Time Out’s local food writers and editors eat out – a lot – so they can bring you recommendations on tried-and-tested restaurants and bars that are worthy of your precious money and time. We've been running awards that celebrate Australia's hospitality industry for more than 15 years, and now we’ve gone live with our 2025 nominees for the Time Out Food & Drink Awards (in partnership with Tyro), for both Melbourne and Sydney.
The pace of openings hasn’t slowed down since our last Melbourne and Sydney Food & Drink Awards, so we’ve been checking new spots out, as well as revisiting long-standing restaurants and bars to make sure they’re still delivering excellent experiences. Despite the fact that it’s been a challenging time in hospitality, the field was strong – there are so many amazing business owners, chefs, bartenders, sommeliers, front-of-house and back-of-house professionals working hard to deliver exceptional experiences to diners, and we love being able to celebrate those who are serving up something truly special.
It was difficult to narrow the nominees down (we have covered so many incredible venues this year!), but we have worked hard to bring you a selection of nominees that is diverse – diverse when it comes to price point, cuisines, locations and vibes.
Time Out Melbourne and Sydney has announced nominees in the following editors’ choice categories:
- Best Fine Dining Restaurant (Melbourne)
- Best Special Occasion Restaurant (Sydney)
- Best Relaxed Dining
- Best Cheap Eat
- Best Destination Venue
- Best Cocktail Bar
- Best Wine Bar
- Best Casual Drinking Venue
To see all nominees for Melbourne, click here, and for Sydney, click here.
We also have some People’s Choice Award categories, and that’s where we need your help. You are the people who support these venues by coming through their doors – share with us which places you’re loving most.
You can vote for absolutely any restaurant or bar in Melbourne and Sydney. Voting is now open, and closes on Tuesday, February 25 (at 11:59pm). Not only will you be able to share your views and support your favourites, but everyone who votes will go in the running to win a $250 Visa gift card (which we hope you’ll spend on your next dining experience).
These are the People’s Choice categories you can vote in:
- People's Choice: Restaurant
- People's Choice: Café
- People's Choice: Bar
- People's Choice: Pub
Vote now for your favourite Melbourne venues here, and Sydney venues here.
The winning venues in all categories will be revealed at awards nights in Melbourne on March 17, and Sydney on March 24, 2025. On the awards nights, we will also announce winners of these other special awards:
- Impact Award
- Legend Award
- Restaurant of the Year
- Bar of the Year
The results will be shared live across our social channels and websites, so keep an eye out.
In case you’re wondering how Time Out goes about reviewing – we never write starred restaurant and bar reviews from hosted experiences, or as part of paid partnerships. Time Out covers restaurant and bar bills, and anonymously reviews, so that readers can trust our recommendations. That means all the write-ups about Food & Drink Award nominees are based on experiences that have been paid for by Time Out, and venues don’t know that we’re coming.
While we’re always honest in the reviews we publish, we won’t publish a negative review – we’re a recommendations publisher, so if we don’t have a great experience at a restaurant or bar, we don’t write a review. That’s why you won’t see Time Out Australia publishing a restaurant or bar review that's less than three out of five stars. We’re here to support good hospitality businesses – we know it’s a tough industry! – by inspiring you to get off the couch to experience the best of the city.
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Will your favourite place get a nod in 2025? Will you learn about new places to add to your list of spots to hit up? Stay tuned for the winner announcements.
Time Out would like to thank our sponsor, Tyro, for making the Food & Drink Awards 2025 possible. As a payment solutions company, Tyro is all about supporting hospitality and other business types so they can deliver excellent experiences to customers.
To see all nominees for Melbourne, click here, and for Sydney, click here.
To vote in the People’s Choice categories and go in the draw to win prizes, click here for Melbourne voting, and here for Sydney voting.
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