Our favourite restaurants: where and what our reviewers loved in 2023

My approach, personally, and as editor of Food & Wine, has changed considerably since lockdown. I want to celebrate the good things the hospitality industry in Canberra is doing. If my 18-year-old waiter doesn't refill my water glass I don't really mind at all.

I asked the reviewing team - Chris Hansen, Amy Martin, and our newest addition Jasper Lindell - what they've loved about 2023, and what they are looking forward to in 2024.

Favourite visit: Les Bistronomes was my top-scoring restaurant this year, with 16.5/20. I have probably eaten here a dozen times including at the original site in Braddon, but I really felt chef Clement Chauvin has taken his food to the next level. Host Chris Margherita is the epitome of knowledgeable, sincere service.

Favourite dish: The caramelised onion consomme, with comte foam and onion tarte tatin at Les Bistronome was pretty amazing. And it was even better when it came straight after the beetroot and goat's cheese macaron.

First up in 2024: I'm looking forward to trying Koto and will be keeping a keen eye on anything that Ben Wills does in 2024. Beltana Farm looks really interesting as well.

Favourite visit: The hardest question straight up! I've always said it's harder to find a bad meal in Canberra than it is to find a great meal. We are definitely spoilt for choice. That said, my favourite would probably have to be Dada. It wasn't the highest-scoring meal that I had this year - although I did rate it a very respectable 15/20 - but it felt like I had stumbled onto a hidden gem everyone north of the lake had no idea about. It was effortlessly cool inside, the service was great and a menu that could rival many of Canberra's top restaurants.

Favourite dish: Louis was my most-anticipated review of the year and it didn't disappoint. It also served up my favourite dish of the year. The chicken liver parfait on brioche toast with fig jam was perfect. Numerous people had recommended this appetizer before I went in. And my goodness - it was super decadent and the richness of the chicken liver with the sweetness of the fig jam was a match made in heaven. And the mandarin, white chocolate and honey trifle wasn't too bad either.

First up in 2024: The great thing about Canberra's dining scene is that there's always somewhere new to try. The bad thing about Canberra's dining scene is that there's always somewhere new to try. I'm keen to see what the Rabble Group's new Sydney Building precinct will look like. Fun Time Pony has just opened, and along with the soon-to-be-opened Bada Bing Dining Club and Al's Deli Diner, I think it could become a massive drawcard for that particular corner of the city. And being a massive tequila and mezcal fan, I'm very keen to see the opening of Paloma's on Lonsdale Street.

Favourite visit: Lanterne Rooms in Campbell is sophisticated, intelligent and, perhaps best of all, it has an extraordinary set of set menus. Given the chance, I would eat here every week and never get bored. The food is delivered to a very high standard and is delicious. At a place like this, you can be reminded of the rewards for eating in a high-end restaurant, without being bamboozled or put off. Lanterne Rooms also breaks free from the cult of open plan living, dining and working, breaking up dining spaces into sections and creating something a bit more intimate in the process.

Favourite dish: My friends are probably sick of me talking about this particularly sticky date pudding. It's a generous portion, served in a gush of caramel sauce, with a scoop of ice cream and a splayed strawberry. It is not going to win any awards for dessert whizz-bangery, but sometimes a dainty monument crafted from sugar is just not the right way to end a meal. Favourites sometimes transcend the criteria prescribed by accepted standards. They are formed based on intuition, vibe and enjoyment. I enjoy this sticky date pudding so much I make excuses to eat it. I'm very happy to come up with a table-for-one situation just to have one. You can find this glorious mark to a meal's end at Mama's Trattoria, 45 West Row.

First up in 2024: The hoarding came down the other day around the Rabble Group's triple offering on a previously quite dilapidated corner of the Sydney Building. It looks to be a transformation - a sight for sore eyes in the bus interchange - and I'm keen, like all of my colleagues, I suspect, to see properly inside. Then Les Bistronomes will be high on my list. Everyone says it's really good because it really is. And Such and Such: I work so close to the place, I'm hoping someone with a story to tell realises this reporter could be readily available for lunch.

Favourite visit: There's nothing I love more than the short trip out of town to Grazing at Gundaroo. It makes you feel like you've made a conscious decision to eat, not just stumbled into a regular haunt in the same suburb. I'd like to think executive chef and co-owner Kurt Neumann acknowledges that in every dish. You've made the effort, so he does, too, showcasing seasonal, local produce at every opportunity, supporting local winemakers, lighting a fire in the winter, finding a spot in the shade under the jasmine outside in the warmer months. It's an occasion every time.

Favourite dish: It seems rather incongruous that one of my favourite dishes was a dessert from a place which specialises in meat. Terra's dark chocolate tart with plum sorbet and a fig and a hazelnut praline popped up on a little set menu that started with a pig's head crouqette. From one extreme to the other. The tart was filled with a chocolate ganache that had depth without it being too rich, the pastry golden and buttery. The sorbet was fantastic, smooth, fruity, tart, all at the same time.

Far from home, the best thing I ate was a slab of salted butter, with salt flakes so big they gave the butter actual texture. I found a little market stall in Lyon where a young couple was selling butter, and cheese, made from the cows on their small farm, Aux Sources de la Coise, just out of town. Mind-blowing.

First up in 2024: I'm putting dibs on Med, Ben Willis' new venture for the DOMA Group. "The menu at Med is a celebration of relaxed, casual and fun dining, inspired by the vibrant Eastern Mediterranean culinary culture," he told us. But he had us at shared places of barbecue quail, snapper baked in vine leaves, whole roasted cauliflowers and baklava ice cream. I love eating from the middle of the table and Med might just be the place to do that in style.

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