What do you look for in a great restaurant? Is it a soulful expression of a chef’s heritage on the plate? Is it roving Martini carts and a reverence for silver service? Or is it the “aha” moment of feeling like you’ve added another banger to your regular rotation? Well friends, 2026 has delivered on all fronts so far. We saw young guns going out on a limb, veterans opening career-best venues and female chefs at the fore. It’s shocking to think we’re only halfway through.

+81 Sushi Kappo, Brisbane

Everyone I recommend +81 Sushi Kappo to asks the same question: “What’s it doing on Montague Road?” The semi-industrial West End street with the milk bottling plant, the recycling centre and enviable views of the concrete factory isn’t the obvious spot for high-end dining.

But if anything can singlehandedly put the strip on the culinary map, it’s +81. The 12-seat omakase counter delayed its opening by almost a year to ensure head chef Ikuo Kobayashi could run the kitchen. The chef, whose CV includes time at storied Tokyo spots like Sushi Kanesaka and Sushi Saito, was clearly worth waiting for.

Kobayashi’s technical sushi mastery means he’s free to play with the form, eschewing white sushi rice for nutty charcoal rice and blue rice laced with spirulina. Some cuts of fish are grilled over an open flame, while other courses ditch sushi altogether in favour of fresh tempura veggies. The intimate style of service gives the whole team a chance to shine. The chef literally stands behind each dish, ready to answer questions and explain his kitchen philosophy. Also, more meals should end with a drink in a plush record lounge playing Japanese funk. – Kit Kriewaldt, subeditor

Aptos, Adelaide

Stepping into Aptos feels like witnessing a miracle. Not only is it the most significant new South Australian opening in several years, but it was one of the most highly anticipated. Converting a church into a restaurant, as it turns out, is not easy. After nearly 18 months of delays, fine-tuning and keeping the faith, Restaurant Aptos opened in May 2026.

The fit-out from the Aptos team and architecture firm Williams Burton Leopardi includes 30 Australian artworks and artisanal ceramics, mostly by Andrei Davidoff. The space is remarkable and diners move throughout four different rooms during their multi-hour, 16-course experience.

Led by chef-patron Justin James (ex-Eleven Madison Park, Vue de Monde, Restaurant Botanic), this church-turned-gallery-turned-restaurant is where chefs from all over the world transform Australian ingredients into meals and memories for a small group of people a few times a week. It’s special. And, in a world where diners are increasingly cynical about degustation and experiential dining, it’s giving us all something to believe in. – Lucy Bell Bird, national assistant editor

Besa, Sydney

There can be early signs you’re in for a good meal. One such sign is a Gilda as pretty as the one at Besa, the Aalia team’s beachy new Spanish spot. There’s a lime-green guindillos pepper first, followed by the tang of a little cornichon. Then, an anchovy wrapped tight, in a full 360, around a sliced green olive, before a cherry-red bico pepper full stop. Seeing that combo so carefully, so photogenically spiked on a silver skewer lets you know the details matter here. That same approach does indeed continue at Besa, through a snacky meal of pan con tomate and skinny slices of toast topped with citrus-cured mackerel, in the exceptionally silky potato tortilla and a smoky serve of charred octopus. The all-out fit-out – with its warm shaggy ceiling and arching booths – and the tres leches flan seal it with a kiss. – Grace MacKenzie, Sydney food & drink editor

Dinner with Tinsae, Blue Mountains

Cook Tinsae Elsdon stands at the head of a long dinner table, in a dedicated dining space in her Blue Mountains home. Behind her in the kitchen, plates are lined up like any professional operation, while pots bubble away on the enormous stove. There are 16 of us here, excited for a mix of fine-dining plating and large dishes to share. Elsdon’s house-made ayib cheese and a rich, slow-cooked doro wat; a bright timatim salata and the prettily plated rendition of shiro, a silky chickpea stew served between discs of injera (a spongy, fermented flatbread that’s a staple in Ethiopia). News of the monthly dinner pop-up travelled largely by word of mouth: did you hear that some of the best Ethiopian food is being served in a Blue Mountains lounge room? – Pilar Mitchell, freelance writer

Esmay, Adelaide

When people talk about career-defining performances – Brando in The Godfather, Usain Bolt in ’09, Beyonce on Lemonade – they speak about them with a sort of reverence. That’s the sort of reverence we should be applying to conversations about Esmay. After cooking all around the country – as head chef at Josh Niland’s Saint Peter and Brisbane’s Arc Dining, then as a travelling chef with a pop-up concept, then to The Eltham in the Northern Rivers – Alanna Sapwell has reached the pinnacle of her career with Esmay.

The chef describes the menu as CWA-inspired “nanna food”. Think Jersey curd with peaches and rose; a beautifully layered tomato-and-red-pepper terrine with chunks of mud crab flesh served in a crab claw, all in a pool of bright red vinegar; breaded King George whiting with saltbush garlic sauce; and venison with a “naughty” bone marrow sauce. – Lucy Bell Bird, national assistant editor

Kim’s Bop, Glebe

I’m into everything about Kim’s Bop. The casual energy and the simple tastiness of the menu. The skinny space’s high-ceilinged charm, the laid-back theatre of the one-man kitchen, and the very fact that it’s an independent spot from a hospo couple (chef Byungjae Kim and Emily Tarran) who’ve been dreaming of this for years. But if I had to pick the one thing I loved most, it would be the tangle of thick and chewy udong noodles, slick with a tangy sauce of blitzed kimchi and perilla seeds. Add a side of the braised tofu, kept fresh by a hat of grated radish, and a $3 serve of clarified seafood broth, and you’re laughing. – Grace MacKenzie, Sydney food & drink editor

Pearla & Co, Perth

Scott Bridger has spent most of his adult life cooking within sight of Leighton Beach, so it makes sense that his return to the neighbourhood feels less like a reinvention and more like someone settling comfortably back into familiar surroundings. Pearla & Co is a smaller proposition than Bib & Tucker, and all the better for it. There are dry-aging cabinets in the dining room, fish arriving straight from fishermen Bridger has known for years, and a menu that seems happy to change course whenever something better comes off a boat. Exmouth prawns with fermented chilli butter and pressed tuna with green tomato and jalapeno show a kitchen confident enough not to overwork beautiful produce. Perth has plenty of restaurants by the water, but few cook quite so closely in step with it. – Jessica Rigg, freelance writer

Roma, Melbourne

The latest project from Con Christopoulos – the man behind Kafeneion, Angel Music Bar, The European, French Saloon and more – is a love letter that yearns for the Eternal City. Christopoulos pulled out all the stops for this one. He partnered with chef Matt Wilkinson (of Pope Joan fame), front-of-house gun Giovanni Patane (who ran Supermaxi for 12 years) and drinks guru Warwick Harty, who’s worked at Christopoulos venues on and off for 30 years. He also green-lit a wine list of bottles specifically imported from the undersung Lazio region and installed custom retractable windows. Dining here, you begin to ask yourself: who else in Melbourne would proudly serve trippa (tripe) alla romana? Who else would import a first-of-its-kind gelato mixer from Italy? Who else would feature a custom-built terrace grille lifted from a brief scene in Sergio Leone: The Italian Who Invented America? Who else but Con Christopoulos. – Scott Renton, Hot List editor

Surf Hotel, Torquay

There’s no right or wrong way to dine at Torquay’s new Surf Hotel. The restaurant, run by sustainability champion Jo Barrett, is part of the newly refurbished ’80s motel in the charming Surf Coast town. It marks the top chef’s return to restaurants after closing Little Picket, the venue in the Lorne Bowls Club focused on seasonal cooking and local produce, in 2024. Book a table in the laid-back dining room and enjoy a long Sunday lunch of wild venison schnitzel, chicken and prawn larb and baked chocolate ganache. Or grab a seat on the front deck overlooking the ocean and watch the sunset while you kick back with a Coconut Margarita, a delightfully nostalgic fish finger sandwich and a chilli-oil-doused wild boar dim sim from Barrett’s Wildpie. – Audrey Payne, Melbourne food & drink editor

Venner, Brisbane

It’s been a while since Brisbane had a neo-Nordic restaurant (vale Elska), so Venner’s arrival in the old Gum Bistro space in February was an exciting one. Behind it are Elska alumni George Curtis and James Horsfall, who both own Milquetoast in the CBD, and Jack Stuart of Blume. The Nordic influence is subtle; the focus falls on refined technique and seasonal ingredients, supported by an extensive Aquavit selection and a brilliant wine list. I’m still kicking myself for not making it to its Sunday brunch service yet – something I’ll be fixing very soon. – Elliot Baker, freelance writer

Watermans, Sydney

Brent Savage and Nick Hildebrandt call themselves industry “lifetimers”. And the Bentley boys know better than anyone that life isn’t straightforward. They’ve opened as many restaurants as they’ve closed in the last five years, with their eponymous fine diner about to enter hibernation after two decades. But the quality has never waned, and Watermans is the hard proof. How the pair can go seamlessly from a New York-style grill to the cuisines of the Middle East and eastern Mediterranean – with menu highlights like Turkish woodfired chook and one hell of a hummus courtesy of head chef Darryl Martin – and still land the plane is beyond me. Then again, I haven’t been around for nearly as long as they have. And still, with their Khan Nguyen-led Southeast Asian grill about to open, somehow it feels like the best is yet to come. – Dan Cunningham, features editor (food & drink)