Good food is everywhere
Good Food Guide: Sydney and Melbourne 2009 - The Age
Louise Johnson
The Age and Sydney Morning Herald Good Food Guide 2009
How do you condense the restaurants of Victoria and New South Wales into two small books? It’s an amazing feat of pickiness and, while those listed are odds-on being great dining experiences, I’m certain there are thousands of great restaurants that haven’t seen the shiny pens of Sydney Morning Herald or Age reviewers and are deserving of a spot in the hatted, or even un-hatted, limelight.
To critique and rate every restaurant in the state is an impossible mission, even for a team of reviewers. The dining industry changes as often as its menus and is infinitely diverse. But let’s not focus on the impossible.
Firstly Melbourne, which has firmly claimed the mantle of an international foodie destination. There are more than 270 city restaurants listed including Bacchus establishments and more than 185 regional restaurants as well as wineries and some curiously selected interstate listings.
Hats are awarded to restaurants that scored 15 points and above out of a possible 20 points, with seven points available for food, three for wine and wine service, five for overall service, three for atmosphere and two for the “x” factor. Hats fly every year and while the loss of hats may send fire through the veins of industry, what matters really to us mortals paying for our meals is where the hats finally settle.
Melbourne Restaurant of the year is Attica in Ripponlea, with two hats and the additional honour of dish of the year with its smoked trout broth, crackling, basil seeds, fresh smoke.
In the regions the Royal Mail Hotel at Dunkeld wins the best country restaurant gong, with Giant Steps/Innocent Bystander in the Yarra Valley taking out the winery restaurant of the year. Circa, the Prince in St Kilda has the best wine list and Ten Minutes by Tractor on the Mornington Peninsula the best short wine list. If you want good wine service head to Wardens Food and Wine in Beechworth and ask sommelier Rocco Esposito for his recommendations – a great prize for a single hated restaurant from the regions.
On to Sydney, where they’ve packed 268 city and 137 regional restaurants into 340 pages. Not as slick looking as the Melbourne guide, which can mainly be attributed to the lack of pictures with these reviews– perhaps Sydney diners don’t eat with their eyes.
Restaurant of the year is Quay, a three hatter in The Rocks, and best regional restaurant goes to Rock in Pokolbin in the Hunter Valley. Tetsuya’s have the best sommeliers, with Stuart Halliday and Jerry Jones getting the thumbs up for making wine “fun, adventurous, exciting and accessible and taking the time to explain”. You’ll find the best wine lists at Aria in the city, and Rubicon in Canberra.
Looking over both guides gives some insights into some of the differences in dining between the two cities. The Age GFG has added some editorial on wine lists and coffee, two experiences very close to the heart of locals. The Sydney Morning Herald GFG includes a section of “global gems”– they don’t receive a rating, but highlight the massive diversity in cultural dining experiences available – Taiwanese, Brazilian, Austrian, Lebanese, Polish, and a swag of the best Asian options.
If you’re dining in either city you need a copy of these guides – a shame they’re not online though you’ll find both guides on your mobile phone - bookmark http://m.fairfax.com.au for a handy tool for finding great food when you’re hungry and don’t want to take a risk.
Regions
- Sydney (NSW)
- Melbourne Surrounds (VIC)
- Melbourne (VIC)
- Melbourne and Melbourne West (VIC)
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