Restaurant Reviews

There’s drama in the look and on the plate at the new Kisumé, but does it all add up to good times? Michael Harden puts it through its paces.

REVIEW Hear that? That’s Bunbury buzzing about this high-paced diner. Cooking over fire might be decidedly trendy – as is the room’s bare brick, exposed timber and Edison-bulb aesthetic – but Market Eating House’s relaxed approach to hospitality is perfectly pitched for its locale. Middle Eastern flavours underscore much of the menu, so skewers of […]

REVIEW Many talented young chefs have cooked at Knee Deep, but there’s something about Baxter Newstead that marks this cellar-door restaurant as one to (re)watch. A CV that includes Noma Australia and Vue de Monde sets expectations high, and the dishes make good on that promise. Australian ingredients star, from marron enriched with a lime-sharpened brown […]

REVIEW Maha is Melbourne’s buzziest Middle Eastern restaurant: a cave-like space splashed in copper and gold that attracts celebrities and celebrating diners in equal measure. Underpinning the atmosphere is the excellent service (credit to the sommeliers for making great wine matches with labels from Chile to Israel) and Shane Delia’s modern take on Middle Eastern […]

Neil Perry’s osteria is a welcome addition to Sydney dining, delivering straight-up Italian food with plenty of sophistication.

Beechworth local Project Forty Nine brings a slice of Italy seasoned with regional Victoria to Collingwood, writes Michael Harden.

Bite for bite, Paper Bird might have the best strike rate of any restaurant to have opened in Sydney in 2017.

Are you looking for pioneering Australian fine dining in high-definition, served with low-key cool? Pat Nourse presents the case for Sixpenny.

The original Bodega line-up is back, rocking a tiny bar space in Surry Hills, writes Pat Nourse.

An Adelaide landmark has begun an exciting new chapter under Emma McCaskill.

Experience. Know-how. Old-school hospitality. The Recreation is a polished operation with a firm focus on flavour and style.

Vast new Barangaroo restaurant 12-Micron offers much to intrigue the discerning aesthete. And, writes Pat Nourse, some of it is very tasty indeed.

With a menu informed by the flavours of the Med and an unbeatable beachfront location, Captain Moonlite nails the seaside-dining brief, writes Michael Harden.

Atlas Dining transports diners to a new culinary destination every four months and pulls it off with aplomb.

Sasaki may be small, but it’s big on celebrating the traditions, culinary and otherwise of chef Yu Sasaki’s Japanese home.

Our favourite bars in Sydney, as seen in our 2017 Gourmet Traveller Restaurant Guide.

Pino’s Vino e Cucina delivers on robust Italian flavours and a cracking drinks list with the dial set firmly to good times.

The kitchen crew ushers in a new era at Epocha with a European menu that’s big on flavour and crowd-pleasing comfort, says Michael Harden.

Precision cooking, killer wine list, polished service – all the ingredients add up to make Fred’s the hottest table in town.

Our favourite cafes in Melbourne, as seen in our 2017 Gourmet Traveller Restaurant Guide.

Alessandro Pavoni’s northern beaches trattoria rolls out thoughtful dishes, a summery vibe and the best garlic bread in town.

Cirrus moves the Bentley team down to the water and into more lighthearted territory without sacrificing polish, writes Pat Nourse.

Our favourite bars in Melbourne, as seen in our 2017 Gourmet Traveller Restaurant Guide.

Fun, flavour and sharp cooking are on the Chinese menu at the new Hong Kong-style diner at Fitzroy’s Builders Arms, says Michael Harden.

An Australian dining landmark rises from the ashes: the Stokehouse is back ready to please the crowds for at least another generation to come, writes Michael Harden.

There’s never a dull moment at ultra-glam, slightly mad Pascale, QT Melbourne’s dazzling flagship diner, writes Michael Harden.

REVIEW The Euro is a revered and versatile stalwart of the Brisbane scene. An imaginative yet unintimidating menu and relatively sober fittings are boosted by friendly, efficient service. Buckwheat risotto is typical of the clever bistro-with-a-twist dishes on offer, presented with edamame and Kalamata olives in a watercress sauce. Precisely cooked Paroo kangaroo striploin arrives […]

REVIEW The Merivale group’s homage to the French brasserie is well realised. The faithfully recreated room, which could so easily be a tired cliché, is full of energy and movement and has a lightness to match its urban surrounds. A friendly, enthusiastic floor team does a great job on the perennially busy floor. Classic dishes […]

REVIEW You can still order a schooner of Reschs with confidence, but The Four in Hand isn’t what you’d call a classic Sydney bloodhouse − its plasmas screen the netball as well as the rugby, and the look for most of the punters speaks of healthily diversified investment portfolios. And while the bar menu offers […]

REVIEW Here is a restaurant writ large in size, form and aspect – a heritage wharf building with views of harbour and bridge, the gardens of Barangaroo, a cruise ship or two, its two storeys decked in timber floors and beams, its white linen-clad tables lit by a cascade of tiny pendant lights. Flying Fish […]

REVIEW Sardinian warmth meets assured technique and an Italian-leaning wine list in this cosy South Yarra dining room. Pietro Porcu may not be in the kitchen full-time these days, but his mark is still on every meal. His farm at Yarck informs much of the menu, showcasing sweet Dorper lamb, suckling pig and kid goat. […]

REVIEW There’s romance aplenty in the Old-World grandeur of gilt-edged mirrors and stained-glass windows, and the genial Italian-accented waitstaff. Traditional Roman dishes are given a modern flourish, whether it’s lightly battered zucchini flowers yielding anchovy dotted mozzarella or saltimbocca alla Romana, elegant as it gets, the veal edged with fine prosciutto and scattered with fried […]

REVIEW Despite our extensive coastline, benchmark Australian seafood restaurants are rarer than Venus tuskfish, which puts 24-year-old Fins and its chef and proprietor Steven Snow into the fish hall of fame. Peerless seafood and constancy pervade his menu. The daily line-caught selection still comes three ways – mild chilli miso consommé, Moroccan tagine and Snow’s […]

REVIEW Tinkling chandeliers, heritage-listed surrounds, primped gardens – this Gatsby-esque Blue Mountains restaurant, set in Lilianfels Resort & Spa, might be the place that you and your great aunt agree on. Time your evening with the sunset; the colours that play out across the cliffs in Echo Point will leave you swooning. So too will […]

REVIEW Geoff Lindsay’s celebration of Vietnamese cuisine has been popular with Bayside locals since opening in 2011. The long, narrow space – exposed brick walls, light-well garden feature and polished concrete floors – is a regular hangout for wannabe yachties and young families, who graze through an extensive menu offering everything from pho five ways […]

REVIEW Regional Chinese food options have improved significantly over the past decade, yet Dainty Sichuan remains a red-chilli standard for things hot and numbing. And although the Dainty empire has expanded and diversified, its Toorak Road mothership remains a holy site for loyalists. This two-storey house of chilli and lacquered timber serves an exhaustive menu, […]

REVIEW At last count, Surry Hills had 42 trillion venues where you can peck at a nifty little salad or poke at a spicy smudge of Asian fusion on the end of a ceramic spoon. So if that’s what you’re looking for, look elsewhere. You’ll have plenty of options. It might be pretty, it might […]

REVIEW FermentAsian warrants the trip to the Barossa. The restaurant’s backstory is cute – charming owner taught to cook by husband, wins awards with elderly parents assisting in the kitchen – and the food embodies quality over quantity. Hanoi spring rolls, the only orthodox Vietnamese offering and Tuoi Do’s signature dish, are thickly wrapped and […]

REVIEW Esquire describes its adventurous dégustation approach as a commitment between kitchen and diner. Certainly, a visit to this riverside rule-breaker requires faith. Until you sit in the modernist-inspired dining room, you won’t know if you’ll be served 12 or 25 items, or be paying $90 or $150 for the privilege. Cynics could find their […]

REVIEW You can try and kid yourself by sticking to the raw and cured section of The Fish Shop’s menu, and while you’ll be rewarded with a knockout pickled octopus and white bean salad (speckled with punchy hits of dried olive), the real action is in the deep-fryer. Order a potato scallop before you even […]

REVIEW Five years after opening its doors, this spirited bar-restaurant remains Australia’s benchmark for Mexican food. Or should we say “Mexican” food? While opening chef Sam Ward made his name by championing a traditional approach, his successor Tommy Payne has put his own twist on the menu and he isn’t afraid to use poetic license […]

REVIEW For the past 18 years, any serious survey of Melbourne dining has included Ezard. In itself, that’s testament to Teage Ezard’s vision (Australian food with both eyes on Asia). That he’s now allowing head chef Jarrod Di Blasi more sway is further proof of his acuity. The food leans more to Japan than Thailand […]

REVIEW There are few Melbourne experiences more Melburnian than shouldering through the narrow doors of The European on a cold afternoon. The long, wood-lined “carriage on the Orient Express” feel of the bustling room, stocked with smart staff, a hissing coffee machine and Portuguese tarts on the curved bar has instant appeal. Same goes for […]

REVIEW “Easy” might be the best way to describe Donovans. Staff greet you like old friends on arrival at their beach house. Wines are poured with care and conviviality and there’s plenty to love by the glass. Go in the early evening. The curtains may be drawn – the reflection off the sand into the […]

REVIEW Ever wondered why friends who live in Bondi never leave? A few slices of pizza from Da Orazio might help you understand their predicament – fewer than three years after opening, it has locked itself in as one of Sydney’s top pizza joints, and probably the fanciest, too, the grey-and-white industrial fit-out attracting a […]

REVIEW Of course, they could just get by selling drinks. Dead Ringer is the second venue and the first restaurant from the good people who brought us Bulletin Place, the Sydney CBD bar that may very well be the benchmark for quality cocktails in the state. The libations here are as soigné and crisp as […]

REVIEW A fragrant half-shoulder of lamb is brought to your table by a smiling waiter, the interior hums with instrumental Levantine music and your bill arrives in a 1980s Turkish comic book. Efendy does Turkish well, and it gets the details right. The menu starts with hot and cold meze: pastirma and hummus speckled with […]

REVIEW At the restaurant for Maxwell Wines, a new pass cut into the limestone dining room wall allows the buzz from the kitchen to filter into a previously austere dining space overlooking vineyards. Eager staff are enthusiastic about chef Fabian Lehmann’s bold flavours, with good reason. He embraces the vitality of local produce – from […]

REVIEW “You’re not going to finish that?” a waiter asks in mock horror about the fragment of fillo-framed custard with berries left on a diner’s plate. After being assured the dish was fabulous, he shrugs: “We’re a Greek restaurant, no one goes home hungry.” Elyros, from the team behind Carlton’s Epocha, is actually Cretan, hence […]

REVIEW If you want to start a fight with an Italian, strike up a conversation about spaghetti Bolognese. At this charming laneway trattoria, scores can be settled over a bowl of tagliatelle ragù – the hand-cut pasta ribbons in a lusty pork and beef sauce leave no room for debate. Not that you’ll want to […]

REVIEW There have always been plenty of reasons to go to Epocha. Housed in a beautiful terrace across from the Carlton Gardens, run by two of Melbourne’s most experienced hospitality players and sporting an atmospheric upstairs bar, an all-European wine list and trolleys for both cheese and dessert, it knows how to show you a […]

REVIEW You could say ESP goes its own way. A swirling Christopher Boots chandelier, darkly glamorous room and showcase open kitchen all swim against the tide of casualisation; so does Scott Pickett’s dégustation menu, which grows more theatrical and experimental without ever stooping to twee, or losing sight of flavour. Even the salvo of snacks […]

REVIEW There’s a sense of mystery to Etsu Izakaya. A barn door devoid of signage is all that can be seen from the road, but slide it open and an Aladdin’s cave awaits. The long, dimly lit space is moody, almost whimsical, featuring floor-to-ceiling Japanese-inspired murals, a curved timber wall blending into the ceiling and […]

REVIEW The steel-and-glass parabola studded with barrel-shaped booths, the busy helipad and art-strewn grounds mark Levantine Hill as Yarra Valley’s most aspirational vineyard restaurant. Owners Colleen and Elias Jreissati engaged chef Teage Ezard to steer the kitchen, which divides its energies between truffled mac ‘n’ cheese croquettes and slow-cooked lamb in the all-day diner, and […]

REVIEW A rural restaurant within 10 minutes of Parliament House isn’t a difficult concept for occupants of the bush capital to grasp. The farmhouse digs at Pialligo Estate offer rustic charm and the ambience is suitably refined, even if it’s at times marred by wedding-party commotion drifting from outdoor marquees. A deep cellar may be […]

REVIEW Smolt’s younger funkier sibling is all about the share. The open converted office foyer space offers multiple configurations for socialising and a festive mood, so bag some friends for best results. Start with a vibrant cocktail or let the knowledgeable bartender recommend a wine from the South American and Tasmanian selection. Small plates, like a […]

REVIEW There is no shame in popping into The Dolphin Hotel for a postwork snack and a glass of wine at the bar to help you wind down. Pizze champion the toppings without crowding them, and boast a 48-hour ferment on the dough. Or you could sneak into the wine room, which takes influence from […]

It may be a magnet for destination diners the world over but Attica circa 2016 is more firmly planted in Australia than ever.

At Momofuku Seiobo the food of Barbados has been given a new voice in the most articulate way, writes Pat Nourse, and it’s performing on song.

Another reason to head to the beach this summer: Sean’s is open for breakfast.

In this year's shuffle, 40 chefs from 16 countries swapped restaurants for one night. Here's what went down when Brazilian chef Alex Atala took over Sydney's Momofuku Seiobo.

Pontoon, the second part of St Kilda's relaunched Stokehouse Precinct, opens tomorrow. Here's what to expect.

Guillaume will serve its last soufflé at the end of this year.

The elements that make dining fine are present and correct at Eleven Bridge, the new incarnation of Neil Perry’s flagship.

On the eve of the second outing of one of the world’s stranger restaurant events, The Grand Gelinaz Shuffle, we attempt to answer some of your questions.

Our favourite cafes in Sydney, as seen in our 2017 Gourmet Traveller Restaurant Guide.

As Neil Perry announces the sale of his Rockpool Group to the private equity-backed Urban Purveyor Group, Australia’s most recognisable chef reflects on more than three decades in the industry - and what the future might hold.

Balancing the new with the traditional, Tulum offers a turbo-charged, thoroughly modern take on Turkish food, writes Michael Harden.

Maurice Terzini’s reboot of the Dolphin Hotel is bold and playful, with fiendish attention to detail. Meet the new pub circa 2016.

Chef extraordinaire Philippe Mouchel returns with a new, finely tuned bistro delivering food of remarkable finesse, writes Michael Harden.

REVIEW Legendary French chef Philippe Mouchel’s career trajectory in Melbourne may appear progressively more casual (from Bocuse to the bistro-y PM24 and Deja Vue), but the sub-title at his latest venture – “Un restaurant par Philippe Mouchel” – represents a reversal of sorts, a declaration of serious culinary intent. An early clue lies in the […]

REVIEW It’s a serious restaurant disguised in party clothes; a third-floor loft cloaking its pretensions with the frippery of a DJ, pool table and retro wallpaper. But once you’ve oohed over the vast warehouse space with arched windows looking over Smith Street, the menu reveals its surprises. A two-speed approach tacks from jazzed-up drinking food […]

REVIEW True to its name, Ôter (“remove” in French) operates in a stripped-back basement space, its central open kitchen the focal point of the room. It has, after a change of chef, also discarded some of the more fancy, sometimes annoying, modern moves of previous menus. You wouldn’t label it traditional French, given the presence […]

This restaurant is now closed.

REVIEW This likeable wine bar has been pleasing Novocastrians for a few years now, but things have stepped up in the food department with the arrival of Cory Campbell, a chef fresh from running the kitchen of the three-starred Vue de Monde in Melbourne. He has turned the bar menu on its head, the fried […]

REVIEW After winning fans at Canberra’s A Baker and cooking at Temporada, chef Adam Bantock has escaped to the country with some grand designs for regional cuisine. He’s taken to heart the concept of home-grown hospitality, transforming part of his family cottage into a 50-seat eatery. The cooking is fittingly accessible, eschewing culinary chicanery in […]

REVIEW Like the love-child of a Hamptons beach house and a Cotswolds garden manor, Bells at Killcare offers the kind of setting that demands long lunches and languorous dining experiences. A sprawling veranda and an interior of cream and blue with lots of timber frame expansive views across Bells’ manicured lawns and gardens. In true […]

REVIEW The cavernous, gorgeously restored Art Deco lobby of the Primus Hotel is an impressive setting for its signature restaurant. With an open kitchen, carpeted floors and blue and Burgundy banquettes, the dining space nails the grand hotel vibe, even if the well-meaning but slightly shaky service doesn’t. Chef Ryan Hong’s continent-hopping menu might be […]

REVIEW Schooners of Reschs, a pie-warmer, AC/DC blaring from the speakers and a pool table. The Unicorn’s new handlers, the guys from Mary’s and Porteño, aren’t out to modernise the classic Aussie pub so much as reboot it. Out go the poker machines, in comes a renovation sympathetic to the glories of the site’s timeless […]

REVIEW For decades this hallowed site was Claude’s, first French, then not French, then even less French again. Then it was something else. Now it’s St Claude’s, and if the name (and the offer of a twice-baked Gruyère soufflé) is intended as some sort of doff of the hat to the history of this two-storey […]

REVIEW Tiny drunk Japanese men. They’re everywhere: on the business cards, the menu. They make such a rich graphic statement that you almost wish there was a corresponding eatery back in Tokyo named for wasted Australian businessmen. The crowd packing the bar and tables, though, is young, hip and very Surry Hills, throwing down Salaryman […]

REVIEW No one would ever accuse Pablo Tordesillas of pulling his punches. In his days at Otto and at Brisbane favourite Ortiga, even at his most technical, flavour remained paramount. And so it is here on Hyde Park. The room and service might lean to the anodyne side of polished, and the name is the […]

REVIEW Regatta not only pokes out onto the waters of Rose Bay, it’s also culturallyofRose Bay. Boats bob gently on the swell outside the glass of the pretty, gently maritime-leaning space, just as the room rustles with pressed linen and grown women address their fathers as “Daddy”. (Well, we assume that was her father.) Damien […]

REVIEW After being given the full Merivale treatment, overhauled, opened up and with plenty of built-in patina, The Paddington is abuzz again. It serves what is essentially a pub menu, albeit one conceived by Ben Greeno, a chef whose brilliance earned Momofuku Seiobo three stars from this guide. Almost every table is laden with the […]

REVIEW Like Mario Testino working with Kate Moss, a certain magic happens when Stefano Manfredi meets flour and water. Hand-rolled pasta, be it trad ravioli (bouncy with burrata and basil) or experimental maccheroncini (earthy from kamut flour and salty with ricotta salata), is consistently excellent, and comforting (eyes on you, veal ragù). Yamba prawns, smoky […]

REVIEW Every neighbourhood needs a place like One Ford Street. Not too fancy, not too plain, it’s as welcoming and comfortable as a friend’s kitchen with an easy-to-love menu and a wine list with depth and surprises. In an annexe behind the Cricketers Arms Hotel, in an indoor-outdoor room with pickles on the shelves and […]

REVIEW “Eating elegance” encapsulates the mood of this oh-so slightly Parisienne side-street addition to the Potts Point dining scene. Poised members of an almost all-female floor team detail the plats du jour and compliment your choice of Provençal rosé. This Miss exudes Gallic tradition, executed with care over flair. The signature Pithiviers (aka pie) may […]

REVIEW Have the sandwich. There’s no arguing with slivers of pan-golden brioche bookending thin layers of smoked wagyu tongue, Gruyère and pickled green tomato. And this being a Nathan Sasi restaurant, the bread, meat and tomato are baked, cured and pickled in-house, and it wouldn’t be remiss to wonder if he hadn’t made the cheese […]

REVIEW Surry Hills swagger permeates this modern Chinese newcomer. Friendly, confident staff move through the whitewashed, two-storey space to the booming sounds of Metallica and Biggie, and tables are filled equally by the hospitality crew and the CBD crowd. The volume’s been dialled up on the menu, too. Puffed beef tendons dusted with kombu salt […]

REVIEW An apartment-block courtyard might not seem like the most soigné setting for a restaurant, but this complex is called the Casba, and you don’t have to squint too hard before the palms and pond seem simpático with a menu rich in dates and cumin. Israel is the inspiration for Michael Rantissi’s cooking both here […]

REVIEW Kensington Street bears the hallmarks of a restaurant rolled out by a chef with a lot of other restaurants. That chef is Jason Atherton, the most successful of Gordon Ramsay’s protégés, captivating diners with gleaming fit-outs, smart-casual dining and big, inclusive menus in London, Hong Kong, Manhattan and now Chippendale. Some attempts at local […]

REVIEW “DINE DRINK DANCE” reads the motto on the Harpoon Harry website, just in case the name didn’t already alert would-be customers to the fact that this probably isn’t the place to bring nonagenarian relatives or the otherwise infirm. If James Brown’s design for this glammed-up pub dining room, bold of tile and capital of […]

REVIEW What’s a restaurant like you doing in a place like this? Not to besmirch the good name of Pakenham, but the Mill is an oasis of finely tuned restaurant values in a ‘hood where pizza joints and chicken shops rule the roost. The upmarket breakfast/brunch zone goes haute at night, when a menu from […]

REVIEW It’s a Fitzroy dining landmark, but Ladro still pushes a welcome combination of tradition and surprise. A pancetta and pear bruschetta is an inspired entrée, polenta chips with Gorgonzola sauce hit all the right spots and precision-charred Black Angus scotch fillet with horseradish and  Volcanic salt is even better with triple-cooked potatoes. But Ladro’s […]

REVIEW Behind the red front door, there’s a deli brimming with cured meats, cheese and tinned seafood. You’ll be perfectly content poised at the counter here, hefty mortadella sandwich in one hand, house-canned Martini in the other; however, it’s only one of your options. Climb the stairs and you’ll find the bistro, where Allie Webb […]

REVIEW What was once Café Nice is now owned by the group that owns Ananas, the brasserie that’s currently moving from The Rocks to Darling Harbour, so pineapple lamps have been added to the bright, bold Riviera-inspired décor and the menu isn’t so strictly Provençale. Bistro classics such as buttery escargots and mussels in white […]

REVIEW Over two decades, team Boathouse has built an enviable stable of suppliers to ensure that its sourcing of seafood is second to none. Nowhere is that more obvious than in sparkling plate of rock and Pacific oysters plucked from around the country, shucked to order, set on ice, paired with impeccable mignonette, lemon, rye […]

REVIEW At Woollahra’s favourite luxed-up French canteen, the classics never fall out of fashion. Twenty years and more than a few steak frites down the track, the Thonet bentwood chairs, Michael Fitzjames mural and linen-dressed tables are as magnetic as ever, and service remains a drawcard. The signature dishes, a little more Larousse than Passard,  […]

REVIEW Is it a bar? Is it a bird? A restaurant? An aeroplane? The lighting, the volume of the ’80s pop, the focus on booze and indeed the name say bar, but the quality of the cooking, the attentive and intelligent table service  and the presence of one Analiese Gregory in the kitchen place it […]

REVIEW The Apo is settling into a pleasant groove. This heritage-listed former apothecary is as striking as ever, ancient brick walls offset by cool cement floors, moody lighting and flashes of royal blue, but the service is now pinpoint sharp. That personable touch is needed when negotiating a share-plate menu that reads like Morse code, […]