Welcome to the Summer of Good Food, our campaign to encourage Australians to dine out this summer in support of the hospitality industry.
We want to recognise the immense challenges hospitality experienced during the COVID-19 pandemic in the best way we know how – by informing and guiding the nation's desire to embrace restaurants, cafes and bars with family and friends.
Our support of the hospitality industry across our mastheads, online and TV platforms, will be anchored by the release of our Good Food Guide on November 30.
A guide unlike any other in its 40-year history, it will be a 100-page glossy magazine featuring 350 restaurants, bars and cafes in Victoria and NSW (in two state-specific publications). But this time, there will be no scores and no hats.
One of the toughest ever years for hospitality in both states made it impossible to fairly rate all the restaurants our reviewers visited both before and after lockdowns.
"All things considered, it really isn't the year to be handing out hats, prizes and scores," says Myffy Rigby, editor of the NSW guide. "So we made the decision to publish a Guide entirely free of numbers.
"Instead of a carefully graded end-of-term report card, this year it's a celebration of restaurants at every pitch and price point. In the interests of inclusiveness, fine dining sits alongside diverse neighbourhood eats, pizzerias and bars with great food."
As we launch this Summer of Good Food campaign today, our reviewing team is still out there visiting restaurants as we ensure this is the most comprehensive and up-to-date guide in Australia.
The magazines will be published free with The Age and The Sydney Morning Herald on November 30, then go on sale from December 7 in newsagents and supermarkets.
It's going to be an incredible #summerofgoodfood.
Ardyn Bernoth, national Good Food print editor
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