It’s been a spectacular year for eating well. Our best restaurants, bars and cafes have done it all: the fresh, dazzling and perfectly simple, the traditional, inventive and kitsch. As we ate through 2025, many dishes stayed on our minds – but the following 12 were the best of the lot.

Tingling prawn and jellyfish salad at Grandfathers, CBD

I didn’t know I would ever have a “jellyfish era”, but here we are. I’m really into food that twangs as many senses as possible, and this entree gives you the crunch of the jellyfish, then the numbness of Szechuan pepper oil and green chilli. What is probably my second favourite dish of the year was also jellyfish-based: served in a cold salad with tomato water and garlic at R by Raita Noda in Redfern. Jellyfish. Fun to say, even more fun to eat. – Alexandra Carlton, contributor 

Onion rings at Joe’s Tavern, Newtown

Onion rings have always been something I like the idea of a lot more than I actually enjoy. A side I might order as a filler, or to lean in on a vibe that helps me pretend I’m dining in heartland America. They seldom excite nor dazzle. Perhaps this speaks to a wider lack of O-ring culture in Sydney, but I’ve never once heard someone say, “You simply must try the onion rings”.

Let me be that someone: the onion rings you simply must try are at Joe’s Tavern. Sweet pickled onion encased in gorgeous, golden tubes of fried batter makes for a delightfully simple and simply delicious contrast of flavours. Enjoy them hot and fresh at Joe’s, as God intended. Or, straight out of your fridge at 1am – both have their merits. – Declan Blackall, photographer

Jollof rice and chicken wings at Jollof Junction, Guildford

Every now and then something crosses my plate that makes me thankful it isn’t a hop and skip away from where I live. If Jollof Junction were any nearer, I’d be a willing captive – happily undone by its charms, shirking family duties and plotting my next plunge into the jollof rice and those sticky, glorious chicken wings. The rice is made with an amalgamation of spices you find in Ghana, Nigeria and Sierra Leone, and the wings cooked in Arabian spice and butter might be the juiciest, most flavoursome you’ll come across in Sydney. – Howard Chen, contributor

Kangaroo tail sope at Lottie, Redfern

This little two-bite snack has been on my mind since I first popped it in my gob one lunchtime in June. On that sun-soaked rooftop, chef Joe Valero’s sope won me over. From memory, after bite one I graciously said “Fuckin’ hell”. The on-menu version is a slow-cooked kangaroo tail sope hot with Mexican chillies, but ask nicely and you could get a meat-free serve if you fancy. Fancy I did. My golden-fried disc of masa – made with fermented potato flour for a mochi-like chew – arrived glistening, ferrying a spoonful of spicy roasted mushrooms and a little nasturtium hat. – Grace MacKenzie, Sydney food and drink editor

Apple pie at Grandfathers, CBD

The triumvirate of powerful new Chinese restaurants (Grandfathers, Young’s Palace, Lee Ho Fook) was a real boon for Sydney dining this year. I could easily yap about all three, but please, a moment for the Grandfathers “apple pie” dessert. Yes, it’s one of those “dishes that look like things” dishes (a category that poses a huge style-over-substance risk, in my opinion), but the team has landed the plane expertly. It looks like an apple, tastes like my childhood, and makes the case for creative desserts in a town full of tiramisu. (Shout-out to the bang bang potato salad at Young’s Palace and Lee Ho Fook’s steamed toothfish!) – Dan Cunningham, national food and drink editor

Stracciatella at The Palomar, Paddington

Sure, blanketing a creamy mass of cheese with good things is a popular flex. But Mitch Orr’s version at The Palomar stands out: each ingredient builds on what’s there, generating booster packs of flavour and impact. Vanella stracciatella is hit with strawberry wedges, honey sharp with rice wine vinegar, and spiced with sumac, green jags of Thai and sweet basil, and semi-hydrated tomatoes that strike like bullseyes. A bonus: this dish is a call back to an ace burrata dish Orr served at Duke Bistro in 2010 and his punchy tomato tart at Kiln. – Lee Tran Lam, contributor

Kinder Bueno scroll at Sundays, Bondi

As a famously impatient person, I’m inclined to believe that nothing is worth the wait. When I was asked to check out the two scrolls causing a stir in Bondi, I joined the line with a bad attitude. After an hour and three minutes, I got to the front of the queue and promptly ordered one of everything. Big and beautiful, each scroll was a tight spiral slathered generously in either cream-cheese frosting, Biscoff or melty Kinder Bueno. These bakes aren’t cakey or flaky; they’re springy and light. I loved each of them, but the nostalgic sweetness of the Kinder Bueno swirl took top spot. I’ll be rejoining the queue, again and again and again. – Lucy Bell Bird, national assistant editor

Black-eyed bean stew at De Glorious Delight, Blacktown

On a sweaty October day – the kind where sleeves feel like a punishment – I found myself elbows-deep in the black-eyed bean stew with plantain at De Glorious Delight, a brilliant little Ghanaian spot in Blacktown. The stew is all slow-cooked depth: tender beans, gentle heat and a base fragrant with pepper, ginger and whatever magic they’ve had bubbling away all day. The plantain brings a mellow, honeyed sweetness that hits when you drag it through the smoky, tomato-forward jollof rice. – Bineeta Saha, contributor

Anchovy-topped manchego custard doughnut at Letra House, CBD

I have to give a shout-out to these unassuming little bar snacks at Letra House. I haven’t been able to shake them from my mind all year, and I’ve returned to the Love Tilly Group’s moody underground wine bar multiple times specifically for them. Before each visit I think, “It’s a cheese-filled doughnut with an anchovy on top, it simply can’t be as good as I remember.” And each time it hits just as good as the last. I also love that all the wines are available by the glass. Saunter up to a bar seat, take your pick of the vino and order a couple of manchego mouthfuls. A true delight. – Ben Hansen, contributor

Chicken schnitzel at The Palomar, Paddington

Mitch Orr’s two-bite morsels from London import The Palomar disappeared in seconds, but I haven’t stopped thinking about them since. Served with lemon wedges and a delightfully pickle-y shifka tartar sauce, they’re like an elevated take on a tuckshop classic. – Jess Larmer-Barallon, campaign manager

Honey layer cake at Khanom House, Chippendale

About a month ago, I was talking to Yeen Veerasenee about his hit honey cake. He told me that since his travelling market stall opened permanently in Chippendale at the start of the year, he’s sold 8000 slices. There are 12 slices to each, which means at that point Khanom House had baked 667 honey layer cakes that year. With seven layers to each cake, that’s 4669 delicious layers of caramelised honey sponge smeared with honey sour cream. Turns out I enjoy maths when I’m passionate about the subject matter. And, despite spending years thinking I wasn’t a cake person, this one has convinced me that I really enjoy cakes, too. – Callum McDermott, Hot List editor

Fish kalia at Kolkata Social, Newtown

When you write about food for a long time, it gets harder to be surprised by flavours. Sure, you still come across dishes that delight, but to taste something completely new is rare. It happened to me on a handful of occasions this year – at nearly every meal during a trip to Penang, and when a dear friend and I tucked into a plate of barramundi at Kolkata Social.

The fish was everything it should be: meaty but tender, crisp-skinned, perfectly seasoned. But the trick with this dish, as is so often the case, was the sauce – made from velvety yoghurt, smoked so it had an almost buttery quality, and laced with mustard oil that leant a yellow hue and a tangy punch. I don’t think I’m being dramatic when I say there’s eating, and then there’s ecstasy. – Pilar Mitchell, contributor