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The SMH and Age Guides will feature anonymously written reviews across various price points, cuisines and suburbs, available via the Good Food app and an 80-page liftout in the papers.
Good Food
September 15, 2025
Food and drink fans, mark your calendars: the 2026 Age and Sydney Morning Herald Good Food Guides will be launched in October, once again delivering a comprehensive collection of independent reviews of the best restaurants, bars, pubs and cafes in Victoria, NSW and the ACT.
The 2026 Guides, presented by Oceania Cruises and T2 Tea, feature a combined 900-plus reviews across various price points, cuisines, styles and suburbs, offering an annual snapshot of the most exciting, outstanding venues you need to know about in the cities and regions.
It also includes reviews of hatted restaurants – from one to the pinnacle of three hats – and awards for best chef, best restaurant, best new restaurant, best cafe, regional restaurant of the year, Critics’ Picks and more.
The reviews are written anonymously by a team including editors, senior food critics and a diverse group of freelance reviewers. Importantly, no venue can pay to be included.
The Sydney Morning Herald Good Food Guide will be launched at an award ceremony at Sydney’s Carriageworks on Monday, October 13. The chef-studded event will be live-blogged via the Herald website from 3pm, so you can track the award winners.
The Guide will then be available via the Good Food app at 8pm, further cementing its reputation as the home of the Good Food Guide.
The Age Good Food Guide will be launched on Monday, October 27, at Melbourne’s Timber Yards, and all the reviews will be available via the Good Food app from 8pm. Visit the live blog on The Age website from 3pm to follow all the excitement and winners.
“The Good Food app is like having a Good Food Guide reviewer on speed dial. All reviews are searchable on your phone via the map, and if you’re on the go, you can use the location-based ‘nearby’ function to discover new dining favourites,” says head of Good Food, Sarah Norris.
“We recently introduced saved list functionality, which means you can also create custom saved lists, such as a hit-list of the restaurants you want to visit.”
While every Good Food Guide review is available via the app – and that’s where you can get the most user-friendly experience – a free 80-page Good Food Guide liftout will be inserted in the Sydney Morning Herald on Tuesday, October 14, and in The Age on Tuesday, October 28.
The liftout will feature all the award winners; a list of one-, two- and three-hat recipients; regional destination guides; and a curated collection of reviews from the full guide. For the first time, the guide also includes a new classification of our Critics’ Picks.
“Every day, our cities are becoming more diverse and incredible places to eat thanks to independent food court operators, singular cafes, top-shelf bars and suburban heroes drilling down on one type of dish,” says SMH Good Food Guide co-editor Callan Boys.
“This year, we will curate many of these places into a collection of Critics’ Picks reviews – a list of the most influential, important and straight-up delicious restaurants across Victoria, NSW and the ACT.
“A small business specialising in a spicy Korean pork bone soup can be just as vital to a city as any 10-course tasting menu or an Italian restaurant hand-rolling gnocchi for the past five decades.”
The Age Good Food Guide co-editor Emma Breheny adds: “More than ever, this year’s Guides are a snapshot of what it’s like to eat in each state right now.
“Along with hatted restaurants, readers can find a place with one of the city’s best Adana kebabs – which you can get for $12 and call it dinner – or where to experience Melbourne’s new Greek wave for $100 between two.
“Best of all, every spot we’ve reviewed now comes with even more user-friendly tips, from the must-order item to snagging that all-elusive booking.”
Oceania Cruises has once again partnered with Australia’s most respected food and drinks title. “We are honoured to be the co-presenting partner of the Good Food Guide and the awards for the fourth consecutive year. On board our fleet of luxury ships, our philosophy is to deliver the finest cuisine at sea – a commitment to excellence that aligns perfectly with the Good Food Guide’s passion for showcasing world-class dining experiences,” says Steve Odell, senior vice-president international and consumer sales, Oceania Cruises.
Oceania Cruises is joined for the first time by T2 Tea, which comes on board as the Guide’s new co-presenting partner. “We believe everyday rituals deserve to be extraordinary,” says T2’s managing director Christelle Young.
“The Good Food Guide shares that same passion for elevating the everyday through creativity, artistry and connection. T2 is delighted to join Good Food this year to celebrate the flavours, stories and experiences that make Australia’s food and drink culture so vibrant.”
The Sydney Morning Herald Good Food Guide will be launched on Monday, October 13, and available on the Good Food app from 8pm. The award ceremony will be live-blogged via the SMH from 3pm. The Age Good Food Guide will be launched on Monday, October 27, and available on the Good Food app from 8pm. Follow the award ceremony via The Age website from 3pm. Follow the Good Food Instagram account for updates on the night, too.
The Good Food app is free for premium subscribers of the SMH and Age, and is also available as a standalone subscription. While individual guide reviews are available to access via the web, the full interactive experience – including maps, search and filters – is only available on the app. You can download the Good Food app here.
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