Good Food Guide 2026 Australia Launches in October

Inside Port Melbourne's Timber Yard next month, industry veterans and rising chefs alike will gather beneath string lights to find out who has earned a place among the country's most celebrated dining rooms. It is a scene that repeats itself twice a year across two cities, and this October marks the arrival of Good Food Guide 2026 Australia, as both the Age and Sydney Morning Herald editions prepare to reveal their latest anonymous reviews and award winners.

The 46th Age and 42nd Sydney Morning Herald Good Food Guides will be released next month, offering a comprehensive, anonymously written snapshot of the most outstanding and exciting venues across Victoria, NSW and the ACT. Full details on both guides are available through Good Food's official website. Presented by Oceania Cruises and T2 Tea, both guides feature more than 500 reviews spanning restaurants, bars, pubs and cafes across a wide range of price points, cuisines, styles and suburbs.

A Standard Built on Anonymity

As in previous years, the guides include reviews of hatted restaurants, ranging from one hat up to the pinnacle of three, alongside awards spanning categories from Restaurant of the Year to Pub of the Year and Good Food Guide Legend. The reviews themselves are produced by a team of editors, senior food critics and a diverse group of freelance reviewers, with one rule holding firm across every edition: no venue can pay to be included.

Callan Boys, editor of The Sydney Morning Herald Good Food Guide, described the lengths the team goes to in order to preserve that independence. "We review as anonymously as possible, and book through the same online platforms and phone numbers as everyone else," Boys said. "There isn't another publication that comes remotely close to this level of independent restaurant criticism in Australia." His comment underscores what continues to set the Good Food Guides apart in an era where sponsored content and paid placements have become common across food media.

Two Cities, Two Launch Dates

The Age Good Food Guide launches first, on Monday, October 12, with an industry celebration at Port Melbourne's Timber Yard. All Victorian reviews will become available in the Good Food app from 8pm that evening, while the Good Food team live blogs the award ceremony via The Age's website starting at 3pm, allowing subscribers to track winners in real time.

The Sydney Morning Herald Good Food Guide follows two weeks later, with a chef studded ceremony at Sydney's Carriageworks on Monday, October 26. That event will also be live blogged from 3pm via the Herald's website, with all NSW and ACT reviews landing in the Good Food app from 8pm the same evening.

A Snapshot Beyond Fine Dining

Emma Breheny, co-editor of The Age Good Food Guide, framed this year's edition as a reflection of how people are actually eating right now. "More than ever, this year's Guides are a snapshot of what it's like to eat in each state right now," Breheny said. "We've included hundreds of hatted restaurants but also plenty of meals that make you feel a million bucks without having to spend a week's rent, whether it's an excellent-value banquet or a spectacular bowl of soup." The comment reflects a deliberate effort to widen the guides' scope beyond high end dining alone, capturing value driven meals alongside the city's most decorated tables.

Where to Find the Guides

Since its launch three years ago, the Good Food app has served as the central home for the Good Food Guide, now holding more than 2,000 reviews and recommendations, including winner lists, signature collections, regional destination guides and Critics' Picks. Users can save venues, search by proximity through the app's map function, and filter results by price and suburb.

Alongside the app, a free 56 page Good Food Guide liftout will be inserted in The Age on Tuesday, October 13, and in The Sydney Morning Herald on Tuesday, October 27. Each liftout includes award winners, a full list of hatted restaurants, and the guide's 100 Essential Restaurants list, a snapshot of the most vital places to eat right now across NSW, Victoria and the ACT. The Victorian liftout adds regional destination guides, while the NSW edition includes dedicated wraps covering Sydney's best pizza, ramen and pubs.

Boys pointed to the 100 Essential Restaurants list as evidence of the guide's broader ambitions. "The new 100 Essential Restaurants lists champion food across all price points and cuisines," he said. "There's a lot more to the Good Food Guide than fine-diners where a night out for one couple costs more than a second-hand Corolla." As Australia's dining scene continues to expand well beyond its traditional fine dining strongholds, encompassing everything from destination restaurants to newly opened neighborhood favorites like JUJU's recent Shanghai reopening, the Good Food Guide's expanding format reflects a wider industry recognition that great food, and great value, can be found at every price point, not just the top of the menu.