  • 30 mins - 1 hr
  • Jason Staudt
Support your long-term health with plenty of fruit, veg, whole grains, fish, nuts and seeds.

A dietitian’s guide on how to practise self-care through diet

  • Susie Burrell
Bring your own coffee pot, and other kitchen gadgets, to make holiday cooking easier.

Seven kitchen things you should always pack for your holiday rental

  • Vaughn Vreeland
Sourdough is being replaced by the boring, predictable, easy-to-cook food of our childhood.

Is sourdough bread actually good for you? A dietitian breaks it down

  • Susie Burrell
Cookbook author Samin Nosrat with her dog, Fava.

Salt Fat Acid Heat author’s genius egg-peeling trick

  • Samin Nosrat

From our partners

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Drinks

Why don’t French bottles list the grape variety?

  • Huon Hooke

Why do Australian rieslings taste dry and sour when compared to German wines?

  • Huon Hooke

More from Good Food

Chefs and restaurateurs gather for the annual Good Food Guide Awards.

The 2026 Good Food Guide to be launched in October with exciting new features

  • Good Food
On the Good Food app, you can save all of your favourite recipes and restaurants in one easy place, and create your own custom saved lists.

Save your favourite recipes and restaurants on the Good Food app

Popular on Good Food

Access the courtyard by taking an amble through the wine shop.

This cute bar lets you pick wine from the bottle shop and drink it on the spot

  • Myffy Rigby
Restaurateurs Alessandro and Anna Pavoni at Vineria Luisa.

The record-breaking, westward march of the Good Food Guide hats

  • Bianca Hrovat
Crisp-edged, whisper-thin dough topped with a spiced layer of minced meat.

I ate this ‘revelatory’ pizza every day of my Turkish holiday. Here’s how to make it

  • 1-2 hrs
  • Helen Goh
The Sydney Morning Herald Good Food Guide 2026 is your ultimate guide to eating out in Sydney.

SMH Good Food Guide 2026 Awards: Full list of hats

Miso-glazed fish and edamame guacamole in crisp nori shells.
EASY

Sushi meets tacos in this nori-wrapped crispy fish with edamame guacamole

  • < 30 mins
  • Jessica Brook