The best and worst of food in 2016

We've celebrated the best restaurants, toasted the greatest bars and raised our espressos to excellent cafes. Now it's time for the other awards. The ones that didn't quite make The Good Food Guide; these awards shine a light on the best, but mainly worst, eating and drinking moments of 2016 in Sydney and beyond.

The Rogue One Award for a spin-off project that breathes new fire into everything awesome about the original and ends up being the most fun you'll have over two hours all year

Good Luck Pinbone. Team Pinbone's Kensington pop-up is a wonderful wok-fried tangle of classic Chinese cooking and an Indiana Jones attitude of "we're making this up as we go along". No wine list, no worries. Bring your own booze and everyone you know.

The Kale Smoothie Award for gross health drink of the year

The turmeric latte. Something something gut health, something something may prevent inflammation. I don't care. They taste like watered-down curry with none of the good stuff. Eat a carrot.

The President-elect's Cup for it's happening whether you like it or not

UberEATS, Deliveroo and Foodora. The Uber-isation and home delivery of hatted-restaurant food is big business and growing. Plus: you now can eat Eleven Bridge's potato dauphine with kombu butter at your desk. Minus: it might not be a good thing for the floor staff and sommeliers of brick-and-mortar restaurants.

The Free Pool Award for making pubs great

Proudly Pokies Free. Siblings Tom and Anna Lawrence are leading a campaign to remove pokies from all pubs and clubs in Australia, starting with NSW which has around half the slots in the country.

All power to them. A world without pokies would mean publicans making an effort to get punters through the door with live music and a food offering that goes beyond $10 schnitzels on a Tuesday. (Not to mention a reduced number of problem gamblers.)

Big ups to venues like The Unicorn, The Henson, Lord Wolseley, Oxford Tavern and East Sydney Hotel already blazing the pokie-free way.

The Wooden Board for worst food trend of the decade

Freakshakes. A pox on the talent vacuum who first put supermarket lollies on a milkshake and charged $20 a photograph.

The Mike Baird Memorial Plate for are you taking the piss, mate?

NSW Premier Mike Baird. The NSW Government announced in December it would extend lockout and last drinks times by half an hour in Kings Cross and the CBD.

This is the same as parents buying an extra carton of Cascade Light for their kid's 21st when the keg runs dry by 9pm. "Now, you can't say we never let you have fun."

Maybe just reverse the lockout laws and invest in anti-violence campaigns instead of that video of the numpty playing Dance Dance Revolution.

The Transport for NSW Award for a mind-boggling terrible marketing campaign targeted at the youth of today

Coca-Cola. With consumer tastes evolving, the soft-drink giant launched Coke as a drink to be enjoyed with all foods, not just American junk. Hence the I-can't-believe-someone-actually-signed-off-on-this commercial featuring Hillsong-types sharing The Real Thing over home-made tacos, fresh fish and pasta. Whatever you do, don't watch it.

The Bo Derek Award for a perfect 10

Peter Gilmore and Quay. The harbourside restaurant achieved a score of 19/20 in The Sydney Morning Herald 2017 Good Food Guide, making it 10 years in a row Gilmore and team Quay have been awarded three hats. Here's to another 10 years of world-class dining delivered with ease and grace.

The Gastropub Award for the most overused food marketing word with indefinable meaning

Fast-casual. Ugh.

The Ergonomic Shopping Trolley Award for supermarkets actually making a change for good

Coles and Woolworths. Australians are fat lot. In 2008, the total annual cost of obesity in Australia was estimated at around $58 billion, which is a lot of money that could be put to better use.

One measure to combat obesity is through the Health Star Rating System, a joint government initiative in partnership with public health groups promoting an easy-to-read, front-of-pack, nutritional labelling standard. The higher the star rating out of five, the healthier the food.

It's voluntary to whack the Health Star Rating on your product's packaging, however Coles and Woolies announced they would be rolling out the labelling on all their home brands. They've stuck to their word and the ratings have been appearing with increased frequency on their products all year.

Cue surprise when I picked up Coles Triple Cream Brie to find it only mustered one lonely star. Who knew?

The Mars Attacks Award for why can't we all just get along?

Craft beer boffins and natural wine nerds. (Warning: sweeping generalisations ahoy.) Many natural wine fans I know (and also most chefs) find hoppy, overly bitter, look-at-me craft beer undrinkable. "Melbourne Bitter for me thanks, I don't want a beer I have to think about."

Nothing gets craft beer drinkers fuming more. "How can you promote organic and minimal-intervention winemaking and only drink mass-produced beer?" yells a chorus of beardy, booming voices. It's a fair question; however, at most beer festivals the wine is an equally contradictory selection of steel tank swill not fit for making gravy. Glasses. Stones.

Does it really matter? There was a time, only five years ago, that you could drink whatever you wanted without judgement. (Unless it was Tooheys Blonde and you were a bloke.) That was a nice time. Maybe we need to return there.

The Sesame Street Award for one of these things (is not like the others)

The proud bottle of Passion Pop hidden at Restaurant Hubert. You'll have to go there for lunch and spot it for yourself.