When it comes to dining out in our cities, 2025 delivered in spades. It was a year marked by long-awaited openings, announcements of surprise closures and more than a few moments that shifted the conversation around where — and how — we eat.
As for the Gourmet Traveller team, we did what we do best: we pulled up a seat. From golden hour at wine bars to long, boozy dinners at the country’s best restaurants — and plenty of buzz-worthy new openings in between — we were there, knife and fork in hand.
So narrowing it down wasn’t easy. But after much debate, these are the dishes that remained with us. The plates we’re still thinking about, craving and talking about — the best bites of 2025, according to GT.
Pappardelle with lamb and green olives at Daphne
2025 was the year of pasta for me. Each season delivered a standout bowl, from a beautiful casarecce with prawn and pork bolognese at Eleven Barrack to a simple tomato rigatoni served in a tiny rustic rifugio high in the Italian Alps. But the one that stayed with me came in November, when I flew from Sydney to Melbourne to see my best friend. We went to the recently opened Daphne by Etta’s Hannah Green, for a long-overdue catch-up over martinis and warming plates. Everything that hit the table was incredible, but the pappardelle with lamb and green olive holds a special place in my heart. Pasta made with care, shared with good company, in a place that knows how to feed you well… you can’t beat it.
Lana Telford, editorial coordinator
Spent hen boudin blanc with daikon and yolk at Barragunda Dining
Chicken dishes don’t often have a lasting impact on me, but this superb chook plate delivered on flavour and theme. Embodying Barragunda and chef Simone Watts’ closed loop ethos, it uses retired laying hens’ chicken meat shaped into a tsukune-like orb, cooked in schmultz and topped with crisped-up skin. It’s joined by yolk from the eggs the same chickens lay, plus a rich golden bone broth sauce, oyster mushrooms, smoky kelp and zippy pickled daikon. It was a firm highlight from the seven course menu at this Mornington Peninsula regenerative farm and restaurant, where much of the produce comes from the surrounding farm, or in this case, nearby producer Yolky Dokey. True paddock to plate dining without the pretence, delivered with outstanding Victorian hospitality. A bird (and its eggs) to remember.
Jordan Kretchmer, news editor
Watermelon and lime zest granita with mascarpone soft serve ice-cream from Mapo
If I could eat one food for the rest of my life it would be ice-cream. Okay, maybe that’s an exaggeration but I like to think of myself as an ice-cream aficionado and lucky for me I am surrounded by quality ice-cream vendors where I live. So it was a pleasant surprise to see Mapo Gelatop open on Oxford Street in Darlinghurst recently. I’m ashamed to admit that I had never experienced Mapo before and, to cut a long story short, I am breaking up with my other ice-cream traders. All their flavours are unique and delicious but the watermelon granita with mascarpone soft serve is a revelation. You will be offered it with or without the soft serve but don’t be tempted to go for the lower cal version. It’s the combination of the two elements that makes it greater than the individual parts.
David Meagher, editor
Fish charcuterie from Saint Peter
Saint Peter’s standout selection of fish charcuterie – Murray cod Toulouse and chorizo, yellowfin tuna loukaniko and salami, striped marlin ham, yellowfin tuna sujuk, rock flathead mortadella and yellowfin tuna ’nduja olive all presented on a skewer like a big, fabulous Gilda. Josh Niland is a genius and deserves all the accolades for his meticulous attention to detail, exquisite fin-to-tail fish butchery and next-level dishes. Bravo!
Suzanna Chriss, copy editor
Coondoo Claw yabby, zucchini flower and nasturtium at The Woodshed
My dish of the year coming from a pub in a rural Sunshine Coast hinterland town certainly wasn’t on my 2025 bingo card. Yet, you don’t come across many 111-year-old pubs with charming rooms for overnight guests, a public bar, a pub pavilion, a market garden and its own bakery. The jewel in The Kin Kin Hotel’s crown, though, is its fine-diner, The Woodshed. Here, I ate a dish of freshwater yabby – sourced from a farm just 20 minutes up the road – gently poached and warmed in brown butter. Alongside, a zucchini flower stuffed with a mousseline of more yabby, dill, chervil and lemon zest, and a silky sauce made from onion, garlic, cream and nasturtium flowers. It’s a dish I’d happily return for, and I’m already planning my next visit.
Elliot Baker, contributor
Sheep’s yoghurt parfait, peach, orange blossom, pistachio at Watermans
Scraping in as a December entry, this pretty pink parfait from Waterman’s head pastry chef Beyza Ates wins my dessert of the year. I love the fizz of the honeycomb chunks dotted through the middle, the gentle tang of the yogurt and the sparkle of sumac on the top. It’s not a complicated dish, but it’s very clever.
Alexandra Carlton, contributor
Bone marrow ful medames and black walnut at Aalia
Growing up, my dad was always telling us that “fat is flavour”, and I have to say, after over thirty years of indoctrination, I wholeheartedly agree. The bone marrow ful medames and black walnut from Aalia is case in point: rich, silky smooth and unbelievably moreish, it’s the dish I dream about more than nine months later. If you go, a serve of the warm, smoky pita is a non-negotiable. It serves as the perfect vehicle for the dip-like marrow, which practically melts on your tongue. What tasted like cumin and other Middle Eastern spices help cut through the richness so that it’s fatty without being greasy, and subtle without tasting bland.
Monique Foy, senior content producer
Organic Appellation oysters at Saint Peter
It’s quite a contentious thing to admit, but nothing this year truly stood out as The Dish. There were plenty of great moments, yet no dish felt exceptional or unforgettable. Yet, there is one thing I keep returning to—the flavour that lingers and I can still summon if I try hard enough—is the organic Appellation oysters at Saint Peter. I’ve never tasted oysters like it: impossibly fresh, immaculately prepared, with a balanced brininess that swept me away. No dressing required. Unfortunately, they’ve set a new benchmark, and maybe even ruined all other oysters for me.
Maxwell Adey, senior food editor
Risotto al limone at Gimlet
As a vegetarian in the ‘90s, I ate a lot of mushroom risottos. Some good, some very average. Gimlet’s risotto al limone with lion’s mane mushroom is in a class of its own. In a surprising twist, the mushroom is served crumbed on the side of a simple, creamy risotto al limone. I wasn’t expecting it but now I want all my mushroom risottos to come with a mushroom schnitzel please.
Alice Wasley, acting news editor
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