The 10 Best Modern Australian Restaurants

If you're after Australian flavours, head to Attica. This Melbourne restaurant offers a degustation-only menu that’s been built by chef Ben Shewry to hero native ingredients. Here, you'll be introduced to foods you've never tried – think crocodile and kangaroo or lemon myrtle and finger lime – so bring a curious attitude. While Attica seeks to avoid the 'fine dining' label, it's certainly no stranger to the World's 50 Best Restaurants list. Be sure to book well in advance.

When visiting the Gold Coast, swing past Burleigh Heads for a superior coastal dining experience at Rick Shores. The pan-Asian seafood restaurant is set with the crashing waves of the Coral Sea as its backdrop, making it ideal for everything from intimate dinners to special occasions. Expect unbelievably fresh fish and shellfish from its award-winning menu and an impressive wine list that has also won its fair share of awards over the years.

When visiting Tasmania, visit Hobart's unpretentious but exceptional restaurant, Dier Makr. This venue focuses on organic Australian ingredients, and the seasonal menu is changed regularly to feature only what is ripe and delicious. Sit up at the kitchen counter, select the wine-pairing menu option and watch the chefs work their magic. You’ll be raving about your meal for a long time to come.

You may recognise Firedoor from the Netflix series Chef's Table. The Sydney restaurant runs its kitchen without gas or electricity, only cooking with wood-fired ovens, grills and a wood-burning hearth. Chef and owner Lennox Hastie has built a dining experience centred on celebrating high-quality seasonal ingredients and the many forms of cooking with fire. When dining here, take a counter seat and watch the flaming action play out in front of you - with a glass of wine in hand, of course.

More than a restaurant, The Agrarian Kitchen is also a garden and school for anyone seeking to learn about sustainable cooking practices. Co-founders Rodney Dunn and Séverine Demanet converted an old mental asylum just forty minutes outside of Hobart into a thriving space for creative cooking in 2015. Explore the on-site garden, which produces 90 per cent of the menu's ingredients, and stay for the restaurant's lunch menu, which heroes back-to-basics methods like ancient cheese-making, fermentation and wood-fired cooking.