From oysters flambadou to the Lune queue,here’s what’s hot (and not) in the year in food

Crack open that cleanskin you’ve been saving,folks. It’s time to hand out someGood Food Guide Caps. They’re just likethe Good Food Guide hats we award to restaurants,but a little bit looser fitting. More adjustable. Somewhat frayed. And the winners are …

The kitchen tool that’s most fun to pronounce

Flambadou

Flambadou is one of those words to which you just can’t help adding an exclamation mark. Like Zanzibar! Or income tax return! Flahm-bah-DOO! The cast-iron cone has been used by French cooks to finish hunks of meat in hot fat since Louis XIV was building canals. North Sydney’sPoetica Bar&Grill put beef fat-dripped flambadou oysters on the carte when it opened in September,and a signature snack was born. Now,let’s get the tortilladora into wider conversation.

The award for modern airport design

Envisioned by architects Studio Hollenstein,thenew-look Jacksons on George rooftop near Circular Quay is supposed to echo the hull of a ship and “shimmer of water”. Or something. It’s a striking bright-white vision from the street,but when we’re actually up there,while the food and booze are excellent,we feel like we’re waiting for a connecting flight from Kuala Lumpur.

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Jacksons on George is back,and it has a hat (yes,you read that correctly)

The Cookin’ with Coolio Literary Prize for a celebrity,film or TV-related cookbook no one asked for

Avatar the OfficialCookbook of Pandora

There were several nominees for this medal,first awarded toAlan Jones and Mark Latham for their 2018Conversations in the Kitchen. Earlier this month,Snoop Dogg released his second cookbook,Goon with the Spoon,a collaboration with Bay Area rapperEarl “E-40” Stevens. We’ve had a look at the recipes though,and they’re not too bad,especiallySnoop’s Mexican chorizo-loaded breakfast burrito.

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Meanwhile,Yellowstone:The Official Dutton Ranch Family Cookbook:Delicious Homestyle Recipes from Character and Real-Life Chef Gabriel “Gator” Guilbeau is almost certainly the longest titled cookbook published year,but we would totally eat the Bunkhouse beer-braised beef stew with root vegetables.

Rather,2023’s coveted Coolio Literary Prize goes toAvatar the Official Cookbookof Pandora,featuring “recipes inspired by the lush biomes of James Cameron’s Pandora”. Essentially,this means a lot of protein balls,tacos and salads that look like something you might encounter at a Byron Bay health retreat circa 1996. Who’s for another round of Hallelujah Mountain Cups?CB

The CWA baked item of the year

Jin’s Grilled Meat Pie

It was a tight field in the meat-and-pastry stakes this year,with several new entrants vying for the top pie gong. Honourable mentions go toThe Rover in Surry Hills for a fisherman’s pie of hunky smoked trout in bechamel milk-poached sea mullet.Lodeopened an outpost in Circular Quay with a David Blackmore wagyu and mushroom pie in possession of Sydney’s flakiest pastry; A.P Bakery set up shop atWildflower Brewing and Blending in Marrickville,and few things pair better with barrel-aged beer than its warrigal greens and ricotta pie.

However,2023’s recipient of the coveted blue ribbon isJin’s Grilled Meat Pie in Eastwood. The store opened at the tail end of last year and specialises in supernaturally crisp pies filled with a juicy,long-flavoured pork mince and spring onions. Inspired by similar snacks from China’s Zhejiang province,the pies are only $12.50 for five,too.

The Mark Twain prize for exaggerated rumours of death

Grape Garden

For almost 25 years,Beijing expats Gao Lun and Jie Zhang served some of Sydney’s best northern Chinese food from their tiny food court kitchen,Grape Garden,in Chatswood. Gao would thwack hand-pulled ropes of noodles for his legendary dan-dan soup,while Jie rolled flaky shallot pancakes to be fried in duck fat. They didn’t renew their shopping centre lease in 2020,and retirement seemed fair enough for a couple who opened their first restaurant in Marrickville in 1989. So when the news came that Grape Gardenhad resurfaced in Kings Cross, we grabbed a bottle of pinot and headed to Bayswater Road immediately. The dan-dan is back.

Most improved suburb for 2023

Gordon

With all respect to Choyan Restaurant’s incredible interior and pretty good roast duck,there has never been a great reason to traverse postcodes for a night out inGordon. But when Azabu Group openedKame House in the suburb in June,Sydney’s sushi fans set their collective GPS for the upper north shore. The hatted Japanese diner offers chef Tomoyuki Matsuya’s omakase menu for $230 at an eight-person counter,while the smaller set meals start at $58. This level of sushi might be par for the course in Circular Quay,but it’s a seismic shift among the cake shops and convenience stores of Pacific Highway,Gordon. More blowfish tempura north of the bridge,we say.

The trophy for most confusing abbreviation

Any restaurant (and there are lots) listing “GF” next to a steak without a key in sight. Is the meat grass-fed? Grain-fed? Oh,wait,maybe they mean gluten-free?

The Mischa Barton medal for most head-scratching attempted comeback

Providoor 2.0

Sydney businessman Sam Benjamin acquired theProvidoorbrand in April,soon after the company – established during COVID lockdowns to deliver finish-at-home restaurant meals – went into liquidation. Providoor owed more than $6.3 million when it became insolvent,including $4.4 million in outstanding customer vouchers. Even if Benjamin picked up the rights for a steal,the unpaid vouchers (not to mention unpaid suppliers) are a public relations nightmare.

Then there’s the offering itself,partly using Uber Eats to deliver dishes created (but not cooked) by former My Kitchen Rules andMasterChef contestants and judges. How many people are ordering pizza from a kitchen that also spruiks beef bourguignon,tacos,burgers and jackfruit rendang? Or “Gary’s Korean chicken with Asian cabbage” instead of dinner from,you know,an actual Korean restaurant?CB

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The golden omelette for straddling breakfast,lunch and dinner

Crumpets

Like many trends that trickle through Sydney’s hatted restaurants,Peter Gilmore probably started it. TheQuay chef put a crumpet with cultured butter and black truffleon his tasting menu in 2018,and the spongy bread has been popping up with increased frequency after brunch hours ever since. AtSurry Hills’ Bar Soul, a hot potato crumpet is yours to spread with smoked trout roe,chives and kimchi-spiked creme fraiche;the new French-leaningMartinez in Circular Quay piles a crumpet high with poached spanner crab remoulade and chervil;andMimi’s in Coogee was serves tuna belly on a crumpet when bluefin is in season. You’ve also got the glistening trout roe and tarama-topped crumpet atMonopole in the CBD,andThe Rover’s glazed crumpet with eel pâté and horseradish jelly. We’re expecting big things from the scone for next year’s Good Food Caps.

The roadrunner blink-and-you’ll-miss-itsash

EP Wine opened in Potts Point in July,andthree weeks later it was permanently closed. Shortest venue shelf life of the year? Ever? The bar was a reboot ofEnoteca Ponti,which launched at the same address a year prior with modern Italian snacks and pasta. It seems that local diners weren’t quite ready for “lasagne spring rolls”.

The Johnny Depp dish most in need of an image overhaul

Beef Wellington

Poor old beef Wellington. For the past few years,it was enjoyinga small comeback,with terrific versions of the pastry-wrapped tenderloin on the menu atVictor ChurchillandManon Brasseriein the CBD,plus a tuna version atFish Butchery in Paddington andWaterloo. Then,well,there was that family lunch in regional Victoria. Beef Wellington’s public relations team has been in overdrive ever since.

The Gary Mehigan crown for “where did this bloke come from again?”

Jean-Christophe Novelli

If you said,“Wait,who the heck isJean-Christophe Novelli?” whenMasterChef Australia announced its new judges in October,that was exactly the right reaction. It’s what most of the Good Food team said too. That’s not to say Novelli hasn’t done anything. The French chef’s resume includes a stack of restaurants,four Michelin stars,opening a culinary school and a season ofHell’s Kitchen. According to the culinary trendsetter that is theLondon Speaker Bureau,apparently he’s also “the UK’s favourite French chef”. Maybe he’ll become ours,too,once we remember his name.Emma Breheny.

The Worst Collaboration of the Year

A big congratulations to the marketing team who came up with theTwisties X Angel Aromatics scented candles released three weeks ago. And yes,that’s a plural “candles” – you can buy them in cheeseandchicken flavours. The aroma of adolescent armpit that’s unleashed when a Chicken Twisties bag is opened is not something I want to experience ever,let alone in my house. Capitalising on the wavy candle trend is smart – five points for that – but I foresee a lot of regifted Twisties candles kicking around next Christmas. NB:I’m not completely anti-Twistie. A Twistie-shaped claw-clip for your hair I could get behind.EB

The George Negus scholarship for television’s most intense 60 minutes

‘Fishes’,The Bearseason 2

It takes a while to realise that you’ve been clenching your jaw and your pulse is racing,but when one of matriarch Donna Berzatto’s kitchen timers goes off for the fifth time in two minutes,you feel it. Maybe not the way her kids are feeling it,but can anything compare to living through Christmas with this family,where it’s normal to throw cutlery at someone to get their attention? This is the episode ofThe Bear − set in a struggling family-owned Chicago restaurant − when every character’s hang-ups finally make sense. The camera catches every sauce-splattered surface,precariously balanced baking tray and cigarette that Donna brandishes while she prepares a feast of “seven fishes” that no one ends up eating (spoiler alert:the chef’s antics upstage it). Who ever said food brings people together?EB

The Sydney Morning Herald Good Food Guide 2024 magazine is on sale for $14.95 from newsagents,supermarkets and atthestore.com.au.