Presenting the finalists for Best New Restaurant
Next month, we will reveal our winners and the full guide to Australia’s best restaurants at a glamorous gala evening at The IXL Atrium, Henry Jones Art Hotel in Tasmania and in our September issue. To make sure you receive a copy, delivered to your door, subscribe now at magshop.com.au.And the nominees are…
August
Brisbane | QLD
Transforming a heritage-listed church into a restaurant was a massive undertaking for young couple Brad Cooper and Matilda Riek. Fortunately, their hard work has paid off – August is an absolute stunner. Polished timber floors and art hanging on VJ walls provide the perfect backdrop for Cooper’s European-focused cooking and Riek’s concise yet interesting drinks offering. The experience never feels stuffy, thanks to the team’s ability to make you feel comfortable. Pro tip: don’t miss Sunday lunch, featuring an ever-changing set menu and the option to BYO. It’s relaxed, unpretentious and easily one of the best Sunday services in town.
In short: A holistic experience.
Lunetta
Canberra | ACT
Canberra’s dining scene just keeps getting better and it now has a glamorous occasion restaurant worthy of the city’s power brokers. Lunetta – Italian for “little moon” – is housed in a modernist landmark which opened on Red Hill in 1963. Under new owners Tracy Keeley and sons, Matthew and Nick, it dazzles with a meticulous renovation by design firm ACME and a polished menu by executive chef Tristan Rebbettes (ex Cafe Paci and Saint Peter). A casual trattoria slings excellent pizza and pasta on the ground floor, while upstairs offers caviar, oysters and premium cuts cooked on a wood-fired grill fit for a celebration.
In short: A star is born in a modernist landmark building.
Maison Bâtard
Melbourne | VIC
Chris Lucas’ sumptuous, multi-level house of fun channels Paris by way of Melbourne, offering a little something for the well-heeled everyone. No matter which level you choose – the dreamy rooftop La Terrasse with its fully grown maple tree centrepiece and cigar balcony, the glamorous, velvet-upholstered gloom of the basement jazz club or the mirrored, wood-panelled, two-level dining room with its oyster bar and open kitchen – the mood is set to indulgence. That’s echoed in menus laden with oysters, caviar, lobster and top-quality beef, and a drinks list as careful with its cocktails as it is with the astonishingly deep wine offer. Hedonists unite!
In short: Parisian chic, Melbourne-style.
Olympus Dining
Sydney | NSW
It’s love at first bougainvillea blossom for everyone who steps through the doors of Olympus Dining, the newest project for the Apollo Group and the marquee restaurant of Sydney’s Wunderlich Lane precinct. The 50-year-old tree that sits in the centre of the indoor-outdoor space is a visual showstopper but the restaurant as a whole – the Dionysian energy, the Ouzo Colada, that cod roe taramasalata – made it somewhere the Gourmet Traveller team returned to on repeat all year. Greek food is a massive trend in Australia in 2025, and the torch at Olympus blazes brightest of all.
In short: Sydney loves Greek glamour.
Ondeen
Verdun | SA
Sustainability and provenance are priority at this new no-waste Adelaide Hills wonderland, which opened quietly, building a reputation for quality with the gentle grace of a butterfly emerging from the chrysalis. Could this finally earn culinary director Kane Pollard the standing ovation he deserves? Ingredients are 95 per cent South Australian, with Pollard and head chef Julian Peek utilising every part of each plant and animal, some of which is sourced from the rural property and garden surrounding the stylish rabbit warren of dining spaces. The dedicated Wine Room – a recent addition – is a nice touch, where boutique producers Artis, Jericho, Silver Lining and Turon Wines can be tasted prior to or post lunch.
In short: Hyper-local farm-to-plate dining with precision and heart.
Scholé
Hobart | TAS
It was always going to be big news for food fans when Luke Burgess, the chef who revolutionised Tasmania’s (and, arguably, Australia’s) dining landscape with Garagistes in 2010, opened Scholé this year. A timber-lined, 10-seat wine bar, Scholé expands on a distinctly Hobartian vernacular of small, intensely creative diners with laser-like focus on local produce. There’s Japanese influence here, notably in the design and on Tuesday nights when it transforms into a tachinomi (standing bar). It’s also present in the food, but there are other accents at play, including Italian, French and Scandinavian, making for a wondrous, delicious and distinctly Tasmanian dining adventure.
In short: Yet more texture for Hobart’s singular dining culture.
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