The NSW & ACT Good Food Guide 2026

Thank you for your comment. Restaurant reviews, news and the hottest openings served to your inbox. As always, any venue with a hat or above was reviewed again for this year’s Guide, and our reviewers visited anonymously and paid their own way. T2 is delighted to join Good Food this year to celebrate the flavours, stories and experiences that make Australia’s food and drink culture so vibrant." "Best of all, every spot we’ve reviewed now comes with even more user-friendly tips, from the must-order item to snagging that all-elusive booking." For the first time, the Guide also includes a new classification of our Critics’ Picks.
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We have summarized this news so that you can read it quickly. Pick countries on the world map and get breaking news alerts in your browser — free, no app.Turn on alerts →× Within the app, you can filter and search reviews and venues via the map. The best place to experience the Good Food Guide is via the Good Food app, with more than 500 reviews including 127 Critics’ Picks.
"We recently introduced saved list functionality, which means you can also create custom saved lists, such as a hit-list of the restaurants you want to visit." Visit the live blog on The Age website from 3pm to follow all the excitement and winners. The reviews are written anonymously by a team including editors, senior food critics and a diverse group of freelance reviewers. The 2026 Guides, presented by Oceania Cruises and T2 Tea, feature a combined 900-plus reviews across various price points, cuisines, styles and suburbs, offering an annual snapshot of the most exciting, outstanding venues you need to know about in the cities and regions. Explore new destinations through our detailed travel guides; and discover a treasure trove of resources for navigating pregnancy and motherhood. You’ll find plenty of Kitchen Inspiration here including pantry picks, tips and tricks.
But the more we talk about it, we find that although hatted restaurants are an important part of the conversation, they don’t paint the whole picture of dining in Victoria in 2025. Of those reviews, there are almost 136 with a Good Food hat – one, two, or the highest pinnacle of three hats – ranging from Korean fine diners and late-night soup specialists through to big-ticket steakhouses. "We are honoured to be the co-presenting partner of the Good Food Guide and the awards for the fourth consecutive year.
Along with all the usual Guide features such as winners, for the first time the Guide – presented by Oceania Cruises and T2 Tea – includes the 115 essential restaurants that define dining out in NSW and the ACT right now. Along with all the usual Guide features such as winners, for the first time the Guide – presented by Oceania Cruises and T2 Tea – includes the essential restaurants that define dining out in Victoria right now. The event features a curated lineup of Sydney favorites, online pokies with instant payout attendees including Kylie Kwong and representatives from the hospitality industry.
All reviews are searchable on your phone via the map, and if you’re on the go, you can use the location-based ‘nearby’ function to discover new dining favourites," says head of Good Food, Sarah Norris. The 2026 Sydney Morning Herald Good Food Guide is your essential companion to eating out in NSW and the ACT. The Age 2026 Good Food Guide is your essential companion to eating out in Victoria. The event will unveil the Chef of the Year, best new opening, and hat winners.Read more » If you are interested in the news, you can read the full text here.
The liftout will feature all the award winners; a list of one-, two- and three-hat recipients; regional destination guides; and a curated collection of reviews from the full guide. It also includes reviews of hatted restaurants – from one to the pinnacle of three hats – and awards for best chef, best restaurant, best new restaurant, best cafe, regional restaurant of the year, Critics’ Picks and more. And with more than 600 independent reviews of restaurants, bars, pubs and cafes across various price points, cuisines, styles and suburbs, it’s the largest SMH Guide ever published. And with more than 600 independent reviews of restaurants, bars, pubs and cafes across various price points, cuisines, styles and suburbs, it’s the largest Guide ever published from The Age. The guide will include awards, regional dining round-ups, and a digital app with advanced search and location features.Read more »
While individual Guide reviews are available to access via the web, the full interactive experience – including maps, search and filters – is only available on the app. The chef-studded event will be live-blogged via the Herald website from 3pm, so you can track the award winners. That full A to Z list of reviews are available to explore at the home of the Guide, the Good Food app, but consider this 80-page publication as your companion to the 2026 edition. The full A to Z list of reviews are available to explore at the home of the Guide, the Good Food app, but consider this 80-page publication as your companion to the 2026 edition.