Finalists for The Age Good Food Guide 2017 Restaurant of the Year

In the lead-up to the annual Age Good Food Good Food Guide Awards on Monday – the Oscars for the hospitality industry – here are the five finalists contesting the Vittoria Coffee Restaurant of the Year Award.

Every year (this will be the Guide's 37th edition), competition for the award stiffens. Educated diners spur restaurateurs to aim higher, faster, stronger, and the demand for seats strengthens.

The nominees this year represent the very best at the pointy end of dining. They also represent a sturdy retort to the weary "fine dining is dead" argument, wheeled out every year since the 1989 edition.

Fine dining is not dead. But it's different. And there's a lot to argue it's better than ever before.

Brae may still provide starched linens, but half the glory of dining at chef Dan Hunter's beautiful Birregurra restaurant is listening to Tom Waits, watching the sun slip down as lunch rolls late, then tramping through the kitchen gardens that fuel his degustations.

In Koichi Minamishima's sushi-ya in Richmond, you see every bit of the meticulous rigour that has set world-class restaurants apart for decades, as he palms impeccable fish from Tokyo over vinegar-fragrant rice.

And you only need to look to Attica to see the envelope being pushed. Chef Ben Shewry first grabbed the world's attention when he began plating his life stories in the medium of native Australian ingredients. Now, the humble and restless chef is demanding we drop the cringe around Australian culture, with elegant dishes riffing on meat pies and smashed avo on toast.

What's notable, though not surprising, is that three of five nominees live in rural Victoria. Lake House has always been driven by the seasons and produce from its Daylesford gardens, making it a hero of the locavore movement long before it was a trend and still attracting top staff to make the venue run on rails.

Provenance, Michael Ryan's in Beechworth, proves a three-hour drive from Melbourne isn't a barrier to operating in the highest tier, not when you're looking at some of the best contempo-Japanese-Australian in the game.

It's a tight race every year at the Good Food Guide awards, which will be held on Monday at the Plaza Ballroom. This year, a Cafe of the Year award is being added, to join best Best Cheap Eats in fully celebrating the way the city has come to eat. These are restaurants undeniably at the pinnacle. Every one is a significant investment of time and money.

But there are a few tricks to making the most out of a meal at one of Victoria's best – first catch your booking.

Here's how to tackle the state's Big Five.

Attica, Ripponlea

Ripponlea's tiny-yet-mighty fine diner that's advancing Australian fare.

The dish: Marron dressed in lemon myrtle and pearl meat butter.

The table: Table 3, a corner table near the kitchen that lets you take in whole charcoal-toned room.

The booking: Set your alarm for 9am on the first Wednesday of the month when a month's worth of bookings is released – for three months hence. Yep, it's that popular you need to jump online on October 5 for a December booking for two (the rarest catch – tables for four or six are far easier). Miss out? Send a polite email and ask to go on the waitlist. "We always do our best for people who are passionate and kind," says owner-chef Ben Shewry. "It's the whole reason we do it."

Pro tip: Aim for the earliest evening booking. It's a three-hour plus experience.

Brae, Birregurra

World-class fine dining in a garden-fringed country cottage.

The dish: Southern rock lobster with barbecued shiitakes and a rich veal broth infused with roasted garlic and nori.

The table: Food nerds like the table right in front of the kitchen, says owner-chef Dan Hunter. Hospitality people like to be as far as possible from the kitchen. And the rest like the window seats, where guests can glimpse chefs popping out to raid the kitchen gardens.

The booking: Since adding accommodation for dining room guests, Fridays and weekends are booked up to five months ahead. Check the website or go on the waitlist – someone's cancellation may be your lucky break.

Pro tip: Book for Sunday or Monday lunch so you can stroll around the kitchen gardens between savoury courses and dessert.

Lake House, Daylesford

One of Victoria's best places to enjoy good food and exemplary hospitality.

The dish: Anything with smoked eel, part of the Lake House's heritage since the start. At the moment they're serving it with local pancetta and beets.

The table: Most tables have views of the lake. If it's a tryst, ask for the secluded table overlooking the terraces.

The booking: Weekends are often booked out six weeks ahead but it's easier to get a midweek booking.

Pro tip: While you're here, you might as well stay over – the rooms are gorgeous.

Minamishima, Richmond

A world-class omakase (chef's choice) sushi experience in the backstreets of Richmond.

The dish: Max out the credit card for tempura fugu (pufferfish), a delicacy with a frisson of danger, or shako (Japanese mantis shrimp), seasonal produce – supplements to the $150-a-head omakase sushi menu.

The table: Any of the 14 stools facing the sushi bar (there's also a comfortable dining room if you don't like stools).

The booking: Places at the sushi bar are often booked six to eight weeks ahead.

Pro tip: Hold out for seats at the bar for a close-up of owner-chef Koichi Minamishima's samurai knifework.

Provenance, Beechworth

Inventive contemporary dining in a former gold rush-era bank.

The dish: Jerusalem artichoke with slow-cooked sunflower seeds, house-made karasumi (cured mullet roe), desert limes and dried orange.

The table: Tables 1 and 3, with best vantage over the dining room, are usually reserved for people staying in Provenance's guest suites, and regulars.

The booking: For a Saturday night, book two months ahead. The wait will be shorter on other nights.

Pro tip: Stay on site. Wobbling across the courtyard is the perfect way to end a meal here.

The Age Good Food Guide 2017 awards night, presented by Citi and Vittoria, is on Monday, September 12. Follow all the action via @goodfoodau and #goodfoodguide on Twitter and Instagram. The Guide will be on sale in newsagents and bookstores from Tuesday, September 13, with all book purchases receiving free access to the new Good Food app.