“What’s your favourite restaurant?” is the question food critics get asked most often, perhaps even rivalling, “Still or sparkling?” They’ll rarely name a splashy venue with a walk-in cellar and a menu that needs several hours blocked out in your diary. A burger and a beer eaten in a comfy booth, yum cha cooked to order, and nourishing vegetarian stews scooped up with bread rank much higher on most of our hitlists. The Age Good Food Guide 2025 includes 150 places from those hitlists.
Called Critics’ Picks and marked by a tick symbol, they range from wine bars to pizzerias, specialist noodle houses to grand rooms for big feasts. These spots may not score enough points (15 or more) for a Good Food hat but our reviewers love them because of what they add immeasurably to our dining scene. Building on last year’s introduction of the Critics’ Picks, this year’s Guide contains even more of these essential eating experiences.
They cover all points of the compass, a huge range of budgets and many different ways to dine, from takeaway to leisurely lingering. Just like every Good Food Guide review, each venue awarded a Critics’ Pick is a place our reviewers have visited in the past 12 months and recommend. Here are 20 of their favourites (including five finalists for Critics’ Pick of the Year) that should be on the must-visit list of any serious eater in Victoria.
AliQapu The vibe here is decidedly more is more, from the ornate carpets to the grand piano where a .