From legendary hole-in-the-wall joints and destination neighbourhood haunts to hallowed temples of gastronomy, Australia and New Zealand are brimming with incredible places to eat. To fuel your appetite for an Antipodean foodie adventure, we’ve found the countries’ top restaurants that should be on everyone's bucket list.
Click or scroll through our gallery to discover Australia and New Zealand's most iconic eateries, counting down to the greatest of all. How many have you tried?
Our selections are based on genuine user reviews, awards and accolades, and the first-hand experience of our team. They're also regularly checked and updated.
At this Brisbane favourite, you can munch on a Moreton Bay bug slider as you marvel at views of Moreton Bay itself. With all-white interiors, whirring ceiling fans, wooden furniture and floor-to-ceiling windows allowing for wraparound vistas – not to mention superlative seafood and steaks, a buzzy atmosphere and slick service – Manly Boathouse is a waterside eatery that has it all. As well as the restaurant, there's a patio area, bar, gelateria, patisserie shop, coffee window and even a 'fish and chippery'.
An all-day diner with just the right amount of bustle, Depot Eatery in Wellington’s CBD is a fabulous walk-ins-only place that promises good food and good wines. From the stable of top Kiwi chef Al Brown, it's a place to go with mates for a weekend of grazing and good times. Start with breakfast, stay for lunch, linger over picky plates (don’t miss the fish sliders) and slurp freshly shucked oysters from the raw bar before chowing down on the likes of wood-roasted lemon sole and chicken for a late-night dinner. There's an excellent selection of New Zealand wines and craft brews to work through, too.
Set in a tiny 190-year-old tin shed in the McLaren Vale wine region, this modern Southeast Asian restaurant is a total find. Today people swarm here to try its sensational banquet menu – but it actually started life as a pop-up market stall, where chef Trinh Richards and husband Mike sold bánh mì. Now you can expect to eat fancy dishes like slow-braised beef short rib with pickled shallots and a soy sauce jus, or Vietnamese crème caramel with miso ice cream and a toasted coconut-cashew crumb. Seating just 40 people, the restaurant is only open for dinner on Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays, and for lunch on Sundays.
Beloved by local Australian-Vietnamese families since the early 90s, this Cabramatta institution now lures people from all over Sydney to try its homestyle Vietnamese Chinese cuisine. The standout dish at Tan Viet Noodle House is the mì gà da dòn (crispy-skinned chicken with egg noodles), but you should also order the Hainan chicken, the bò kho (spicy beef stew) and the goat curry. Go hungry, but don’t worry if you’re defeated; the portions are extremely generous, so leaving with a doggy bag is de rigeur for many diners. If you can't make it to Cabramatta, there's a second Sydney restaurant in Darling Square.
Lucia Rosella introduced Adelaideans to Southern Italian home cooking when she opened her eponymous café, a trailblazing eatery in Adelaide Central Markets, in 1957 – and she quickly won them over with her crispy-crusted pizzas and heaving plates of pasta. Bustling and convivial (and now overseen by Lucia's daughters), Lucia's Pizza & Spaghetti Bar is everything you could want from a family-run Italian restaurant. Classics include Bolognese and carbonara with your choice of pasta, a selection of tasty deep-dish pizzas, and Nicci and Maria’s next-level lasagne (available on Fridays). You can also pick up some treats to graze on later at Lucia’s Charcuterie and Fine Foods next door.
A humble hole in the wall by the side of a Darwin highway, Laksa House, or Warung Ibu Amye, does a brisk trade in freshly made laksas. Its spicy Malaysian soups (laden with plump seafood, chicken or tofu) will add an extra sheen of sweat to your brow on a steamy night out in Australia's Top End – but trust us, it'll be oh-so worth it. Be sure to go on a weekend night when Amye (AKA the 'laksa queen') and her small team also cook up the most succulent charcoal chicken, which is best slathered in the joint's homemade chilli sauce and eaten immediately with your fingers. This one's a true rough-and-ready local gem.
This long-standing Italian institution on Melbourne’s Bourke Street oozes old-school European opulence; men wear jackets, napkins are placed on laps with a flourish, and there's even a champagne trolley. The original restaurant opened in 1928, but celebrity chef Guy Grossi has been at the helm since 1999. Luxurious Italian and Australian ingredients star in refined dishes such as capretto in umido (goat stew) and the eatery's signature tortellini in brodo: veal and mortadella tortellini in a warming broth. The grand Grossi Florentino occupies the top floor of the building, while the more casual Grill and Cellar Bar are down below.
Set in a handsome industrial space in Dunedin’s heritage warehouse precinct, Moiety offers an unpretentious but high-level gastronomic experience – complete with a warm Kiwi welcome. Chef and co-owner Sam Gasson shines a light on the Otago Peninsula's producers via a menu that’s in constant flux according to the seasons. Inventive flavour and texture combinations are a defining element of his cooking; think organwurst hotdogs with carrot kimchi and smoked cheese (pictured), and wild Fiorland venison with turnip, kombu (edible kelp), radish and chervil. You can sample your way through the snacks and small plates or go for the full five-course dinner. Refreshingly, walk-ins are welcome.
Busy and buzzy, with a seriously cool design and mouth-watering Mod Oz menu, this neighbourhood restaurant in Canberra’s hip New Acton precinct is the kind of place you yearn to have at the end of your road. You could spend all day perusing Rebel Rebel's wine list (which has a great selection by the glass), but if you’re more of a beer fan, it has an eclectic mix of Australian craft brews and ciders, too. Booze chosen, settle in for a memorable meal that’s firmly rooted in the seasons and local produce – even non-sharers will want to share plates here. Expect the likes of charred sugarloaf cabbage with tahini and harissa; mussels with chorizo, cider and pickled fennel; and fried quail with sambal and lime.
Set prettily by the Tamar River in an old mill on the edge of Launceston's Cataract Gorge, Stillwater is a restaurant with serious pedigree (and a clutch of gorgeous suites). It's been showcasing Tasmania's bountiful produce for more than 20 years and continues to be one of the top places to eat in the state. Here, you can graze on oysters and baby green lip abalone from the Tarkine, then move onto mains like Tasmanian wallaby with smoked macadamia and lemon myrtle. As you'd hope, tipples from the surrounding Tamar Valley are well represented on the wine list.
Run by chefs Zoe Birch and Lachlan Gardner in the northern Melbourne suburb of Hurstbridge, this intimate eight-seater restaurant has been awarded two hats by The Age Good Food Guide. All exposed brick, dark wood, eclectic art, piles of vinyl and large jars of house-made pickles, the tiny eatery has the feel of a hip home. You won’t find any of the dishes written down when you visit – Greasy Zoes’ 12-course menu is defined by its use of hyper-local ingredients (sourced from small famers in the Shire of Nillumbik), so what’s being created in the small kitchen changes frequently. There's also a standout selection of local wines.
From the service to the atmosphere, everything about Twenty Seats in Perth’s inner-city Highgate suburb is impeccable. Opened by chef-owner Todd Stuart in 2022, the restaurant's vision is to serve food that's 'simple, clever, tasty and fun' – and it more than delivers. As the name suggests, the restaurant seats 20 diners, who flock here to enjoy an ever-changing 10-course tasting menu that takes a tour around modern Australian cooking (with a few stops at other points around the globe). Recent dishes range from Rankin cod with fennel and sauce gribiche (a French sauce consisting of boiled eggs, capers and herbs) to raclette with cured ham and pickles.
Confident and quirky, tiny Rita has a distinct style, serving a three-course menu that changes every night. Decision made for them, diners are left to concentrate on enjoying their evening in this convivial space. Here, you can be sure of simple, seasonally driven and assured cooking and some excellent wine recommendations. Dessert comes with much anticipation, as what's in store is only revealed when it’s brought to the table. Rita is set in an old workers' cottage in Wellington’s residential Aro Valley, so when you eat here, you'll feel as if you're a guest at a particularly good dinner party – one that you won’t want to end.
Open since 2019, Pipit is a thoughtful and creative restaurant run by Byron Bay–born chef Ben Devlin and his wife Yen Trinh in the Northern Rivers town of Pottsville. It has an ethos of sourcing unique, seasonal and local produce, with a strong focus on sustainability and eliminating food waste; as such, everything is created in house, from the sensational bread and silky pasta to the miso and hams. Devlin's menu also celebrates native plants and foraged wild edibles such as riberries, lemon aspen, bunya nuts and wattle flowers – and all of his dishes are smoked, dried or grilled to perfection in the restaurant's wood-fired oven.
Vibrant with punchy flavours, both the food and atmosphere at Jungle Fowl – a waterfront restaurant in the steamy tropical North Queensland town of Port Douglas – are full of fun and zest. The area’s abundant seafood is the star of the show in chef and co-owner Ben Wallace's modern Thai menu; expect to find dishes like spiced blue swimmer crab toast with prawn citrus salt; local tiger prawn noodles with tamarind and betel leaf; and lightly cured coral trout with local honey and ginger. The kitchen sources a lot of produce from its own farm, Oaks Kitchen and Garden, which is also run by Wallace and his wife, Jungle Fowl co-owner Rachael Boon.
With this coastal hotspot restaurant, Helen Turnbull has managed to make a day out at Paraparaumu Beach on the Kāpiti Coast even more appealing. You can just tell that it's a brilliant place to work as well as to eat; Turnbull called the restaurant 50-50 because of her firm belief that the best dining experiences are 50% down to the front-of-house staff, and 50% down to those working in back-of-house positions. Diners are given the option of a six- or nine-course tasting menu (with wines to match, if you wish). Whatever you choose, Turnbull and team's finessed cooking and unexpected flavour combinations showcase New Zealand's prime produce beautifully.
Utterly unique and intimate, this six-seater Korean restaurant – set inside a hillside home in Cockatoo, an hour’s drive southeast of Melbourne – is, unsurprisingly, difficult to get a table at. Chae, run by chef Jung Eun Chae and her partner Yoora Yoon, operates a lottery system when it comes to bookings. Those lucky enough to dine here are taken on a deep dive into Korean food culture, with dishes making use of seasonal produce and traditional Korean fermentation techniques. Chae has received two hats from The Age Good Food Guide Awards.
Inspired by native Australian flavours and ingredients, and made using precise and playful techniques, chef Malcolm Hanslow’s cooking has put Pilot on the map in Canberra’s bountiful fine-dining scene. Upscale but relaxed, with an ever-changing menu, the small, design-led dining room is located in the leafy suburb of Ainslie. On the menu you might find the likes of Wagyu steak with barbecued tomato butter, umami cream and garden greens, or mandarin sorbet with an amaretto caramel, white chocolate and cardamom mousse. The eclectic Aussie wine list features lots of natural drops, and there's also a raft of unexpected non-alcoholic drinks that pair elegantly with the food.
Sophisticated French-inspired cooking and top-notch Aussie produce combine with palate-pleasing results at Restaurant Dan Arnold, a high-end fine-dining hotspot in Brisbane’s Fortitude Valley suburb. Choose between one of the three set menus (three, five or seven to eight courses) and prepare to be wowed – from the amuse-bouches right through to the cheese trolley and petits fours. Chef-owner Dan Arnold is a local lad, but he worked in two and three Michelin–starred restaurants in France for several years, honing his exceptional talent for contemporary cooking rooted in the classical tradition.
Have you even been to Byron if you haven't had a long, languorous seafood lunch that drifts into dinner at Raes Dining Room? Part of the exclusive beachside hotel Raes, right by the sands of surfy hotspot Wategos Beach, this restaurant is the kind of place you're likely to see A-listers cooing over head chef Jason Saxby's casually elevated Mod-Oz-meets-Med cooking. An understated yet eminently classy space with on-it service, this isn't the kind of place to hold back: go all out and get the oscietra caviar to top your warm spanner crab with chawanmushi (egg custard) and dashi broth. Be sure to order dessert, too – Rae's spin on beloved Aussie biccie the Iced Vovo is all kinds of awesome.
Down-to-earth hospitality and garden-to-table dining are deeply entrenched at this verdant – and much-awarded – cellar door and restaurant in the quaint country town of Jarrahdale, an hour southeast of Perth. With a 90-year-old orchard and heirloom vegetable garden producing the majority of ingredients for its dishes, you know you’re in for some seriously flavourful and nutritious cooking at Millbrook. And that's not to mention the eatery's stellar matching wines – Millbrook's Estate viognier, shiraz viognier and petit verdot are made from fruits grown on its 20-acre estate. You can also enjoy house-made cheese and charcuterie platters with wine tastings at the cellar door.
Lauded as one of Australasia’s best Japanese restaurants, Cocoro, on Auckland’s vibrant Ponsonby Road, is a feast for all the senses, from its striking minimalist design to the precise and artful dishes overseen by chef Makoto Tokuyama. His modern Japanese cooking showcases the bounty of Auckland's local seafood – think Cloudy Bay clams and Tora Bay paua (abalone) – with flavour accents courtesy of regional ingredients including manuka honey and Coromandel seaweed. Let the chef dictate your experience by going for one of the three degustation menus, or take your pick from the à la carte menu. Sakes and organic New Zealand wines can also be paired with your meal by the knowledgeable staff.
Flower Drum opened on Little Bourke Street in 1975, serving Cantonese classics to Melburnians – and since then, it's evolved (and moved to Market Lane) to become one of the country’s most critically acclaimed restaurants, with executive chef Anthony Lui at the helm. The Peking duck, aromatic baked crab shell and braised lamb claypot (cooked to order) are long-standing signature dishes, and the dim sum selection is dazzling, too. Can’t choose? Go for the chef’s banquet menu to feast like an emperor. Dishes may well include the likes of Queensland mud crab with flying fish roe, and sautéed seafood with ginger.
The views, the service, the food... it’s hard not to slide into superlatives at this upscale Sydney restaurant, which has bagged three hats in The Good Food Guide for 22 years in a row. Executive chef Peter Gilmore continues to enthral his regulars and those lucky enough to secure a table in Quay's harbourside dining room, serving modern cuisine that's rooted in the Australian landscape. There's a choice of four-, six- and eight-course tasting menus featuring dishes like wild blacklip abalone with octopus, raw Abrolhos Island scallops, seaweed and aged vinegar. The prices are equally dazzling – but if fancy fine dining is your thing, Quay is one to splurge on.
Tempura asparagus with cured emu egg yolk and nasturtium, and roasted crocodile tail with daikon broth and toasted oak are the kind of wow-factor dishes that lure diners into this upscale restaurant in the beautiful Adelaide Botanic Gardens. Chef Justin James' tasting menu at Restaurant Botanic presents over 26 different flavour combinations consisting of native meats, fish and fruits, plus herbs and flowers from the gardens. A curated wine experience elevates the food, but non-drinkers are in for a treat, too – the restaurant's considered Temperance Pairing teams house-made juices, infusions, ferments and mocktails with the dishes.
A slick urban space with Waitematā Harbour views and a menu to swoon over, Ahi is one of New Zealand's most lauded restaurants. Passionate Kiwi chef and co-owner Ben Bayly puts the country’s wonderful produce and fascinating food heritage at the centre of each plate, using native ingredients and traditional Māori cooking techniques – such as hāngī (pit oven) and fire – in a contemporary way. The seafood-leaning menu proudly proclaims the origin of each dish’s star ingredient by noting the distance travelled. Most of the vegetables are grown in Ahi’s own kitchen garden in Patumahoe, south of the city.
A stylish, sustainable seafood restaurant located in a renovated old pub in Sydney’s Paddington suburb, Saint Peter is all about 'fin to scale' dining. Snacky fish charcuterie dishes like yellowfin tuna salami, striped marlin empanadas, coral trout head terrine, and pickled King George whiting are prepared by chefs at the marble-top bar, while whole fish, squid and octopus are licked by flames in the open kitchen’s wood-fired oven. Lunch is an informal affair, with an à la carte menu on offer, while dinner comes in the form of a superlative seven-course tasting menu. It might sound posh, but it’s lots of fun – and all kinds of delicious.
If you like your food to come with a story, Amaru Melbourne is for you. Each delicate dish on its exquisite Sensory tasting menu is delivered to the table with an explanation by the restaurant's knowledgeable and passionate staff. Executive chef Clinton McIver's clever use of Australian ingredients, expert techniques and artful plating has seen the intimate restaurant in inner-city suburb Armadale receive three hats from The Age Good Food Guide – the maximum possible amount. Over five snacks and seven courses, diners can expect the unexpected as they tuck into dishes like dry aged pork with muntries (an indigenous fruit), Warrigal green kimchi and fermented pear. The matched wines are equally mind expanding.
A rustic, small-scale restaurant on Tasmania’s east coast, Van Bone is one of Australia's most exciting places to eat. Outside, its rammed-earth walls blend into the undulating hills, while on the inside, minimalist, industrial-cool interiors showcase Tasmanian materials and magical views across Marion Bay to Maria Island. Not even the restaurant's surroundings can eclipse the food, however. Chef and co-owner Timothy Hardy displays a deep connection to the landscape in his meticulous 12 to 14–course set menu. Produce comes from small-scale producers, while fire-led cooking techniques are central to cooking – and the 100% Tasmanian wine and drinks list also flies the flag for local artisans.
A state-of-the-art winery, restaurant and cellar door huddled beneath the Remarkables mountain range just outside of Queenstown, Amisfield is the epitome of dining among the vines in New Zealand. With a picturesque setting and hyper-seasonal cuisine masterminded by ex-NOMA chef-owner Vaughan Mabee, the restaurant has made visiting this remote part of Central Otago in South Island a must for gourmands. Sit back and prepare to be taken on a journey by Mabee's 11 to 25–course gastronomic menu, which pays homage to the region’s fishermen, hunters, gatherers and farmers. The winery’s organic pinot noir and aromatic white wines are exceptional, too.