The 35 best restaurants in Australia right now

Sydney is home to – dare we say – the world’s most revolutionary seafood restaurant, helmed by the pioneer of ‘nose to tail’ cookery, Josh Niland. While Saint Peter has found a beautiful new home in Paddington’s Grand National Hotel, the game-changing dishes remain. Niland and his chefs transform the whole fish – guts, flesh and bones – into the most sustainable seven-course tasting menu. Think coal-kissed coral trout head, salt and vinegar mackerel, dry-aged swordfish, and even ice cream made from fish eyes. 

What's the deal? Seven-course evening tasting menu, à la carte lunch menu, bar snacks and full wine list.

Named after a Japanese style of pottery, Raku blurs the lines between art and sustenance. The menu is extensive, showcasing seafood in all its glory. You can have it raw in the kingfish served with truffle yuzu, cold in a spanner crab sushi roll, or hot as king prawns doused in XO butter. Masters of the blades, the chefs expertly slice up fresh snapper, tuna belly and scallops into sashimi or nigiri; add crunch with popcorn shrimp on the tempura menu; and grill high-grade Wagyu on a robata charcoal grill. From the express lunch to the royal tasting degustation, Raku will leave you wishing you lived in Canberra (almost). 

What's the deal: Two tasting menus (with optional wine pairings); a weekday express lunch; an à la carte menu; and a beverage tasting menu for sake, gin and whisky.

Attica is not just a meal. It's an all-consuming sensory experience that has been a regular on the World’s 50 Best Restaurants list for years. Given its worldwide reputation, scoring a table is no easy feat, and you’ll need to book far, far in advance. Those lucky enough to try chef and Netflix star Ben Shewry’s ambitiously Australian menus can expect artful dishes that hero hyper-local ingredients, including barbecued saltwater croc ribs, smoked emu with warrigal greens and finger lime, and wattleseed cake.

What's the deal? 11-course tasting menu, with alcoholic and non-alcoholic pairings (or a mix of both) available.

When it comes to WA’s culinary legends, seasoned chef Aaron Carr is right up there. At his latest bucket-list dining experience, diners can enjoy a seasonal three-course menu, or leave it up to the chefs with Yarri’s signature six-course tasting experience. Both menus kick off with a complimentary snack on arrival, followed by the likes of wood-grilled sirloin with black garlic and miso butter; or lamb dressed in sumac and burnt honey. Each plate is lovingly decorated with vibrant herbs and vegetables that are hand-picked from the restaurant’s flourishing kitchen garden each morning. Yarri's wine list proudly showcases Snake and Herring – no surprise, as it’s the home of this award-winning Western Australian winery. 

What's the deal? Three- or six-course menus, with extensive wine list and cocktails.

Set below the Metro Arts theatre of Brisbane, Exhibition becomes the unexpected final act of any show. Akin to its theatrical counterparts, chef and owner Tim Scott has curated a provocative and multisensory dining experience, engaging in a seasonally evolving menu that is also a committed nod to culinary arts and craftsmanship. The modicum of dishes on the venue’s nightly six-course exhibit can only be accredited to their devotion to Queensland’s best local and sustainable produce. Be prepared to immerse yourself in the spectacle of abalone liver parfait served with milk bread; features of shrimp and scampi with secret sauces and fingerlime; and multiple monologues of rare and smoke-kissed wagyu.

What's the deal? Two omakase experiences: shortened or full, with three options for matched drinks. 

No gas. No electricity. Only fire. At Adelaide’s first open-flame restaurant, main character energy comes from a three-and-a-half-tonne wood-burning oven that sizzles everything from local figs and sourdough crumpets to black Angus strip steak, bone marrow and Southern Rock lobster. Michelin-trained chef Jake Kellie heads this sleek barbecue restaurant, which is housed inside a heritage-listed sandstone building. You can dine à la carte from Arkhé’s seasonally-driven menu, or try for a seat at the exclusive chef’s table, located in the heart of the restaurant.

What's the deal? Seasonal à la carte menu, with extensive beverage list.

What does it take to earn the crown of Sydney’s finest diner? Perhaps the dress-circle harbour views? Or the exquisite works of art on each and every plate? The custom-made crockery? The cornucopia of produce grown exclusively for the restaurant? The service team’s unrivalled professionalism? Some restaurants are engineered for special occasions and totally worth the splurge – Quay is most definitely one of them. 

What's the deal? Six- or eight-course tasting menu, and four-course weekend lunch menu, with thoughtfully curated wine list.

To question Gimlet’s beauty is like pondering out loud whether the sky is blue. One foot through the door into the almighty fine diner (in fact, Time Out Melbourne’s crowned winner of the Best Fine Dining award in 2023) and you’re swept into an era of astonishingly impressive 1920s glamour. The handsome, plush curved booths invite you to settle in and share a bottle of Champers with a friend, uniformed staff skate around the floor with ease, and warm light dances off the grand chandeliers overhead. You can, of course, go all out at Gimlet and dine on lobster, caviar service and exxy bottles of wine all night, but even just popping in for a few cocktails and a taste of a few dishes here and there is truly a lovely way to experience the restaurant, which tends to feel welcoming and adaptive no matter how much you’re willing to splurge.

What's the deal? Seasonal four-course menu, à la carte menu, and bar menu with snacks and cocktails.

It’s rare to find a restaurant in Australia where you’re asked to drink broth through branches and feast off sticks or rocks. Tucked in the 51-hectare Adelaide Botanic Gardens, this award-winning restaurant offers a sensory menu that changes with the seasons and daily weather patterns. You’ll need at least four hours to fully appreciate the degustation, which showcases more than 26 different flavours and highlights native Australian ingredients – like emu, green ants, desert lime and lemon myrtle – along with herbs and leaves foraged directly from the gardens. 

What's the deal? A four-hour, 20-something-course menu, with alcoholic and non-alcoholic pairings available.

‘Farm-to-table’ is a buzzword tossed around kitchens across the country, but it’s a genuine way of life at The Agrarian Kitchen. Set in an old mental asylum, this hybrid restaurant, cooking school, kitchen garden and kiosk is the crown jewel of Tasmania's quaint New Norfolk neighbourhood. Plenty of the ingredients for the set menu’s dishes are grown on the kitchen’s onsite farm, while the rest are sourced from nearby growers, farmers and fishermen. Everything The Agrarian Kitchen uses is fresh (we’re talking just-picked herbs and fish straight out of the river) and the kitchen team does its own cheese-making, pickling, smoking, fermenting, whole-animal butchery and bread-making. 

What's the deal? An eight-course set menu, with optional alcoholic and non-alcoholic pairings, is available from Friday to Sunday. A casual kiosk out front also serves pastries, salads and cakes. 

Nostalgic flavours and playful desserts take flight at this small suburban diner in the Bush Capital. Pilot’s seven-course set menu is quintessentially Australian, and on any given day, you may be served IPA beer pretzels, Hawaiian pizza scrolls or brandy butterscotch Wagon Wheels. The experimental non-alcoholic drinks pairing is just as impressive as the boozed-up version, with a focus given to small, sustainable Aussie producers.

What's the deal? Seven-course evening degustation, with alcoholic or non-alcoholic pairings, plus a shorter weekend lunch set menu.

Such and Such is the cooler and colourful younger sibling of Canberra’s award-winning restaurant, Pilot. You could mistake the bright and bold dining room for an art gallery, where the walls pop with artworks, ceramics and sculptures by local artists. Each dish is a playful masterpiece too, with the super seasonal menu featuring contemporary takes on nostalgic snacks and share plates. Don’t take things too seriously and add on a glass (or three) of lo-fi, organic wines from both local makers and far away places.

What's the deal? Shared set menu, à la carte menu and 29-page wine list.

Perched sky-high on the rooftop of the renowned Como The Treasury Hotel, Wildflower is proudly the highest-ranked restaurant in Perth. Every plate has a story to tell and revolves around the Indigenous ethos of six seasons. As the narrative unfolds over a four-, six- or eight-course degustation, you can take in sweeping views across the Swan River and city skyline. It’s worth playing with Wildflower’s cocktail list too, where native Australian ingredients steal the spotlight, including Davidson plum, strawberry gum, fingerlime and quandong. 

What's the deal? Seasonal four-, six- or eight-course evening degustation; two-course lunch; bar menu; and lengthy wine list.

This 30-year-old beachside institution, affectionately known as the ‘salty jewel' of Bondi, has been championing seasonal produce long before it was cool. Award-winning chef Sean Moran’s creativity is showcased on the restaurant’s daily-changing three-course blackboard menu, which takes cue from the restaurant’s farm harvests in Bilpin – and is so closely tied to the seasons that it could quite literally change mid-service. Cross your fingers that Moran’s famous roast chook is on the menu, and don’t underestimate the nostalgic comforts of his seasonal jelly with ice cream for dessert.

What's the deal? Daily changing three-course set menu, including an appetiser and house-baked bread, plus a concise wine list.

For ten years, Rick Shores has set the bar high for fine dining on the Gold Coast. The glamorous and contemporary Asian fusion menu draws inspiration from Vietnam and Thailand, featuring their now-famous fried Moreton Bay bug roll with bug mayonnaise and sriracha — arguably the Gold Coast’s most iconic snack. Rick’s cured king salmon sashimi and freshly shucked oysters with Thai vinaigrette go down a treat, while the roasted red duck curry and honey-glazed pork deserve a spot on your table for mains. You’ll need to book a table at Rick’s, but if you’re feeling spontaneous, arrive early and try to nab a table in the bar or on the sunny patio.

What's the deal? Two shared set menus and full à la carte menu.

Let Inka be your introduction to Nikkei cuisine. A contemporary fusion of Japanese-Peruvian techniques and ingredients, you can travel across the world in one night with everything from crispy potato tapas and prawn tacos to kingfish ceviche and wagyu nigiri. Bring more friends so you can share more dishes, which are prepared in three separate areas: the ceviche bar, the kitchen and the robata grill. We won’t even get started on the drinks menu, which spans almost 30 pages of wines, whiskeys, pisco and sake from around the world.

What's the deal? Order a la carté or opt for one of two multi-course tasting menus, including a vegetarian option). Inka also offers a $60 express lunch menu.

This is not your white-tablecloth kind of fine diner; it’s a casually charming Northern Rivers edition, run by award-winning chef and Noma alumnus Ben Devlin, and his wife Yen Trinh. The best seats in the house are at Pipit’s open kitchen counter, where wild foraged plants – most sourced from within 15 minutes drive of the restaurant – and sustainably caught seafood are smoked, charred or kissed on the woodfire grill. From the koji sourdough to the delicate linguine and tropical ice cream, everything is made in-house, with any offcuts fermented or converted into dressings, charcuterie, vinegar and even, kombucha. Pipit’s five-course tasting menu is seasonally curated, and with advance notice, they can cater for pretty much any dietary requirement.

What's the deal? Signature five-course evening set menu from Thursday to Saturday, or à la carte menu for Sunday lunch and Monday dinner. Australian-only wines, spirits and cocktails available from the bar.

It takes a full day to dine at Brae. A meal at one of Victoria’s most highly decorated fine dining institutions fits a micro holiday into the hours needed to get out to the gently sloping paddocks of Birregurra (an easy two-hour drive from Melbourne), dine in rural splendour at an appropriately relaxed pace at Dan Hunter’s famous farmhouse restaurant, and return home. You could make it a genuine mini-break should your budget stretch that far, but it’s hard to think of a more pleasant day trip than one centred around the country’s pre-eminent dining experience. Now excuse us while we try to score a booking before everyone else does.

What's the deal? Seasonal nine-course tasting menu with matched alcoholic or non-alcoholic beverages available.

Pushing the boundaries of what can be accomplished in a kitchen using exclusively the power of woodfire and smoke, Agnes brings precision to this unwieldy and demanding medium. Executive chef Ben Williamson and his talented team use different types of wood – ironbark, apple wood, cherry wood and olive wood – to uniquely interact with each of the dishes, whether it be Wagyu sirloin, pork tomahawk, Murray cod or potato flatbread. Agnes’s brilliance lies in merging food with architecture; those hanging lights transition from necessary beacons into spotlights over the table, forcing you to focus on every flavour, every technique, every crumb. You’ll want something to wash it all down with and fortunately, the team at Agnes has curated an impressive cellar of over 1,400 bottles from across Europe and Australia.

What's the deal? Four-course set menu, à la carte offering, extensive wine list and small bar menu.

34 seats, eight sittings, two spaces and one signature menu. In the foothills of Penfolds’ historic Magill Estate vineyard (est. 1844), this blowout restaurant matches stellar views of Adelaide city with seriously sophisticated food and hospitality. Chef Scott Huggins works with the finest South Australian produce in an innovative degustation menu that can be paired with predictably brilliant wines (go all out and order some Grange – you know you want to).

What's the deal? Seasonal set menu with two wine pairings available.

Multimillion-dollar views of Sydney Harbour demand nothing less than a degustation set to impress, and Aria delivers. For 25 years, chef Matt Moran’s fine diner has gazed across the water toward the Opera House, hosting special occasions, milestone anniversaries and for the lucky few, a regular pitstop before a show. Aria’s unmistakably Australian tasting menu sways with the seasons, while the panoramic outlook from the floor-to-ceiling windows, remains some of the city’s best.

What's the deal? Eight and five-course signature tasting menus, with alcoholic or non-alcoholic wine pairings available; seasonal three-course menu; two-course weekday lunch or pre-theatre menu; and seasonal wine list.

If anyone ever complains about Canberra’s nightlife, just nod quietly and then laugh all the way up the stairs to Bar Rochford. This is undoubtedly the best little wine bar in the ACT and it’s hidden away in one of the capital’s oldest buildings. Once you’re up in the cosy confines of this first-floor bar you could be in Melbourne, Munich or Manhattan. Let their young gun team guide you on a vinous adventure that traverses the world, but if you don’t order food too, it’s a lost opportunity. The $90 set menu isn’t a cop-out; it’s more like a tour of their latest and greatest seasonal hits. 

What's the deal? Four-course set menu (with vegetarian option), à la carte offering and expertly-curated wine list.

Time Out Melbourne's Restaurant of the Year in 2023 may be almost a decade old, but it still stands out as one of the most energising fine dining experiences in Melbourne. This farm-to-table restaurant’s kitchen sources all of its ingredients from a nearby 2.5-acre farm in Cardinia, owned and run by friends of the chefs. Each dish elevates humble produce to new heights, an alchemical feat that looks far outside the box in delivering an experience you'll remember. Up the ante and pair your four- or seven-course seasonal menu with regional wines from small producers near and far.

What's the deal? Seasonal four- or seven-course menu, with snacks and sourdough, plus optional alcoholic or non-alcoholic drink pairings.

Perched on a hill overlooking one of the most magical beaches in Byron Bay – where surfers glide on seemingly endless gin-clear waves – is where you’ll find Raes on Wategos. Built in the 1960s, the Mediterranean-style boutique hotel and restaurant is without a doubt one of the country’s most lusted-after institutions. Jason Saxby (Pilu, Quay and The Ledbury in London) heads the kitchen, where the brief is modern Australian food with a Mediterranean touch. That’s encapsulated in an exquisite snack of kangaroo ‘tart-are’; Australian bay lobster with hand-rolled pasta and native spiced butter; and Iced Vovo semifreddo with native berry jam. 

What's the deal? Eight-course tasting menu, with paired wines available; two- or three-course à la carte menu (with dedicated vegetarian menu); and casual bar menu.

Odyssey lives up to its name in every way possible, presenting a long, adventurous and flawless dining experience in the heart of Hervey Bay. The fate of your journey at this farm-to-table bistro is presented in a hand-sealed menu, featuring a three-course line-up that changes monthly based on the produce and proteins available from local suppliers. You can trace the origin of your freshly shucked oysters, fish crudo or triple cream brie, along with the perfectly paired drinks from local distilleries, breweries and wineries. Every dish and drink really is a love letter to the Fraser Coast region and its people.

What's the deal? Seasonal three-course menu, with wine pairings available.

Seppeltsfield’s Fino made its city debut in 2019 with the opening of a sleek restaurant and wine bar on Flinders Street. Five years on and Fino Vino is still one of the city’s best, with its largely local menu that heroes the best of the seasons. At $55, the all-day express menu is an absolute steal and will let you sample three share plates, along with a glass of vino. Finish on a sweet note with the crema catalana, which has been on the menu since day one.

What's the deal? Order a la carté or opt for the four- or six-course tasting menus, with wine or non-alcoholic pairings available.

Nothing can beat a great curry and few chefs can outdo Minoli De Silva’s jaggery goat with spiced sticky figs. The former MasterChef contestant has set up a city centre establishment that marries creativity with reverence for traditional Sri Lankan ingredients. Fill the table with curry leaf-cured snapper, spiced lamb ribs and black pepper pork belly, and pick from Ella’s extensive cocktail list, where ingredients like makrut limes, cardamom and pandan steal the spotlight.

What's the deal? An à la carte dinner menu, with mostly-Australian wines and beers.

“Look but don’t touch,” said no one ever at Faro Restaurant and Bar. Here, you’re encouraged to touch, play and even eat the artful creations plated by this fancy European-inspired restaurant. Jutting out over the River Derwent, the dining room is as extravagant as you’d expect from MONA restaurant, with pink marble tables, velvet chairs, a sleek timber bar and the odd saxophonist or singer drifting by. Faro’s ‘platedropping’ menu is as experimental as its art, featuring wild-caught and feral meats, alongside local Tassie produce. Given that the guy who owns MONA is vegetarian, you’ll find plenty of plant-based options as well.

What's the deal? You can pick your own adventure with à la carte lunch available from Friday to Monday, or let Faro take the reins with a set menu dinner on Friday and Saturday. 

Diners could be forgiven for thinking their tour bus had dropped them off in a provincial French winery if it weren't for the noisy galahs giving the game away, but the bent wrought iron chairs, thickly laid white tablecloths, silvery lavender and cobbled stone courtyard do a pretty convincing impression. In tandem with the rolling hills of the vineyard and dramatic dappled clouds, this is a lunch to remember. The menu at Molines has remained largely unchanged since the doors first flung open in 2008, while an extensive list of specials changes regularly to flex creative muscles. On it you may find delicate crumbed lamb's brains one day, butter and caper fried market fish the next, and if you're luck, a rich and sharp lemon posset so dense you could park a spoon in it.

What's the deal? Minimum two-course menu, with entrées, mains, desserts and a full wine list.