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The Age Good Food Guide’s 2026 New Restaurant of the Year shortlist names ten finalists across Melbourne and regional Victoria. They are finalists, not a ranked top ten: the winner is due to be announced on 12 October 2026. The guide says it expanded its usual five-finalist shortlist because critics found this year’s new openings unusually strong, spanning neighbourhood spots, high-concept dining and destination restaurants.
What the shortlist tells you
The ten venues below are presented alphabetically, not in order of merit. The list is the critics’ award shortlist, not a formal rating system or a comprehensive guide to every new restaurant in Victoria. The descriptions offer a practical way to compare the finalists by location, cooking style and format.
Bistro Merenda in Daylesford is the regional entry among the addresses supplied; the other listed venues are in Melbourne. The winner had not been announced as of the article’s 2 October 2026 publication date.
The 10 finalists
Bistro Merenda — Daylesford
Address: 117 Vincent Street, Daylesford. Chefs Oliver Edwards and Bree Smith serve set menus upstairs. For a more casual visit, Bar Merenda downstairs offers walk-in dining. The shortlist links the restaurant to the earlier Bar Merenda venue.
#1 Best Overall
Bottarga — Brighton
Address: 198 Bay Street, Brighton. The restaurant combines Italian and Thai influences in dishes including a “money bag” cotechino and vitello tonnato made with Australian ingredients. The finalist is in a larger new premises.
Chabela — Thornbury
Address: 832A High Street, Thornbury. Its Mexican cooking centres on masa made in-house, including blue-corn tortillas and huaraches.
Rank #2
Cote Basque — Melbourne
Address: 25 Crossley Street, Melbourne. Andrew McConnell and Jo McGann’s Basque-inspired restaurant keeps the cooking simple, using a wood grill.
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Joe Taylor — North Melbourne
Address: 7 Errol Street, North Melbourne. This Thai-inflected wine bar puts playful spins on familiar ideas, including tom yum-seasoned fries and a mango sticky-rice martini.
Kismet — Balaclava
Address: 217 Carlisle Street, Balaclava. Associated with Tulum, Kismet is a mezze-sharing restaurant whose menu includes Turkish wines, hummus with bastourma and braised baby goat.
Little Rose — Fitzroy
Address: Rear, 274 Brunswick Street, Fitzroy. Rosheen Kaul’s first restaurant as owner-chef brings Chinese influences to French classics.
Roma — Melbourne
Address: 120 Collins Street, Melbourne. Con Christopoulos’s Roman-inspired restaurant has a menu by Matt Wilkinson and a focus that includes offal dishes.
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Taqueria Sin Nombre — Melbourne
Address: 12–14 Celestial Avenue, Melbourne. This small laneway restaurant has a counter facing an open kitchen. The shortlist calls out a trompo, kangaroo asada tacos, tuna tostadas and fried barramundi tacos.
Yiaga — Fitzroy Gardens, East Melbourne
Location: Fitzroy Gardens, East Melbourne. Hugh Allen’s restaurant serves a 12-course menu drawing on Australian landscapes, ingredients and culture.
Best Value
How to choose from the finalists
- For a regional outing: Bistro Merenda is the Daylesford option; the other supplied addresses are in Melbourne.
- For a particular style of meal: The shortlist describes set-menu dining upstairs at Bistro Merenda, walk-in dining at Bar Merenda, mezze sharing at Kismet, and a 12-course menu at Yiaga.
- For a specific culinary direction: Chabela focuses on Mexican cooking and in-house masa; Cote Basque on Basque inspiration and a wood grill; Roma on Roman influences; and Bottarga on Italian and Thai influences.
- For dishes highlighted by the critics: The article mentions, among others, kangaroo asada tacos at Taqueria Sin Nombre, hummus with bastourma at Kismet and tom yum-seasoned fries at Joe Taylor.
These are descriptions from the shortlist, not guarantees that a dish is currently available or a judgement that one finalist is better than another.
What to check before visiting
The shortlist is a snapshot rather than a visitor guide. Confirm each restaurant’s current operating status, opening hours, booking availability, menu and prices directly with the venue before making plans. In particular, the information here does not establish that every venue accepts reservations or that the highlighted dishes remain on the menu.
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One free scan finds every outdated or missing driver and matches the right update for your exact hardware.Free scan · exact hardware matchThe Age article identifies Emma Breheny as Good Food’s Melbourne eating-out and restaurant editor and editor of The Age Good Food Guide, and Frank Sweet as editor of the 2026 guide. Its winner announcement date is 12 October 2026; check for an update after that date if you want to know which finalist won.
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