Welcome to the Gourmet Traveller Annual Restaurant Guide, celebrating the best dining experiences to be found in Australia for the year ahead. Our team has travelled far and wide to visit — and revisit — dozens of restaurants, seeking out the most exceptional meals and memorable experiences in each state.
Advertisement
To earn a place in this guide, a restaurant must deliver on multiple fronts: service, ambience, décor, value, and of course, what’s on the plate. Creativity and consistency are valued in equal measure. From dégustation-only fine-diners to casual wine bars serving sensational snacks, this guide is not limited to a single style of dining. Those featured represent the very best of what they do and deliver on what they promise.
The year in dining
If there is a single theme running through this year’s Restaurant Guide, it would have to be that “experience is king”. Running a successful restaurant has never been easy, but tough head winds have made this year especially challenging. While some have faltered and steered off course, experience has paid clear dividends for those who have weathered previous storms and know how to stoke the fire. While many of the names in this year’s Guide will be familiar, the experiences they offer continue to evolve; surprise and delight remain as central to their success as consistency and excellence. Where newcomers have entered the mix, they have had to step out and step up immediately, proving they have what it takes to go the distance and deliver on repeat. In 2024, to be shiny and new is not enough. The current climate has made diners more discerning than ever as they seek maximum return on both their time and money.
How the Restaurant Guide works
The guide is divided by states, with an individual winner leading each. All remaining entries are listed alphabetically and not ranked. Rather, every restaurant featured in this guide should be considered gold standard. All of the restaurant reviews were visited anonymously between March and June 2024 with reviewers paying their own way.
Alexandra Carlton, Larissa Dubecki, Nicholas Jordan, Jordan Kretchmer, Tristan Lutze, Anna McCooe, Alex Mitcheson, Maggie Scardifield, Cordelia Williamson, Charlotte Wishart.
Leah Timms
