The Best Australian Food in Australia

Vineyard views through the dining room windows mean you're watching what's on your plate grow a few hundred metres away. This is a formal, sit-down restaurant on the Mornington Peninsula doing European-leaning seasonal cooking with a two Chef Hat nod from the Australian Good Food Guide. The wine list leans heavily into the estate's own bottles, which is either charming or convenient depending on how you feel about that sort of thing.

A stone fireplace anchors the dining room while the Great Dividing Range fills the windows, which is a reasonable way to set expectations for a meal. This is a fine dining restaurant inside a mountain lodge, running a contemporary Australian menu that leans on regional produce and native flavours. The Australian Good Food Guide has given it Two Chef Hats. At over 1,100 metres up, the terrace sunsets arrive uninvited and stay too long.

A restored heritage house on the Tweed River, with pressed tin ceilings, palm fans, and a verandah that looks straight out at Wollumbin. This is a plantation-style bistro running a proper Modern Australian menu, the kind of place where lunch can quietly become afternoon. The Australian Good Food Guide gave it two Chef Hats. Come on a weekend when the lawn bar is open and the cane fields are green, and the pacing feels less like a meal than a small argument for slowing down.

Perched on View Point in central Bendigo, Alium is a modern Australian restaurant built around seasonal produce and a dining room that actually feels like it wants you there. The menu shifts with what's good rather than what's expected, and the team runs service with enough warmth to soften even the most reluctant regional-city dinner guest. An Australian Good Food Guide One Chef Hat restaurant.

Every table looks out over Windsor's Edge Vineyard, which makes it hard to focus on the menu, though the kitchen holds its own with Modern Australian cooking that earns the restaurant an Australian Good Food Guide Chef Hat. In warmer months, the verandah is the obvious move; in winter, the fireplace inside picks up the slack. Hunter Valley wines feature heavily, as you'd expect from a fully licensed restaurant sitting directly above the vines.

Named for the Pitjantjatjara word for bush plum, this grill room sits inside Ayers Rock Resort with ghost gums pressing against the windows and Uluru somewhere just beyond them. It's a proper sit-down Modern Australian restaurant, working native ingredients like desert lime and wattleseed into seasonal à la carte plates and firing serious cuts over the grill. The Australian Good Food Guide awards it a Chef Hat, which is a reasonable thing to earn this far from anywhere.

Vineyard views stretch out from the dining room at this cellar-door restaurant on the Mornington Peninsula, where the wine list draws from grapes grown on the property itself. The kitchen runs a modern Australian menu built around estate produce and regional seasonals, the kind of place where the sourcing conversation happens before you've ordered. An Australian Good Food Guide One Chef Hat sits on the record.

A little penguin colony shares the Bass Strait oceanfront with dinner guests at this farm-to-table restaurant perched above the North-West coastline. The kitchen works from the family property's volcanic soil, so the menu shifts with whatever the land is actually doing that week. Modern Australian cooking, refined enough for a special occasion but grounded in the kind of produce that makes the mainland jealous. One Chef Hat from the Australian Good Food Guide.

A European-Australian bistro a short walk from Circular Quay, Bistro George holds an Australian Good Food Guide Hat and pitches itself at the full range: solo bar snacks, work lunches, leisurely dinners. The menu leans on local produce and lands somewhere between Continental and modern Australian, with a wine list broad enough to keep both the table orderer and the sommelier-curious happy.

A casual restaurant in Blackheath where the chef's Mexican heritage shows up quietly in the menu without making a big announcement about it. The setting is chic but unhurried, the kind of place that suits a long lunch after a morning walk in the Blue Mountains. Small plates and larger mains share the menu with cocktails, and the produce leans heavily on what's growing nearby. The Australian Good Food Guide awarded it a Chef Hat.

A two-level seafood restaurant on Broadbeach's main strip, BLOWFISH pulls a crowd that dresses up a little and stays for rounds. The team behind Moo Moo runs this one, and the formula is similar: big room, confident cooking, a wine list with ambition. Moreton Bay bug rolls and grilled WA rock lobster do most of the heavy lifting on a menu that mixes surf and turf without apology. The Australian Good Food Guide awarded it a Chef Hat.

The upstairs dining room at this modern Australian restaurant sits above the Ross River, with the city skyline filling the windows and the kind of breeze that makes you order another glass. The menu leans on North Queensland's seasonal produce, and the Australian Good Food Guide has given it a Chef Hat. Downstairs, Botaniq Bar handles cocktails, gin, and sunsets at a different pace entirely.

French technique and Australian instincts share the menu at this warm Launceston bistro, where the kitchen edits each plate down to only what earns its place. The room is intimate enough that it feels personal rather than formal, the kind of dinner where the cooking does the talking without announcing itself. An Australian Good Food Guide Hat sits on the shelf.

Darling Harbour views frame every table at this theatrical modern Australian share-plates restaurant inside W Sydney. The menu leans on local growers and coastal producers, with wild-caught seafood making a strong case for itself as the room fills and the energy climbs toward something noticeably louder than dinner. The Australian Good Food Guide awarded it a Chef Hat.

Perched inside Paulett Winery in the Clare Valley, this alfresco Modern Australian restaurant draws its menu partly from an on-site Indigenous bush food garden you can wander before sitting down. The chef folds native ingredients into dishes that lean global without losing the landscape, and the estate wines are right there if you need a reason to order another round. It holds a one hat rating from the Australian Good Food Guide.

Perched above the Coral Sea on Hamilton Island, this open-air restaurant and bar is where a slow lunch has a way of sliding into dinner without anyone minding. The menu comes from Josh and Julie Niland, with shared plates built around seasonal Australian seafood and produce. The whole thing is designed to feel unhurried, which is exactly as difficult as it sounds when the view involves turquoise water and swaying palms.

Seafood-forward in a way that feels like a point of view rather than a theme, Clarence is a relaxed brasserie on Fish Lane where the plates are generous and meant to be passed around. The room has that warm neighbourhood energy where conversation does half the work, and the cooking leans on produce the way some restaurants lean on adjectives. An Australian Good Food Guide Hat confirms the kitchen is doing more than keeping up.

The hedges along Maroondah Highway hide a working winery estate that once belonged to Dame Nellie Melba, and the restaurant inside leans into that history with a seasonal à la carte menu and, yes, a Peach Melba on the dessert list. It holds an Australian Good Food Guide Chef Hat. The art collection and cellar door are right there if you want to make a day of it, which most people do.

Soft lighting and a sand-and-sunset color palette set the tone at this polished Byron Bay restaurant, where the cooking leans into coastal produce without making a fuss about it. Murray cod with pickled green mango or a lobster Parker roll suggest a kitchen that knows its way around local waters. The room manages to feel relaxed and dressed-up at once, which is a harder trick than it sounds in a town this devoted to linen shirts.

A cellar door restaurant set among estate vines with the Southern Mount Lofty Ranges rolling out behind it, Ekhidna is a family-run spot where the menu follows the kitchen garden and the wine list follows the property. Modern Australian cooking with a loose global accent, wood-fired pizzas on weekends, and grazing boards for when you've already had a long afternoon. The Australian Good Food Guide awarded it a Chef Hat.

A Victorian cottage that spent a century as the town's doctor's surgery now houses one of Bright's more polished dining rooms. Elm is a Modern Australian restaurant where the menu follows the seasons and the service has that easy country warmth that city places spend years trying to fake. The Yard out back opens onto the river when the weather cooperates. One Chef Hat from the Australian Good Food Guide.

Bare timber walls and a cellar curated by an Australian winemaker and a French natural wine specialist set the tone at this wine-forward bar and kitchen in Melbourne's CBD. The list wanders freely from Spanish cava to Mornington Peninsula bottles that rarely leave the maker's circle of friends. The kitchen runs on flame and ferment, small plates that earn their keep alongside a glass. Bookings are taken for lunch, which is worth knowing before you show up hoping for a table.

Terrazzo tabletops and a wood-fired grill anchor this low-key bar à vins on Lygon Street, where the kitchen pulls from Chinese-Malaysian influences to land somewhere genuinely its own. The menu moves between Cantonese-style barbecue and chilli oil desserts without breaking a sweat, and the wine list rewards wandering. The kind of neighborhood restaurant everyone claims as their local, whether or not they live nearby.

South Australia's growers and winemakers effectively double as the kitchen team here, which tells you everything about what kind of restaurant and bar Fino Vino is. The menu tracks local seasons with the dedication of someone who has the farmer's number saved in their phone. Hospitality is warm without being performative. The Australian Good Food Guide awarded it a Chef Hat.

A heritage-listed building on Northbourne Avenue houses this relaxed Modern Australian restaurant, where native ingredients show up alongside global flavors in a room of wood, stone, and exposed brick. The mood is unhurried and the cooking is careful without being precious, the kind of place that earns an Australian Good Food Guide Chef Hat without making you feel like you should have read the tasting notes in advance.

An enormous open hearth anchors this relaxed Paddington dining room, where flagstone floors and pastel-clad staff give it the feel of a farmhouse that wandered in from rural Provence and decided to stay. The kitchen leans on fire and the season, turning out produce-driven, Mediterranean-leaning Modern Australian plates. It holds an Australian Good Food Guide Chef Hat, and the kind of crowd that comes early and lingers.

Floor-to-ceiling glass frames a long view across the Liverpool Range, which is a strong opening argument for any restaurant. Glasshouse sits between two heritage station buildings on the New England Highway outside Tamworth, its stone feature wall and soft lighting keeping things grounded while the landscape does the talking. The menu leans into local produce with a modern Australian slant, and the kitchen holds an Australian Good Food Guide Chef Hat.

You reach this Modern Australian restaurant by boat, which sets the tone before you've ordered a thing. The clubhouse sits on Dent Island with unobstructed views across the Whitsundays, and during migration season humpback whales tend to upstage whatever's on the plate. The menu runs local and seasonal, the pace is unhurried, and the setting rewards lingering long past any golf score worth forgetting.

A coral trout ceviche followed by duck breast with pickled walnuts and blueberry suggests a kitchen that has things to say. This Modern Australian restaurant on Palmer Street runs from breakfast through dinner, with the room striking a balance between sleek and genuinely welcoming. The Australian Good Food Guide gave it a Chef Hat, which tracks. Global touches show up throughout without overwhelming the local produce underneath.

Floor-to-ceiling glass frames an unbroken view over Whale Beach, and every table in the dining room faces it, which sounds like a marketing promise until you're actually sitting there. Jonah's is a European-leaning coastal restaurant with a seasonal menu built around local produce, the kind of place where the ocean does a lot of the heavy lifting and the kitchen is polite enough to keep up. Smart enough for a long lunch, a little dressed-up for dinner.

Floor-to-ceiling windows frame the Tamar Valley vineyards at this modern Australian restaurant on the Josef Chromy wine estate outside Launceston. The menu shifts almost daily around what small local farms and the kitchen garden deliver, so the cured duck or the root vegetable dish you read about probably isn't what's coming. The Australian Good Food Guide awarded it a Chef Hat. Dress smart-casual and bring someone who drinks wine.

A two-level modern Australian restaurant on the Gold Coast Highway with a rooftop cocktail bar above, so you can eat well and then pretend you planned to stay out late all along. The kitchen runs a seasonally driven menu where soy and miso-marinated toothfish sits comfortably next to steak tartare with cured egg yolk and brioche. The Australian Good Food Guide awarded it a Chef Hat.

The open-fire grill running on charcoal and ironbark wood is the organizing principle at Kost, a coastal bar and grill on Broadbeach's Oracle Boulevard where the menu leans Mediterranean and everything worth ordering has some smoke on it. The room is polished but relaxed, the kind of place where sharing plates and a decent wine list make a long lunch feel inevitable. An Australian Good Food Guide One Chef Hat.

An open fire anchors the dining room at Le Foyer, and the kitchen leans into it hard, running wood-fired meats and fresh-shucked oysters through a menu that changes with what's good and in season. It's a relaxed but polished Modern Australian restaurant where the bar pulls equal weight, with solid cocktails and a thoughtful wine list. The kind of place you settle into for the evening without quite meaning to.

The art deco bones of Equity Chambers on Bourke Street give this contemporary Australian restaurant more grandeur than it probably needs, and it leans in accordingly. The menu runs Italian-inflected, from breakfast through dinner, with the kind of crowd that treats eggs Benedict as a reasonable way to start a Wednesday. Evenings shift toward crudo and house-made pasta with enough anchovy to mean it.

A converted stone stable from the 1860s tucked among Riverina vines is doing serious work as a Modern Australian set-menu restaurant. The kitchen leans into bold pairings, char siu honey on duck, coconut labneh on pork, without making a fuss about it. On a warm evening the alfresco terrace with a cold glass of something local is hard to argue with. It holds an Australian Good Food Guide Chef Hat.

The display case of prime cuts greets you before the menu does, which tells you most of what you need to know about this top-floor fine dining room in Townsville. Marmor works the line between Queensland beef country and the warm coastal waters just outside, with a reserve wine cellar and elegant surrounds to match. The Australian Good Food Guide awarded it a Chef Hat.

Sweeping views over Terrigal Beach set the tone at Meribella, a modern Australian restaurant perched above the sand at the Crowne Plaza. The kitchen leans into Central Coast and Hunter Valley produce, letting the seasons do the heavy lifting while the technique stays quietly confident. It holds a One Chef Hat from the Australian Good Food Guide, and the room earns its place on the coast with something more than just the view.

Polished wood, statement pendants, and banquette seating set the tone at this CBD bistro, which sits somewhere between a long working lunch and a proper dinner out. The kitchen leans Modern Australian, wood-roasting and slow-braising its way through a menu that reads relaxed but cooks with more ambition than the room lets on. An Australian Good Food Guide Hat for the effort.

Floor-to-ceiling glass frames the Red Hill vineyard and, on a clear day, Western Port beyond, which sets the tone for what Montalto is: a winery restaurant where the estate gardens supply the kitchen and the wood-fire grill does the heavy lifting. The menu shifts with the seasons and is designed to share, arriving in courses. Matt Wilkinson shapes the culinary direction. The Australian Good Food Guide awards it a Chef Hat.

The menu tells you the breed, age, diet, and size of each cut before you order, which sets the tone for how seriously this steak restaurant and wine bar takes its beef. Set in Broadbeach overlooking Victoria Park, Moo Moo trades the dark-wood masculinity of the classic steakhouse for curved lines and natural stone. Wagyu is the headline act, with a roast carved tableside for full theatre.