Yule be rapt: The Good Food team gift guide

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Dear Santa, this is what we would like to find in our Good Food stocking this year. Thanks.

Pair of vino rosso glasses by Malfatti

Each Malfatti glass is unique, shaped by the breath of New York-based glassblowers Daniel Spitzer and Jill Reynolds. The misshapen vessels are so lightweight they seem to quiver on another plane of existence when you hold them but, mercifully, they're not as fragile as they feel, made from laboratory-strength, dishwasher-safe borosilicate glass. Perfect for a bloke who has never owned a wine glass for more than three months without dropping it on the tiles. The grappa and sake glasses are just as beautiful. (CB)

$US70, malfattiglass.bigcartel.com. Also available from Sorry Thanks I Love You.

Big Green Egg

The Thermomix of the barbecue world, this egg-shaped ceramic charcoal cooker is one of the best backyard ovens on the market. It's versatile enough to smoke salmon, fire a pizza in seconds, or slow-cook brisket overnight. Chef Clayton Wells uses one of the ovular bad boys for controlled grilling at his restaurants in Sydney and Singapore. I already own an entry-level Egg, which is brilliant for small parties, but now I'm jonesing for an extra-large model. Something for those summer barbecues that call for 24 burgers to be grilled at once or 11 chooks smoked simultaneously. (CB)

RRP $999-$4999, biggreenegg.com.au

Skeppshult cast iron spice-grinder with oak lid

A mortar and pestle you can carry in your pocket? Well, almost. At just 7.5cm wide, this palm-sized 1kg cast iron Swedish spice mill is small enough to live on the kitchen table (or in your jacket), but heavy-duty enough to do its job properly. Place whole spices into the bottom vessel, then drop the top bowl into the cavity, and twist. Looking for something even smaller? The grinder has a 500g micro-sibling with a tiny 5.5cm diameter. (MJ)

$84.95 (large), $69.50 (small), essentialingredient.com.au

Fog Linen Work square cross apron

Look, no ties! This apron from cult Japanese label Fog Linen Work slips over your head and arms and drapes into a pinafore cross on your back. Made from fine Lithuanian linen, it comes in natural, chambray or grey stripe, and is totally safe to toss into the washing machine. (MJ)

$89.95, exchangestores.com.au

Kraut Crock

The result of a three-way collaboration between Central Victorian ceramicist Emma Jimson, her husband, carpenter Jim Jimson, and Sharon Flynn, author of Ferment for Good: Ancient Foods for the Modern Gut, the made-to-order porcelain Kraut Crock incorporates an airlock to allow gas from the fermenting cabbage to escape without letting air in, weights to hold the sauerkraut down and a turned European beech stamper (muddling stick) to crush the cabbage. (RG)

$350, pommegranite.com.au/

Finger lime tree

Rene Redzepi left Noma Australia vowing to plant a finger lime in Denmark, calling it a world-class ingredient. So it seems rude not to give the native citrus a crack myself. I'm drawn to a red variety called Rainforest Pearl, but I'll be happy with whatever Santa can slip into his sleigh. (RG)

$54.90, plus $18.50 freight, citrusmen.com.au

Eat and stay at Brae

It's not a new experience and I've definitely not been good enough for someone to stump up the $240 a head for lunch/dinner at Brae plus $615-$715 for a sleepover, but... Dan Hunter's cooking wizardry and wood-fired bread, united with the suites and their record players; the mini bar that includes decanters of local spirits and instructions to mix them into cocktails; the views of the surrounding fields and occasional hens; the breakfast hampers and organic cotton beds is all I want for Christmas. Please. (GC)

$1095+ (for two), braerestaurant.com

Wine Gallery subscription (or one-off)

I'm pro-drink, experimental, anti-decision and lazy. Bring on the monthly (or one-off), wine delivery, the brainchild of Bar Liberty sommelier Banjo Harris-Plane. It gets you a gift-wrapped trio of likely organic and small-producer wines that are sometimes hard to get even at boutique bottle shops. One month is $78, but you can spring for three or six months or even a year. That's about $26 a bottle for some stingingly good stuff. You can also get a Christmas dozen for $285, delivered. (GC)

$78, thewinegallery.com.au/gifts/

Cast iron cookware

Cooking only with cast iron is my new year's resolution. No toxic non-stick coatings to scratch off and chip into my food, intense and even heat distribution, impossible to destroy (though heavy enough to be used to destroy), loved by chefs and just so damn good looking. There is a lot of cast iron cookware on the market, but this about a quarter of the price of other well-known though delightfully enamelled competitors. And there is also the added boon that cooking with cast iron boosts your iron intake. (AB)

$90, lodgecookware.com.au

Fat Pig Farm cooking class

This is something I am doing next year, whether Santa delivers or not. Matthew Evans, chef, restaurant critic and TV star, has built a restaurant and cooking school on this fruit tree, vegetable garden and piglet-strewn farm 45 minutes south of Hobart. The class timetable changes with the seasons: it might be a workshop of plundering the vegetable garden and preparing dishes with the produce, or learning to butcher or make jams and pickles. But all culminate in a long-table feast in the homely restaurant. And it's a great excuse to sample the great restaurants in Hobart on the way home. (AB)

$300, fatpig.farm

Neoflam midas pans

My apartment is cute, but minute. The kitchen fits just a bar fridge, two hobs and little else. Needless to say I eat out a lot. But I'd love to replace my cumbersome cookware with a neat stack of quality, colourful, non-stick pots and pans with a clip on handle for easy storage and cleaning. I'd also love to use them interchangeably on my tiny hob, in my tiny oven, and to store leftovers in my tiny fridge. These pans tick every box. And I can apparently take them camping and caravanning, too (as if). (AM)

$299 for set of nine, neoflam.com.au/buycookware

SodaStream

My friend nearly ran the car off the road when I confessed I've never owned a SodaStream. What a misspent youth I must have had. I'm ready to remedy that and make 2018 literally sparkle with a slick, schmick SodaStream Source. Three levels of fizz, easy on the eye and to operate, I already have the vodka and lime lined up. (AM)

$99, sodastream.com.au

Rare cocktails from the Eveleigh Bottled Cocktail Co

Short of drinking a Bobby Burns stirred personally by bartender Harry Craddock during his tenure at the Savoy in London, this is as close as any of us are likely to get to drinking a proper vintage cocktail made with proper vintage spirits. Here, 1980s Aberlour 12-year scotch, DOM Benedictine and Cocchi sweet vermouth make friends with a dash of filtered water. It's just one in the collection of very snazzily packaged bottled cocktails (there also a 50s Martini, a 60s Vesper and a 70s Negroni in the pack) from the good folks at the Eveleigh. (MR)

$249 for the set, theeverleigh.com

A personalised tour of Japan with Michael Ryan

Japan is, embarrassingly, the largest gap in my snacking resume. So what better way to remedy this than by taking the country by storm with chef and Japophile Michael Ryan from the two-hatted restaurant the Provenance, in Beechworth. The 12-day trip starting and finishing in Tokyo runs just twice a year (May is already fully subscribed) and takes in everything from Michelin-starred restaurants to hole-in-the-wall bars. At $15,180 per person, I think this might need to be a Christmas and birthday gift combined. (MR)

$15,180, epicurioustravel.com.au

The Good Food team includes Ardyn Bernoth, Callan Boys, Gemima Cody, Roslyn Grundy, Megan Johnston, Andrea McGinniss, Myffy Rigby

Good Food Guide

The Good Food Guide 2018 is all you need to discover Australia's best restaurants over the summer and throughout the new year.

There are 500 restaurants reviewed, featuring 200 in NSW and 200 in Victoria. The rest are hatted restaurants in other major cities, meaning you will nail eating out whichever city in Australia you live in or visit.

Available now for $30 at newsagents, bookstores or online thestore.com.au/goodfood

Good Food Gift Card

For the foodie who has everything, here's the digital Good Food Gift Card. For $50, $100 or $150 you can have a digital gift delivered within 10 minutes. The card allows the recipient to dine at a wide range of Good Food-rated Australian restaurants (not all restaurants featured in the Good Food Guide accept the card).

Go to thestore.com.au

Good Food gift hamper

A range of hampers from the Good Times Red Wine hamper, Jolly Christmas Hamper and the Essentials Gift Box (pictured) have been expertly curated to shower the recipient with delicious treats of both the eating and drinking variety. Prices start at $130.

Go to thestore.com.au