Australia’s top ten restaurants have been announced by TripAdvisor, and some of them might surprise you.
The world’s most-used travel website TripAdvisor revealed its rankings of Australia’s most elite eateries based on rating and reviews left by tourists from around the world – in the Travellers’ Choice Awards.
While both Melbourne and Brisbane made the cut, Sydney failed to make a single appearance.
Here, FEMAIL takes a look at the top ten best restaurants and finds out which elite eateries pipped Sydney at the post.
This group of fine dining establishments was voted the best by the public on TripAdvisor
10. Maha, Melbourne, Victoria
Melbourne’s Maha offers diners the very best in modern Middle Eastern cuisine. It’s a dining experience that takes traditional flavours and dishes from the region and marries them with contemporary ingredients to create a truly modern fusion.
Dishes that have been raved about on TripAdvisor include the 12-hour roasted lamb shoulder, with one visitor commenting on ‘flavours that burst in your mouth’.
Other delights include the chemen cured swordfish, which one visitor hailed as a ‘highlight’ of the meal.
Melbourne’s Maha offers diners the very best in modern Middle Eastern cuisine
The dining experience takes traditional flavours and dishes from Middle East and marries them with contemporary ingredients to create a truly modern fusion
9. The Stunned Mullet, Port Macquarie, NSW
The Stunned Mullet located on NSW coast is one that has earned a regular placing on the travel website’s list of favoured locales.
Offering an Australian dining experience that subverts expectations, The Stunned Mullet delivers on all fronts.
Exceptionally sourced food and wine has wowed diners worldwide, with one reviewer writing the restaurant’s Mandagery Creek vension is ‘plated beautifully and exquisite to the palette’.
Other delights include freshly shucked oysters with white miso and shiitake pearls, or for those with a sweet tooth the more unusual wattleseed, macadamia and pumpkin gelato.
The Stunned Mullet in Port Macquarie offers delights such as this starter of freshly shucked oysters with shitake pearls
The restaurant offers the best in exceptionally sourced food served in a contemporary setting
8. Spirit House, Yandina, Queensland
For those with a gourmet bent that extends to learning how to create delicious meals, Queensland Spirit House is a restaurant that also doubles as a cooking school.
Set among lush tropical gardens, Spirit House offers the very best in award-winning contemporary Asian cuisine.
Travellers visiting the unique dining establishment have been delighted by the coconut soup of smoked salmon, calling it ‘divine’.
Meanwhile, the whole crispy fish was described as ‘truly worth savouring every morsel of’.
Spirit House, Yandina, Queensland is set among lush tropical gardens
The eatery offers the very best in award-winning contemporary Asian cuisine
7. 1889 Enoteca, Brisbane, Queensland
Coming in at number seven is another top Queensland eatery 1889 Enoteca.
Famed for its take on modern Italian cuisine, the fine dining establishment, nestled among Woolloongabba’s antique and café quarter is much loved by the TripAdvisor community.
Those who’ve sampled the delights on offer have commented on its ‘excellent and not intrusive’ service and ‘lovely’ ambience.
A must-try as recommended by reviewers is the ‘ridiculously good’ gnocchi that ‘melts in your mouth’.
1889 Enoteca in Brisbane is famed for its take on modern Italian cuisine
Those who’ve sampled the delights on offer have commented on its ‘excellent and not intrusive’ service and ‘lovely’ ambience
6. Nobu Japanese Restaurant, Burswood, Perth
Western Australia is definitely proving itself a hub of culinary creativity and Nobu Japanese Restaurant is no exception.
Chef Nobu Matsuhisa creates inspired Japanese dishes which he elevates to an ‘out-of-this-world’ experience by adding a twist of South American flavours.
The interior is an exercise in elegance and sophistication too, giving diners the opportunity to enjoy meals in a modern and contemporary setting.
Signature dishes include the Yellowtail Sashimi with Jalapeno Triaditio Nobu-style and Black Cod Miso.
A special omakase menu is also on offer. This is a Japanese version of a degustation taster with the word omakase meaning to ‘entrust’. The immersive experience is recommended for a full table and the menu runs over seven delicious courses.
Chef Nobu Matsuhisa creates inspired Japanese dishes which he elevates to an ‘out-of-this-world’ experience by adding a twist of South American flavours
Nobu diners can enjoy their meals in a modern and contemporary setting that reflects the restaurant’s creative spirit
5. Spice Bar, Mooloolaba, Queensland
Spice Bar in Queensland offers diners a thoroughly contemporary Asian-fusion dining experience.
In addition to a stunning interior, those enjoying the restaurant’s sumptuous menu are also afforded sweeping views of the Pacific Ocean.
Its degustation menu comes as highly recommended among TripAdvisor travellers with scallops and braised duck named as favourites.
Spice Bar in Queensland offers diners a thoroughly contemporary Asian-fusion dining experience
4. Watergate Restaurant & Lounge bar, Port Douglas
Diners at this salubrious establishment can choose to either enjoy their meals in a beautiful contemporary setting or dine al fresco, depending on their mood.
The Watergate offers the best in modern Australian cuisine created using locally sourced ingredients. Chef Lee Neate even goes as far as to choose fresh seafood for its stunning menu straight from local fishing boats
Visitors have called the eatery ‘truly memorable’, with some saying the restaurant’s duck pancakes and cuttlefish entrée are must-tries.
The Watergate offers the best in modern Australian cuisine created using locally sourced ingredients
Visitors have called the Port Douglas eatery ‘truly memorable’
3. fermentAsian, Tanunda, South Australia
South Australia continues to show itself as a hotbed of culinary inspiration, and fermentAsian is a perfect example of this.
Offering the best in Southeast Asian cuisine created with local produce, those who’ve visited the restaurant have been enthralled by the experience.
Reviewers have called dishes ‘flavourful and ‘beyond delicious’ with top recommendations for both its grilled South Australian prawns and Barossa Hampshire pork belly.
fermentAsian offers the best in Southeast Asian cuisine created with local produce
Reviewers have called dishes ‘flavourful and ‘beyond delicious’
2. Friends Restaurant, Perth
Coming in at the penultimate position is the much-lauded Friends Restaurant, in Perth.
The elite eatery is considered the ‘benchmark for fine dining’ in the Western Australian city, and its exquisite menu is guaranteed to capture the hearts and minds of even the most discerning diner.
Its truffle degustation have been raved about by visitors, and offers such delights as Grilled Bremer bay abalone and Rottnest Island scallops infused with the Manjimup morish morsels.
For those who like to indulge, a decadent vanilla and chocolate crumble soufflé is served with black truffle ice cream.
The elite eatery is considered the ‘benchmark for fine dining’ in the Western Australian city
Friends exquisite menu is guaranteed to capture the hearts and minds of even the most discerning diner
1.Muse Restaurant, Pokolbin, NSW
Taking out the top position for Australia’s best dining establishment is Muse Restaurant, nestled within the heart of NSW’s Hunter Valley.
The eatery opened in 2009 by husband-and-wife team Troy and Megan Rhoades-Brown, and is renowned for its creative take on contemporary Australian cuisine.
Muse, set in the heart of the Hunter Valley wine region, is renowned for its creative take on contemporary Australian cuisine
Tourists visiting restaurant have called it a ‘gastronomic delight’ and reviewers have expressed how much they love its ‘open kitchen
Muse has won myriad awards including a Two Chef Hat rating in the Sydney Morning Herald’s Good Food Guide three consecutive years in a row.
Tourists visiting the wine region’s restaurant have called it a ‘gastronomic delight’ and reviewers have expressed how much they love its ‘open kitchen.
Recommendations include its $225 (including wine) seasonal tasting menu which this spring features red deer and pickled turnip gyoza and Koshihikari and whey risotto. Each dish comes sommelier-matched with wines sourced from the area.