T2 Tea Restaurant of the Year
A restaurant setting benchmarks for food and service, pushing the hospitality industry forward and supporting Australian producers
Corner 75
Randwick
It’s fitting that in their restoration of a 40-year-old Hungarian-Australian institution, Jean-Paul El Tom, Alex Kelly and Dan Puskas kept the jersey of Ferenc Puskas on the wall: FIFA’s annual award for the year’s most beautiful goal is named for the legendary Hungarian footballer, and in sticking the landing on refreshing an icon in a way that’s both sympathetic to its past and open-minded about its future, the Corner 75 team have scored an incredible winner.
It’s for this reason that our Restaurant of the Year award – our Puskas Award, if you will – goes to them. Sydney is a city starved of institutions, where restaurants more readily shut up shop than change hands. In committing to the project, the Corner 75 team have recognised the intangible things that restaurants bring to the table, pulled them off the walls, cleaned them up, then put them back in a way that’s still recognisable but also entirely new.
Tables overflow with langos, whipped sunflower dip framed with crudites, and Borrowdale pork schnitzel puffed up like a blanket, from chef Carley Scheidegger’s kitchen. Meanwhile, somm and restaurant manager Alice Tremayne adds Hungarian and Eastern European wines to her list. Regulars keep returning, while newcomers are discovering what they’ve been missing. What a goal!
Oceania Cruises Chef of the Year
A chef at the forefront of dining, setting new standards, leading by example and contributing positively to their broader community
Lauren Eldridge
Paisano and Daughters, Newtown
Lauren Eldridge is acutely aware that in being nominated for this award, she’s up against history: only one pastry chef has ever won Chef of the Year. Maybe part of the battle for a pastry chef stems from the fact that in any meal, the savoury part – the sustenance – is a necessity. Dessert? It’s optional. Somehow, though, that’s also its greatest asset: these are ephemeral things, crafted purely for pleasure. But let’s be clear: whether we’re talking the honeycomb with cultured cream from her Marque days, or the curls of rhubarb crowning freeze-dried yoghurt and rhubarb sorbet at Berowra Waters Inn, ordering Eldridge’s desserts has always been non-negotiable.
This award recognises not only how her presence has elevated every restaurant she’s worked at, but more presently, how overseeing desserts at Paisano and Daughters – a strip of four venues in Newtown – has resulted in the biggest hits-per-square-footage ratio in the city, headlined by Osteria Mucca’s cassata Siciliana, Mister Grotto’s pineapple rum baba, and Continental Deli’s lemon-meringue ice-cream. Tinned Christmas pudding and weekly bake sales only add to her aura.
Key too, is her commitment to the industry, her passion, and her drive. “I can’t imagine not being part of the hospitality industry,” says Eldridge, “It’s just who I am as well as what I do.”
Oceania Cruises Service Excellence
Executes the highest standard of hospitality relevant to their establishment, from attitude and skill to knowledge and personality
Ecca Zhang
TBC by Grape Garden, Potts Point
For the past 35 years, Beijing expats Gao Lun and Jie Zhang have cooked some of Sydney’s best Northern Chinese food. Their first restaurant was in Marrickville; today they operate TBC by Grape Garden with their son Ecca running front-of-house.
Ecca left a career in law to work with his parents, but you get the impression he’s come up through Sydney’s most service-focused fine diners. Tea is poured, bottles are opened, and outdoor tables are turned at a rapid pace, while regulars are greeted with a smile and informed of any new dishes Ecca thinks they may like. First-time guests may be offered an explanation of how his mum’s san xian dumplings are made, or informed of the most weather-appropriate noodles to order that day.
“It’s all very human based … chatting with people, learning what they like,” he says. “The more you come in, the more I can recommend all the items. It’s also a great privilege to be able to help Mum and Dad further explain their food and our culture to everybody who wants to dine with us.”
New Restaurant of the Year, presented by Aurum Poultry
One of the most exciting openings of the past 12 months that also has a fresh point of view and captures the moment in the broader restaurant scene
Eleven Barrack
CBD
A plush grill where you can eat a big steak is hardly a new concept, and Eleven Barrack has several competitors pitching the same idea within a two-kilometre radius. Bentley Group’s version of the form, however, is more than just another steak and seafood grill trading on stellar produce, wine and service – although certainly, it excels at these things too.
It feels like the kind of old-world restaurant they don’t make enough of anymore. The kind of place you could imagine falling asleep under the table as a kid, probably after the white-jacketed waiter sent out an extra scoop of ice-cream. That is to say, it’s fun!
There’s a live pianist on the baby grand every night! It’s also regularly buzzing with guests hooking into a chateaubriand served in a vintage chafing dish, perhaps, with silver mustard service and a bottle of something old and rare.
By imparting so much of their own personality into the place – from the Chartreuse list to the roving rum cart, to the collection of auction-house bric-a-brac that keeps growing – the team has also created a restaurant we expect will be around for a long time, not just a good one.
Bar of the Year, presented by SevenRooms
The best all-round bar that nails hospitality, drinks and vibe while contributing to its broader community
Silver’s Motel
Enmore
Aussie roadside motels of the ’70s and ’80s are the inspiration for this Enmore Road bar. Silver’s Motel leans into nostalgia but isn’t kitsch, in a way we’ve not really seen before. There’s deeply buffed wood, elevated booths, vinyl and ’80s hi-fi equipment, and a 350-strong whisky selection put together by co-owner Tynan Sidhu.
This is not the first time fellow owner Michael Chiem has taken out this award (Chiem’s PS40 won in 2023) and once again he delivers banging cocktails that are balanced and innovative without taking themselves too seriously.
The Ice Magic Old Fashioned is a small stroke of genius, and we’ve not had more fun this year than when sipping on the clouds of boozy iced coconut cream topping Silver’s Midori Splice. Extra points given for the noir-style blinds filtering the outside light with the quality of a film set.
Regional Restaurant of the Year
The best beyond metro limits – a celebration of its surrounds with a strong connection to the local community
EXP. Restaurant
Hunter Valley
EXP. is running a celebratory lap thanks to the twin milestones of marking its 10-year anniversary and winning two hats in this year’s Guide for the very first time. Now it has one more feather in its cap: it’s our Regional Restaurant of the Year.
The business that Emma and Frank Fawkner started in 2015 has done it the long way, moving from the original site at Oakvale Wines into Pokolbin Village, adding a bakery-cafe, then going all-in on fine-dining.
Today, the room is temple-like, but there’s a sense of enjoyment radiating from the open kitchen, right from an elaborate and intricate snack course through to dishes that present simply and elegantly, but reveal layers on the palate.
The team is just as impressive: head chef Josh Hannan is an emerging talent in the kitchen, and Isabella Stibbard-Ribeiro runs the floor and pours wine – classic and not-so-classic, from near and far – with aplomb.
The Fawkners say that this year they’ve refined the space, operation and team at EXP. to a point they’re finally satisfied with. Doing so might have made them happy, but we’re all reaping the rewards.
T2 Tea Cafe of the Year
Great coffee, tea and drinks? That’s a given. The winning cafe also takes pride in its food and service
Yum Yum Bakery
Guildford
Yum Yum Bakery in Guildford has, for the past 35 years, embodied what a cafe should aspire to be: a place of comfort, connection and damn good food. From the small oregano “pizza” takeaway joint Toufic Haddad opened in 1990, to the contemporary, multi-venue cafes run by son Najib Haddad, Yum Yum Bakery evolved while holding true to the familial warmth at its heart, and that’s what keeps multiple generations of customers coming back.
That, and the glorious excess of a Lebanese-style brunch: feasts of colour, nostalgia and unpretentious deliciousness, using a hand-built oven to make halloumi pide, egg and awarma (confit lamb) manoush and the same wood-fired bread Toufic brought over from his hometown in Lebanon, Aley. These are served alongside new dishes such as a lamb shawarma with mint, pomegranate and house-made chilli and tahini sauces in a flatbread “taco”. Coffee isn’t the focus, but it’s good, and there’s a must-try frozen limonana.
Drinks List of the Year
A wine and drinks list with its own unique identity, featuring options that pair with the restaurant’s food and style across a range of prices
The Wine Bar at The International
CBD
It had our attention with a cocktail named “Live and Let Rye”, but there’s a lot more to Jacqueline Turner and Alex Kirkwood’s drinks list than cutely named tinctures of whisky, baked banana and sherry.
While The Grill upstairs at The International has a broader selection of European and Australian greats, The Wine Bar’s list is a creative celebration of emerging producers, beaut fizz from NSW and France, and Turner’s love of riesling from Coal River to the Mosel. There are sparks of by-the-glass excitement on every page, and the bar has also become something of a social club to engage with the country’s most innovative winemakers during regular takeovers of the list.
If you want to chat Orange chardonnay with Will Gilbert, or drink Margaret River cabernet with Julian Langworthy, this is the place. And if you’re simply in the zone for a quick gimlet and a gilda, that can always be arranged, too.
Sommelier of the Year
A wine professional who has a deep knowledge of the subject while helping to influence and inspire
Amanda Yallop
Fink
To be honest, this recognition is a bit overdue. Amanda Yallop has been with Fink since 2006, starting as a line sommelier and taking on the group wine director role in 2018. Today, she manages the wine programs across Quay, Bennelong and Otto, and while she may not be on the floor as often as she once was, her mentorship and love of local producers is felt throughout all the restaurants.
See the wine list at Bennelong, for example. It names and thanks all the previous head sommeliers who have contributed to the list. At Quay, Yallop led the charge to create one the best champagne collections in the country, but is equally passionate about showcasing Australian wines that can compete with the best stuff from Europe. She can also read a guest’s mind with borderline psychic ability to know exactly what you want to drink before you do.
A Len Evans Tutorial scholar in 2013, Yallop has long been an active wine show judge, too, and helps to better not just wine at the cellars she manages but the industry as a whole.
Pub of the Year
A new award recognising a quintessential pub – new or old – that’s embedded in its community, offers food and drink that’s a cut above, and is welcoming to all
The Dry Dock
Balmain
What a difference turfing the pokies makes, huh? Not to mention a multimillion dollar renovation in 2023 that turned Balmain’s oldest pub from a run-down drinker’s den into a sizable split-use hotel of aged brass, leather and dark timber. The Dry Dock doesn’t feel too slick for its own good either, largely thanks to an engaged floor team, dog-friendly attitude and a public bar that’s comfortably full most nights.
A spot by the fireplace is one of the most sought-after seats on the Peninsula in winter – and all the better with a glass of Barbaresco from the terrific wine list – while summer afternoons are all about schooners under streetside umbrellas and seafood platters in the hatted dining room.
Is a Sydney pub still a Sydney pub if there’s no chicken schnitzel on the menu? We say “yes, absolutely”, especially when the kitchen cares enough to use Berkshire-breed pork for a juicy crumbed cutlet instead, and does a tiger prawn and lettuce sandwich on soft white bread that feels more Aussie than any bit of crumbed chook. Head for a cold one down at Mort Bay today.
Critics’ Pick of the Year
A venue, hatted or not, that captures the moment, brings something special to our dining scene and is consistently on our critics’ hit-lists
Ama
Surry Hills
Ama is a restaurant named for Rowena and Kate Chansiri’s Thai-Chinese grandmother, and grounded in memories of her beef noodle soup. The recipe, never recorded, was re-created by family in Bangkok and taken to Australia, where it became the breakout dish at the Chansiri’s suburban Kingsgrove cafe, Ickle.
Now, it’s served to ever-increasing lunch crowds in Surry Hills, alongside salted-plum cold brews and bowls of coconut milk flan drizzled in caramelised coffee molasses (using house-roasted specialty coffee, of course). And what could be more Sydney than that?
The Chansiri sisters are powerhouses of hands-on, women-led hospitality, and in sharing their warmth and family history with us, they demonstrate just how much the industry has to gain when everyone has a seat at the table.
Legend Award
For an outstanding long-term contribution to the hospitality industry
Kumar Mahadevan
Abhi’s Indian Restaurant, North Strathfield
The year is 1983 and Indian food in Sydney is dominated by bright red tandooris and samosas that could double as a cricket ball. The Indian government offers three young chefs permanent residency and paid work in Australia in return for promoting Indian cuisine at Mayur, a posh new restaurant with a reported $2 million price tag to open in Martin Place.
Kumar Mahadevan was one of those chefs, formally trained in India by the prestigious Taj Hotel group before taking a job with Sheraton in the Middle East. With his wife, Suba, Mahadevan opened Abhi’s in 1990 and you can often still find both of them chatting to longtime regulars at the restaurant.
Sydney’s Indian food scene is far more complex and vital today with considerable thanks to Mahadevan, and he is still just as passionate about cooking as he was 42 years ago stepping off the plane.
Young Chef of the Year, presented by Smeg
Founded in memory of chef Josephine Pignolet, and judged by a panel of industry professionals, this award is for a committed and skilled young kitchen talent under 30
Jen Kwok Lee
Infinity by Mark Best
Jen Kwok Lee spent the past two years at the Ritz-Carlton Melbourne, building its restaurant Atria from the ground up. “From concept to execution, I had the opportunity to challenge how people perceive hotel dining in Australia, through the lens of a Malaysian-Chinese immigrant cooking on the foreign land that I now call home,” Lee says.
Now, he’s stepped up to the revolving 81st floor of the Sydney Tower to take on the role of head chef at the new Infinity by Mark Best, where he continues to challenge the conventional perception of tourist-trap restaurants.
He also wants to change the perception of migrant chefs: “This job isn’t just a pathway to obtain permanent residency … people treat this industry seriously and are really proud of what they do,” he says.
Bill Granger Trailblazer Award
In partnership with Bill Granger’s family, and named in honour of Bill’s hospitality, warmth, integrity and entrepreneurial spirit
Sharon Winsor
Indigiearth
Ngemba Weilwan woman, chef and Indigiearth founder Sharon Winsor has fundamentally changed the way Australians think about native foods. Winsor, who grew up on country with cultural knowledge and access to edible and medicinal plants, launched Indigiearth in 1997. It was a time, she says, when the wider community thought of indigenous ingredients as “witchetty grubs and goannas”.
“Nobody knew anything, and I became so excited to share that food with everyone, to try to educate them and break down barriers,” says Winsor.
Today, she sources native ingredients such as saltbush, Davidson’s plum, sea parsley and lemon myrtle to create a range of pantry, home and wellness goods sold nationwide.
In September, she collaborated with Carriageworks and other leading bush food advocates to launch the Australian Native Food Festival, bringing together more than 20 First Nations market stalls to showcase sovereignty through food. “It’s important we’re included in our own industry,” she says.
Cultural Change Champion
Shining a light on those making the hospitality industry a better place to work
Sorry Not Sorry
More than a year ago, Rachelle “Rocky” Hair and Jenna Hemsworth made the brave decision to go public with their claims against their former employer Swillhouse, owner of venues including Caterpillar Club and Restaurant Hubert. Speaking with Good Food and The Sydney Morning Herald, they alleged they were sexually harassed, assaulted or discriminated against while working for Swillhouse – claims it denies.
Their stories sent shockwaves through Australia’s hospitality community, where sexual harassment is prevalent but rarely discussed publicly, and paved the way for other alleged victims to come forward. It also prompted a SafeWork NSW investigation, and led to government-mandated sexual violence prevention training in pubs and clubs.
Hair and Hemsworth used the momentum to do more, launching Sorry Not Sorry with Alex Hooker, Brittany Rowe and Reuby Kahl, and embarked on a tour of panel discussions and bar takeovers. The collective has evolved, with Sorry Not Sorry having a seat at the table with NSW Police, and advocating for policy reform, fairer complaint processes and industry regulation.
Importantly, the discussion moved beyond hospo circles to broader media – a 60 Minutes episode investigating Merivale and Maurice Terzini, for example – and helped shape a national conversation around acceptable behaviours in hospitality workplaces.
Food for Good
A big thinker with bright ideas that betters the community
Addison Road Community Organisation
Addison Road Community Organisation has been the beating heart of Sydney’s Inner West for nearly 50 years – standing with and supporting the people who need it most through outreach initiatives such as its Marrickville and Camperdown food pantries, the former of which celebrated a decade of operation in September.
The pantries are open to anyone seeking low-cost groceries, offering a dignified alternative (as well as free bread and produce with every purchase) during the cost-of-living-crisis. Up to 8500 people visit each week.
Volunteers and Addison Road chief executive officer Rosanna Barbero work with supermarkets to stock the pantry, salvaging more than 475,000 kilograms of food each year that would otherwise go to waste, putting together seasonal food hampers, hosting instructive monthly cook-ups in Camperdown, and cooking free meals for Wednesday Night Lights – a weekly night market in Marrickville presented with local businesses and other social enterprises, where people can gather for dinner and dessert and access various free support services like health checks, yoga classes, legal aid, laundry and haircuts.
A free 80-page Good Food Guide liftout with all the award winners and Critics’ Picks will be inserted in the Sydney Morning Herald on Tuesday, October 14. The Good Food app is the home of the 2026 edition of the Good Food Guide, with more than 600 reviews. The app is free for premium subscribers of the SMH and also available as a standalone subscription. You can download the Good Food app here.
