In 2019, tiny restaurants rule

Want to get the best dining your money can buy in 2019? There are two new rules of fork to follow: get out of town, and seek the small. Really small.

Some of the best dining experiences in Australia right now are at restaurants with fewer than 20 seats. Brisbane newcomer Joy, a nominee for the Good Food Guide's best new restaurant, has exactly two staff and serves 10 punters at a time.

In Victoria, you can count 16-seat Underbar in Ballarat, 14-seat Greazy Zoe's in Hurstbridge, 20-seat wine bar Napier Quarter in Fitzroy's backstreets and tiny Healesville wine bar Graceburn among those doing big, exciting things, largely because they are so petite.

When you break down the increasingly popular business model, the logic checks out. When restaurateurs ditch the rate race and big rents for tiny spaces (even better if they're out of town) they can put those savings back on the plate.

That's certainly the case for chef-owner Derek Boath of Underbar. When he returned to Australia after slaving at Thomas Keller's Per Se in New York, he wanted to buy a house, start a family and open a restaurant. "I realised with restaurant lease prices and the cost of living in Melbourne, I might achieve one of those things - and only working insane hours."

So Boath and his wife Lucy went to Ballarat. Rent for his hatted restaurant, which is in the CBD, is $15,000 annually. Boath says he's seen small spaces in Melbourne's Windsor for "thousands of dollars per week." With those figures, a restaurant has no choice but to open seven days. But that means paying staff daily, or, as a business owner, working non-stop.

Underbar is not only small, it runs just two services a week. The scarcity and quality of the $160 seasonal degustation means they are regularly booked out and can plan other costs, such as staff who are able to rely on shifts. Boath says "in many restaurants, casuals are slammed when it's busy and the first to be clocked off when it's too quiet. We can offer consistency."

The flexibility means Boath and his wife Lucy share the stay at home parent role two days a week each.

It sounds like a dream for chefs but it's diners who win. It's the personal attention they get when the numbers are low.

Pretty Little, a new 12-seat restaurant in Balaclava, has one large central table and the feel of dinner at someone's house. Graceburn, which is also the cellar door for Yarra Valley winemaker Mac Forbes, can often run an impromptu wine tasting even at full throttle.

Imagine the creativity that comes from chefs such as Eileen Horsnell of Napier Quarter, but formerly of hard hitting fine diner Lume, and Hugh Davison who traded running five kitchens at Stones of the Yarra Valley for teensy Graceburn, turning their firepower onto a far-tighter product.

It's also the no-waste economics of smaller scales, too. Chef Zoe Birch of Greasy Zoe's, a tiny restaurant that looks like an old ski chalet, buys and breaks down exactly the amount of meat from the most ethical (and typically small batch) farmers.

Boath loves the same lack of restriction. "I can shop at farmers markets and find one bunch of beetroots. I can work with that."

Join the revolution: tiny restaurants, huge rewards.

Five to try:

Underbar 3 Doveton Street North, Ballarat Central, www.underbar.com.au. 16 seats

Greasy Zoe's Shop 3/850 Heidelberg-Kinglake Road, Hurstbridge, greasyzoes.com.au. 14 seats

Pretty Little 296 Carlisle Street, Balaclava, www.prettylittle.com.au. 20 seats

Graceburn Bistro 11a Green Street, Healesville, www.graceburn.com. 25 seats

Napier Quarter 359 Napier Street, Fitzroy, napierquarter.com.au. 25 seats

The Good Food Guide's third annual national edition, with hats awarded across Australia, will be launched on September 30 with our presenting partners Vittoria Coffee and Citi. The Good Food Guide 2020 will be on sale from October 1 in newsagencies and bookstores and is also available to pre-order at thestore.com.au/gfg20, $29.99 with free shipping.