The second helping awards

Best multicultural moment

China Lane, Angel Place. Sitting in a city laneway with a lady from Shanghai, eating great renditions of Chinese classics and discovering the chef is a Pom. (That would be Englishman Ben Haywood - ex-Le Manoir and Fat Duck.)

Playlist of the year

Nominees include Marque, Momofuku Seiobo, Ananas Bar and Restaurant. Nice to know our chefs think about engaging all the senses. Nothing sets the mood quite like the French electric swing played in Ananas Bar and Restaurant. Thanks to music-streaming service Spotify and some clever marketing, you can access a playlist on its website to enjoy at home.

Best original decor/soundtrack/everything

Farmhouse, Kings Cross. Who wouldn't fall for this tiny rustic space featuring a stone floor, communal timber table, home-made chairs, and generous, wholesome food from passionate young chefs - all just minutes from the mean streets of Kings Cross?

Best view

Flooded Gums, Bonville. Watching the sky darken over Bonville Golf Course's impossibly tall gumtrees, their silver trunks dramatically lit against an emerald carpet. All this and a menu that treats local, seasonal ingredients simply and with respect.

Finest cliche view

The Reef, Terrigal. It's hard to beat sitting here, glass in hand, listening to water hitting the sand, boats bobbing on the waves and sandy kids resembling crumbed cutlets cantering about.

Best amuse

Gingerbread jujubes and tea-infused walnuts at Neila, Cowra. These small morsels signify that what is to come will be different, interesting, intriguing and appetising. And it always is.

Best butter

Tomislav, King Cross. This ever-inventive diner serves its bread with wattleseed toffee butter. Such a sense of experimentation and curiosity.

Best buns

New Shanghai, Ashfield. The pork and crab pan-fried dumplings are the bomb.

Best condiments

Spicy eggplant relish at Cornersmith, Marrickville.

Cauliflower mustard pickles at The Jaaning Tree, Nambucca Heads.

Kick-arse artisan Korean ingredients at Restaurant Atelier, Glebe, including fish sauce from Jeju island and an incredibly pure soy sauce.

Favourite counter meal

Cafe Sopra, Bridge Street. The mozzarella and aperitivo bars are a great spot for a casual-dining catch-up in the city, with solid wine to boot.

Best snacks

Pork okonomiyaki pancake at HaNa Ju-Rin, Crows Nest.

Tiny, perfectly round steamed taro with salt and black sesame, Sakana-Ya, Crows Nest.

Knockout burgers at Warren Turnbull's Chur Burger - and he's really nailed the kumara chip. It's so easy to make them soft and flabby, and they burn easily.

Memorable meals

The Bridge Room, Sydney. Pressed ox heart tomato, salted sheep's milk curd, heirloom tomatoes, amaranth, smoked pepper oil and radish.

The Morrison, Sydney. Sean Connolly's long-cooked lamb shoulder. Something like 12 hours at 76 degrees. So flavoursome.

Tyler's Pantry, Mogo. Everything.

Best fantasy menu descriptions

Restaurant Arras, Sydney. ''Duck and cover'', ''Sunday Dinner Bread'', ''It's all Greek to me'', ''Pick me up'', ''Oodles of Stroodles'', ''Rhubarb, rhubarb, rhubarb'' … say no more.

Best above-and-beyond customer service

Bitton Cafe & Bistro, Alexandria. Plenty of restaurateurs meet and greet guests. But then there's owner David Bitton, who, on a cold, rainy Sydney night, insisted we stay cosily inside while he waited on the wet kerb to hail us a cab. Honourable mention to Gabrielle Webster, sommelier at Bloodwood, Newtown, for spending such a generous amount of time explaining wine options. Her recommendations were all spot-on.

Best semi-naked moment

Restaurant unnamed. Is that bartender just wearing an apron? What happened to his pants? Apparently that's what happens when one samples every tequila he pours in order to give you a lesson in tequila tasting.

Snappiest service

Katers, Sutton Forest. Our waiter caught an errant fly with his bare hands. We're confident they were washed afterwards.

Finest celebrity encounter by two degrees of separation

Berowra Waters Inn, Berowra Waters. We were told we were drinking Tracy Grimshaw's favourite chardonnay!

Most bizarre dining moment

Restaurant unnamed. Having a one-metre-wide slab of marble break away from the table legs mid-meal. Result: candle wax, olive oil, food and wine everywhere. And a 10-kilogram weight on the lap. (Owners were very apologetic, by the way.)

Local heroes

The Inthavong family, Green Peppercorn, Fairfield. This family is unstoppable - and their Thai-Lao eateries are frontrunners in revamping the south-west's foodie suburbs. Stay tuned for their Bistro James and Tona's Cafe.

Also, James Viles at Biota Dining, Bowral. For his work setting up the monthly farmers' market at his restaurant, bringing southern highlands produce to Pyrmont Growers' Market and being so supportive of the industry.

Best use of social media

La Lupita at The Basement, Sydney. ''Unlock the dishes'' invites diners to take a selfie at the venue, check in on Facebook, and earn the right to order the special/s of the day.

Hartsyard, Newtown. Check the weekly wild ''weekend pie'' on Facebook. Drool over ''sable Breton, strawberry pate de fruit, Nutella, choc shards, torched marshmallow and strawberry pavlova ice-cream''.

Gelato Messina, Darlinghurst etc. Say no more.

Most inventive bar

Bulletin Place, Sydney. Great organic wines and clever cocktails devised from whatever's good at the markets that day.

Coolest cocktail

Margarita on the rocks, Neram Harvest, Armidale. A glass of polished, cleaned coastal pebbles from the freezer. The margarita is poured over the top. Owner-chef Rowan Tihema reckons that if you have the perfect mix, why spoil it with frozen ice cubes that melt? Gives true meaning to ''on the rocks''.

Craziest drinks list; well, sort of

If by crazy you mean kind of awful, special mention goes to the sauvignon blanc on tap at the new Newtown Hotel, Newtown.

Best drink-friendly snacks

Montadito de chorizo, potato, guindilla pepper salsa at Foley Lane, Sydney. Not as finicky as MoVida tapas and everything a bar snack should be: unpretentious, only need one hand to eat and full of fatty goodness to make that booze go down with gusto.

An honourable mention to pork scratchings at Mojo Record Bar, Sydney and razor clams with crushed broad beans at Tapavino, with a palo cortado sherry, of course.

Finest flatware

Restaurant Botanica, Hunter Valley. A local ceramicist has made plates specifically for the restaurant. It speaks volumes about the restaurant and its ethos. All wheel-thrown, they are so tactile and lovely and purpose-built for certain dishes.

Best country-style Asian

The Rock & Roll Coffee Company, Mullumbimby. Laid-back Mullum with the added bonus of pan-Asian street food. The dry curry of melt-in-the-mouth, pepper-coated tofu with green beans and the kick of Thai basil is a knockout.

Best pit stop on the way to the snow

Mocan & Green Grout, Canberra. Beautiful food in an intimate space by yet another McConnell brother (Sean, brother to Melbourne's Matt and Andrew). It's the best reason to pull over for dining in the capital before pushing on to Perisher.

Authenticity awards

Petaling Street, Haymarket is nothing flash, but a real slice of Malaysia. The Marmite pork ribs are a big surprise. Savoury, sweet and tangy.

Taramosalata at the Apollo, Kings Cross. The real deal, even better than you'd find in Greece.

Ramen at Ramen Ikkyu, Ramen Zundo, Rio's, Ippudo …

Best petit four

Rockpool on George, The Rocks. Right when you think the show's over and have your ear cocked for the fat lady's song, the petits fours land. A simple red jube reveals the purest raspberry flavour, tang and sweetness perfectly balanced and with a delightful chewy density.

Dreamy desserts

The Geoff Lindsay-inspired Turkish delight and rose petal ice-cream at Neram Harvest, Armidale. The texture is incredible and it's served with beautiful fresh curd.

Pistachio sponge with raspberry white-chocolate ganache at Pearls on the Beach, Pearl Beach. It looks like exploded green snot. But tastes superb.

Meringue with figs, plum jam and home-made pomegranate ice-cream. A smash hit at love.fish, Rozelle.

Anything by Nic Waring at The Sailors Club, Rose Bay.

Blueberry cheesecake at Town, Bangalow.

Trifle at Bloodwood, Newtown: cherries, pound cake, port-wine jelly, champagne anglaise and yoghurt mascarpone.

Eucalyptus ice, fig-leaf ice-cream, berries, meringue at Tyler's Pantry, Mogo.

Best dessert in a far-flung location

Zanzibar Cafe, Merimbula. A heavenly multilayered opera-type affair: crisp milk and dark-chocolate discs, mousse, brownie … Showing technique you'd expect to find at Quay, transported to the south coast by the fine diner's former executive pastry chef Angus Jones.

Smoking-hot trend

Smoked milk with confit ocean trout at Berowra Waters Inn, Berowra Waters; smoked rye with local sheep's milk curd, asparagus, roe and hen's yolk at Biota Dining, Bowral; smoked potato, smoked butter, house-smoking, house-curing at Monopole; Tyler's Pantry's smoked potato, cauliflower, egg yolk, black garlic, manchego cream. It's been a smoky kind of year.

Contributors: Scott Bolles, Callan Boys, Stephanie Clifford-Smith, Victoria Cosford, Sally Feldman, Guy Griffin, Carla Grossetti, Belinda Jeffery, Leanne Kitchen, Lee Tran Lam, Rachel Lebihan, Elizabeth Love, Les Luxford, Ruby Lohman, Kye Mackey, James Mayson, Lyndey Milan, Joanna Savill, Barbara Sweeney

The Sydney Morning Herald Good Food Guide 2014 will be available for $10 with The Sydney Morning Herald this weekend, from participating newsagents, Coles and Woolworths, while stocks last. It will also be available in bookshops and online at smhshop.com.au for $24.99 from Tuesday, September 3.