There’s no shortage of guides for those who savour the finer things, from The World’s 50 Best and the Michelin Guide to La Liste and Time Out’s very own curated round-ups. In 2025, there’s a new addition to watch: the Tatler Best Awards, which have expanded across the Asia-Pacific for the first time, recognising four of Australia’s finest dining spots among the region’s top 100 restaurants.
Now in its second edition, the Tatler Best Awards celebrate the best destinations to dine, drink and stay while travelling. Winners are chosen through a rigorous selection process involving more than 700 discerning panellists across the Asia-Pacific, including seasoned critics, international journalists and well-travelled members of the community.
This year, the awards expanded their scope across the Asia-Pacific to include new countries like Australia and New Zealand. And in exciting news, four brilliant and beloved Aussie restaurants earned spots in the inaugural Asia-Pacific top 100 – in no particular order.
First up is Sydney institution, Ester – a cosy, neighbourhood restaurant and bar in Chippendale, centred around a woodfired oven. Many of the chefs Time Out has interviewed, including Neil Perry (Margaret, Grantorino, Next Door) and Darren Robertson (Three Blue Ducks, Rocker), named Ester as their favourite Sydney restaurant – so it’s clear Tatler did their research. Must-tries from chef Mat Lindsay’s menu include the blood sausage sanga and the pull-apart fermented potato bread with kefir cream and salmon roe.
It’s hardly surprising that Sydney’s second entry in the top 100 is Saint Peter. This innovative seafood fine-diner, led by scale-to-tail pioneer Josh Niland, is one of Australia’s most-awarded restaurants of all time, and was the only Aussie venue to crack the World’s 50 Best extended list earlier this year. It’s definitely a destination dining experience, but one you’ll remember for years to come.
Another pioneer in sustainable dining, Tasmania’s The Agrarian Kitchen also earned a spot in the 2025 top 100. Housed in a 19th-century mental asylum, this farm-to-table restaurant and cooking school serves multi-course menus, with around 95 per cent of every dish created in-house using produce grown in its sprawling kitchen garden. It’s hard to fully appreciate the skill and thought that goes into every meal, but we’re glad to see these efforts recognised on a global stage.
Rounding out Australia’s inclusions in the top 100 is Melbourne’s high-end Cantonese gem, Flower Drum, located in the city’s Chinatown precinct. Our writers describe the service during the restaurant’s banquets as a carefully choreographed dance, which its waiters have been perfecting for half a century. Long live this Melbourne institution and its ever-growing collection of accolades.
The Tatler Best Awards also celebrated the top 100 hotels and bars in the country, including Melbourne’s Apollo Inn and Caretaker’s Cottage, Canberra’s Bar Rochford and Sydney’s Cantina OK! You can check out the full list of winners here.