The Best Places to Eat and Do in Australia

Lamb is the organizing principle at this woodfire Mediterranean restaurant inside The Star Brisbane, where the open flame does most of the talking. The menu is built for sharing, moving through premium lamb, fresh seafood, and whatever the season offers, all with that particular smokiness you only get from cooking over actual fire. The sunken dining floor adds a surprisingly theatrical quality to a room that doesn't otherwise try too hard to impress you.

The art on the walls at Di Stasio Città isn't decoration; it's the whole argument. This upscale Italian restaurant in the CBD is a personal project from the Di Stasio family, who have been a fixture in Melbourne's dining scene for decades, filtering Venetian cooking through something distinctly Australian. The room has a museum quality that makes you sit up straighter, and the food meets it there.

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.

An entirely gluten-free Southeast Asian restaurant with 24 seats and an open kitchen, tucked into a Commerce Drive address that sounds more like a courier depot than a dinner destination. The room is small enough that you notice the kitchen's rhythm, and the menu leans into bold, herb-forward flavours without much apology. The Australian Good Food Guide awarded it a Chef Hat.

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.

Minoli De Silva, a MasterChef Australia contestant, runs this Sri Lankan restaurant tucked into a quiet corner of Darwin's CBD. The cooking pulls from the Hill Country and pushes outward from there, folding Sri Lankan technique into whatever local produce catches the kitchen's attention. The room runs on warm, unhurried hospitality, and the Australian Good Food Guide gave it a One Chef Hat. Darwin is an unlikely home for food this particular, which is exactly the point.

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.

Seed pod lights cast a warm glow over dark timber and silk Asian furnishings, and the surf at Sunshine Beach is right outside. This is a modern Chinese restaurant where the chef runs his own farm inland at Cootharaba, so roughly three quarters of the produce travels a short distance before it becomes something with XO sauce or coconut tom kha. The lounge bar with its winter fireplace makes a case for arriving early and staying late.

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.

Four seats behind a dark green curtain inside a whisky bar, with a multi-course tasting menu that changes daily and a centuries-old Tasmanian myrtle bench to eat it at. Emerald City is invitation-only dining at its most compact, the kind of place where the chef is also your host, neighbor, and probably the person who foraged your lunch. It holds an Australian Good Food Guide Hat.

An Italian restaurant set inside a converted house on the edge of Sydney's Hills District, with bushland visible from the dining room and a sommelier who takes the wine list seriously. The kitchen turns out modern Italian cooking that keeps one foot in tradition, and the room is warm enough that a long dinner here feels like a reasonable way to spend an evening. The Australian Good Food Guide awarded it a Chef Hat.

Avido, which translates as "greedy," is the name of the set menu here, and it sets the tone neatly. This contemporary Italian restaurant sits in the Hunter Valley wine country, pairing seasonal, producer-led cooking with a wine list that moves between Italian varietals and local Hunter bottles without making a fuss about either. The room runs on the sharing-and-lingering logic of Italian hospitality, which, in a wine region, is a perfectly reasonable excuse to stay longer.

A barn door on the Gold Coast highway opens onto neon signs, walls thick with photographs, and a long, low-lit room that takes Japanese izakaya dining seriously. Share plates move from sushi and sashimi through to robata-grilled seafood and yakitori skewers, the kind of menu that rewards a big group and a slow evening. The Australian Good Food Guide awarded it a Chef Hat.

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.

Velvet booths, wine racks floor to ceiling, and exposed concrete that somehow pulls it all together: Figo is an Italian restaurant and cocktail bar in Rushcutters Bay doing the kind of old-school Roman trattoria thing Sydney never tires of. Pappardelle with osso buco ragu is the move, and the tiramisu arrives exactly as it should. A One Chef Hat from the Australian Good Food Guide keeps the regulars feeling quietly smug about their standing reservation.

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.

The pasta here is made in-house, and the room takes itself seriously enough that you probably won't show up in thongs. Firma is a polished Italian restaurant inside Emporium Hotels on Grey Street, the kind of place built for a long lunch that quietly becomes dinner. The cooking runs from antipasti through to mains, with the precision you'd expect from a kitchen that holds an Australian Good Food Guide Chef Hat.

Right on the Mooloolaba waterfront, this steak and seafood restaurant pairs dry-aged cuts with line-caught fish in a room that leans into natural textures and open-air ease without feeling like a beach shack. The menu moves between land and sea with the confidence of a place that knows its crowd comes in after a long day on the water and wants something a little more than a burger. It holds an Australian Good Food Guide One 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.

The corner spot in Redfern that Brooklyn keeps trying to be, Fontana is a good-times Italian diner from a trio who cut their teeth at Don Peppino's before landing here. The room runs warm and loose, the kind of place where the pasta arrives without much ceremony and nobody seems to be in a hurry to leave. It holds an Australian Good Food Guide Hat, which the neighbourhood treats as a fun fact rather than a dress code.

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.

French fine dining on the ninth floor of the Sofitel Adelaide, where the city spreads out below and the menu works through classic technique with locally sourced produce. The room is formal enough that you'll want to dress for it, and the wine list is the kind you actually read rather than skim. Holding an Australian Good Food Guide Chef Hat, it earns the occasion.

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 share-plates restaurant on a quiet Neutral Bay street where the menu leans into modern fusion and the room splits the difference between date night and group dinner with equal comfort. The wine list is considered and cocktails get proper attention. It holds an Australian Good Food Guide Chef Hat, which tracks with the polish on the plate without tipping the mood into somewhere you'd feel underdressed in a nice jacket.

Classic French technique with a Queensland pantry underneath it is the organizing idea at this modern French restaurant in Albion. The room reads sophisticated without being stiff, and the menu moves through French foundations with quiet Basque touches and local produce doing the heavy lifting. A tasting menu is available for the full commitment crowd. The Australian Good Food Guide awarded it a Chef Hat.

A white-clad building on Ballinger Road with a breezy alfresco deck that earns its Sunshine Coast address. Honeysuckle is a modern Chinese restaurant built around sharing plates, where Australian produce gets folded into East Asian technique, char siu kangaroo sitting comfortably alongside more expected company. The room leans relaxed, aqua tiles and cane pendants, and the menu runs from yum cha at lunch to something more considered by evening. It holds an Australian Good Food Guide Chef Hat.

Perched inside Pooles Rock Vineyard with the Hunter Valley rolling out below the terrace, this is an elegant dining room with steeply pitched ceilings that feel half barn, half cathedral. The menu leans European but wanders comfortably through Middle Eastern and Japanese influences without making a fuss about it. An Australian Good Food Guide Chef Hat recognizes the kitchen's ambitions.

A neon-lit basement off York Street designed to feel like a gambling den, which sets the mood pretty squarely. Hustlers. Syd is a shared-plates Asian restaurant built for late nights, with a menu that roams across the continent and a cocktail list that keeps pace. The Australian Good Food Guide gave it a Chef Hat. Come with people you like sharing with, and don't schedule anything early the next morning.

The glass cube perched above Bondi's famous sea pool could probably serve airline food and still fill every table. It doesn't: the kitchen runs a modern Italian menu where urchin bruschetta and hand-cut pasta with clams earn their place alongside the Pacific view. Turquoise and white inside, ocean in every window, the room is almost aggressively beautiful. A One Chef Hat restaurant with genuinely good reasons to look away from the water.

White linen and polished service set the tone at this long-running Venetian Italian in the heart of the city, where the cooking stays close to the lagoon, pasta and all. The menu leans into the kind of regional specificity that doesn't need to announce itself, and the room runs with quiet assurance. It holds an Australian Good Food Guide Chef Hat.

The charcoal robata grill does real work here, turning out duck breast and Wagyu alongside a raw bar stocked with kingfish and sea urchin. Ippin is a Japanese dining room inside West Village that leans into the full spread, from tempura through to sashimi to grilled mains, in surrounds that feel dressed-up without being stiff. One Chef Hat from the Australian Good Food Guide. Probably not the place for a quick midweek ramen fix.

Exposed brick and copper fittings across two levels, with furniture shipped over from India, set the tone at this Indian-inspired bar and restaurant on Gertrude Street. The kitchen moves between tradition and improvisation, pairing familiar subcontinental flavors with the kind of lateral thinking Fitzroy restaurants tend to reward. The Australian Good Food Guide gave it a Chef Hat. Go when you want spice with your natural wine.

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.

Share plates circle the table at this modern Vietnamese restaurant on the Gold Coast Highway, the kind of place where the drinks list gets taken as seriously as the food. The menu leans into bold, fresh flavours built for sharing, and the wine list is put together specifically to hold its own against Vietnamese cooking, which takes more thought than most. Loud, warm, and rarely quiet on a weekend night.

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.

Refined Japanese dining in a Spring Hill terrace, where the kitchen treats each plate as something closer to a still life than a meal. The team brings serious international training to bear on seasonal seafood and produce, with the kind of attention to temperature and texture that suggests they'd notice if you ate in the wrong order. It holds a One Chef Hat from the Australian Good Food Guide, and the room takes the whole thing as seriously as the food does.

The charcoal Josper grill does a lot of the heavy lifting at this sleek Japanese restaurant in South Melbourne, where the kitchen leans on technique rather than theatrics. Black leather, potted greenery, and quiet minimalist bones make it feel composed without trying too hard. The chef is from a fishing village in Hokkaido, and that background shows in cooking that takes handmade Japanese food seriously. An Australian Good Food Guide Hat is on the record.

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.