Forget sweet and sour pork or beef and black bean, it’s all about authentic, regional Chinese cuisine at this buzzing, brash and lively eatery, just outside the hubbub of Fortitude Valley. With service varying from warm and attentive to unobservant and absent, it’s the food that diners come for at this minimalist, concrete-heavy restaurant. Portions are beyond generous and prices are cheap, making this a terrific spot for groups on a budget. Start, perhaps, with the pork and prawn wontons, pleasantly soft and slippery in a chilli-infused broth, before a bowl of boiled quail eggs rolled in salt and pepper that pop in the mouth. The nuanced and layered beef brisket stew with noodle knots is a must, as is the mapo tofu. Just be sure to order a good mix of wet and dry dishes as too many fried plates can get a little greasy. Helping with that though is the eclectic wine list with an ever changing by-the-glass offering projected on to the wall above the bar. Favouring interesting small producers, the list, which includes wines from all around the country, also enables diners to take home a bottle they like.

Chef-owner Attila Yilmaz describes the menu at Pazar as Turkish-Mexican, but there’s more influence from the Med than Mexico City.The bold flavours of the veg-strong menu are reminiscent of the school of Ottolenghi – like an ember-blackened wedge of pumpkin adorned with pepita chimichurri and feta. If the pumpkin wasn’t so damn delicious, the harissa-roasted chicken would be the dish of the night. While Pazar means ‘marketplace’ in Turkish, with its low- warehouse interior, surprising drinks list, and innovative produce-first menu, Aladdin’s cave would be a more tting analogy.

Hands down the best dumplings in the nation’s Capital. You can watch the experts make them through the glass window front, then grab a seat and wrap your laughing gear around Xia long bao, pork and chives and the signature pork and crab buns.

Just reopened this icon of WA Fish & Chips is now so much more. While you can splash the cash on Western Rock Lobster, fresh oysters and Margaret River pet-nat, there’s also shockingly good value here in the likes of whole Fremantle sardines, whole fried herring, seafood chowder served in a hollowed out loaf, or simple yet classic pickled octopus from the Raw Bar. It’s this value that’s packing in all comers.

St Kilda’s reborn Espy has proven it’s more than a summer fling of prize views and long queues, still pulling a crowd whatever the weather. And one of the grand dame’s drawcards is Mya Tiger, the first-floor Cantonese charmer where velvet booths, rattan and peeling paint take shabby chic to covetable new heights. Helmed by ex-Longrain chef Sarah Chan, the kitchen is pumping out food that’s for enjoying not analysing, making the $57 banquet menu a winning – and value-for-money – way to maximise the fun and the feasting. It’s a satisfyingly generous line-up of many of the menu’s greatest hits: oysters in a zingy rice wine vinaigrette, kingfish in yuzu, the numbing heat of crunchy school prawns and five-spice chicken ribs, tender wagyu pieces in black pepper, half a duck to wrap and roll with hoisin sauce … it goes on – and it’s excellent.

Kane Pollard is a chef who doesn’t like to throw anything away. Whether it’s the tops to his carrots, the leaves from a cauli, pumpkin seeds or the briny liquid left after cooking mussels, he will find a use for it all. That he does so in compositions showing all the unforced beauty and creative flavour matching you’d expect from one of our elite diners makes this the biggest, most welcome surprise in the SA delicious. 100 list. Topiary, after all, is a garden centre café in the far-flung north-eastern suburbs of Adelaide. It serves eggs every way for breakfast. Even at lunch, plant lovers will pop in for a hot chocolate and scones. They don’t know what they are missing out on. How about a squid ink crumpet topped with plump smoked mussels, shaved fennel, mussel water mayo and a tangy tangelo marmalade? It’s unbelievably good. Or, more conventional but just as delicious, fried gnocchi tossed with a spring bounty of peas and beans in nasturtium oil and house-made ricotta? Prices are extraordinary. A luscious puck of pan-fried corned beef with roasted carrots and carrot top mayo, for instance, is only $24. It would be at home on any table. Same goes for the delicate folded pear slices, quince and honeycomb cream of the “Fallen Leaves” dessert. Kane’s partner Amber does a wonderful job managing the floor and the straw roof and lumpy walls of their old cottage are full of rustic charm, even as the trolleys laden with gerberas roll by.

Located on Bathurst Street in Hobart’s CBD, Maharaja Authentic Indian Restaurant is a low-key local secret. The extensive menu covers all of India’s different regions with an impressive array of curries and perfect Indian-style breads including a variety of naan options as well Lacha Parantha, a flaky layered wholemeal bread cooked in the tandoor oven and brushed with butter. All dishes can be ordered mild, medium or hot but be aware that hot means HOT. Order from the wine list or BYO for $5 corkage per bottle.