Cafe Sopra at Fratelli Fresh in Potts Point.

Cafe Sopra at Fratelli Fresh in Potts Point. Photo: Marco Del Grande

With rising emphasis on provenance, flavour and fun, the dining scene has shifted from formal to fresh, write Terry Durack and Joanna Savill.

Anyone interested in a crisp linen tablecloth should have no trouble snapping up a bargain on eBay. There are quite a few restaurants around town choosing to go unclothed.

It's all part of a shift towards more casual, accessible dining as a new generation of chefs and restaurateurs focuses on food, flavour and fun rather than formality and frills. So tablecloths are no longer the defining fabric of great dining and nor are their traditional accomplices: multi-million-dollar makeovers, uniformed staff and trundling trolleys of cheese and cognac.

This year has also seen the rise of small bars, many as devoted to food as they are to cocktails or wine.

Bloodwood bar/restaurant in Newtown.

Laidback ... Bloodwood Restaurant and Bar in Newtown. Photo: Tamara Dean

After seven months checking out more than 1000 restaurants, bars, cafes and good food stops around Sydney and beyond, the Good Food Guide team can confidently report that this is the year dining "got real". Eating out became more relaxed, there is better quality at lower prices and more dining options than we have seen for some time.

 In Pymble, Dietmar Sawyere, of Berowra Waters Inn fame, opened Ad Lib Bistro, serving no-fuss classics such as Holstein schnitzel, French onion soup and chocolate mousse. In Newtown, three ex-Claude's chefs swapped champagne and truffles for Bighead beer, garlic prawns and lamb kibbeh at the laidback Bloodwood Restaurant and Bar.

Even long-term three-hatter Greg Doyle of Pier in Rose Bay decided – in a blaze of publicity – to go back to the safer, less experimental cooking of his past in a bid to woo back lapsed regulars.

No tablecloths, no booking policies and no flash loos may once have meant no chef's hat. But a new energy and boost in quality has resulted in a swag of high-spirited places at which intelligent, lively cooking and personal charm go hand in hand. Among those donning the chef's toque for the first time are the greengrocer-driven Cafe Sopra, Surry Hills's paprika-scented Bodega and north shore newbie Ad Lib.

This year's Good Food Guide salutes a grand total of 15 newly awarded one-hat restaurants. We think it's cause for celebration.

Pub grub has also stepped up a notch, thanks to talented young chefs such as Leigh McDivitt at 3 Weeds in Rozelle, Brad Sloane at Balmain's Riverview and, most notably, Colin Fassnidge at Paddington's freshly two-hatted Four In Hand.

None of this puts the boot into fine dining. Our beautifully assembled gastronomic restaurants continue to surprise and amaze but with a more natural, less contrived, approach to glorious local produce. The global trend towards high-tech gastro-trickery was fun while it lasted but now whizz-bang new kitchen science is used more for the sake of taste, allowing each ingredient to speak for itself. Natural wine is part of this landscape, with more dedicated winemakers returning to traditional vineyard practices and minimal intervention. They're embracing organic and biodynamic principles, pushing non-filtered wines using natural indigenous yeasts and now more than ever, celebrating their own time and place.

Food production and processing is getting greener as chefs source locally and increasingly grow their own. They're also verifying animal welfare, reducing waste, cutting carbon emissions and recycling everything from old menus to building materials. And who would have thought the day would arrive when tap water would be offered as a matter of course?

Among other trends uncovered by our 37-strong reviewing team is the unstoppable rise of the north shore. Manly leads the way with a host of exciting new arrivals, including Best New Restaurant Manly Pavilion, the bright and bubbly China Beach and lively El Toro Loco.

Just when you thought there was nothing left to find out about coffee, a new generation of baristas and cafe-owners has begun purchasing beans direct, buying fair trade, bidding for rare micro lots in global auctions, roasting on-site and exploring new, gentler methods of brewing. Check out the best coffee spots in our ever-changing 10 of the Best lists; along with burger joints, sushi dens, dessert diners, green restaurants and Sydney's top views.

There are 31 new restaurants in the guide among the 250 scored reviews from the city and suburbs. Add to that 180 Global Gems, bars and cafes, and you have a pick of places for any occasion.

Out of town, tireless regional editor Angie Schiavone and her team criss-crossed the countryside to come up with more than 300 scored reviews and a terrific mix of cafes, provedores and growers' markets that display increasing regional strengths.

Wine writer Huon Hooke adds to the adventure with his guided tour of each region. And there's a traveller's guide to 67 interstate restaurants . . . but why go anywhere else?