Are There Michelin Star Restaurants in Australia?

Updated October 5, 2026 · Star counts and prices checked October 2026

Not yet, but the wait ends on 14 October 2026. Australia has never had a MICHELIN Guide, so no Australian restaurant holds a Michelin star today. The first, the MICHELIN Guide South Australia 2027, reveals its stars that day at a ceremony in Adelaide. Sydney and Melbourne aren’t included.

For years the question “are there any Michelin star restaurants in Australia?” had a simple answer: no, because Michelin never came. That changes this month, but only for one state. Here is why Australia went without stars for so long, what the South Australian guide covers, what it means for Sydney and Melbourne, and where the nearest starred restaurants are today.

Why Australia has had no Michelin stars

Michelin only awards stars where it publishes a guide, and until 2026 it had never published one for Australia. New guides are expensive to launch, and these days most arrive through a partnership with a tourism body that helps pay for the inspections. Australia’s restaurants were rated by home-grown guides instead, above all the Good Food Guide’s chef’s hats.

That changed on 11 May 2026, when Michelin announced its first Australian guide in a partnership with the Government of South Australia. Michelin’s International Director, Gwendal Poullennec, pointed to the state’s “impressive diversity of culinary expressions within a single destination”, and inspectors were drawn by its wine regions and the short distances between growers, winemakers and restaurants.

The first guide: South Australia, 14 October 2026

The inaugural selection of the MICHELIN Guide South Australia 2027 will be revealed at the Adelaide Convention Centre on Wednesday 14 October 2026. It covers the whole state, so as well as Adelaide it can include restaurants in wine regions such as the Barossa, Clare Valley and McLaren Vale, and on Kangaroo Island. Restaurants can receive one, two or three Michelin stars, a Bib Gourmand for good cooking at moderate prices, or be listed as MICHELIN Selected, and there are awards for a young chef, service and a sommelier.

It is the first MICHELIN Guide Australia has ever had, and these will be the first Michelin stars awarded on Australian soil. We’ll add South Australia’s starred restaurants to The Starred Bill, with their dinner, lunch and wine pairing prices, as soon as the selection is published.

Are there Michelin star restaurants in Sydney?

No. The first guide covers South Australia only, so no Sydney restaurant can win a star this year, and Michelin hasn’t announced a guide for New South Wales. Sydney’s top restaurants are rated with hats in the Good Food Guide instead, and two of its four three-hat restaurants in the 2026 edition have since closed. Quay, Peter Gilmore’s restaurant overlooking the Opera House, served its last dinner on 14 February 2026 after 23 consecutive years with three hats. Oncore by Clare Smyth at Crown Sydney, the Australian sister of her three-star CORE in London, closed on 28 February.

That leaves Saint Peter, Josh Niland’s fish restaurant in Paddington, and Sixpenny in Stanmore as the city’s three-hat restaurants. For a meal at Clare Smyth’s level now, the nearest is CORE itself in Notting Hill, where dinner costs £275 (about $365) per person (see London’s prices).

Are there Michelin star restaurants in Melbourne?

No, for the same reason: Victoria isn’t part of the first guide. Melbourne’s highest honours are three hats in The Age Good Food Guide, which in 2026 went to Vue de monde, Amaru and Minamishima in the city, and Brae, Dan Hunter’s farm restaurant at Birregurra in the Otways.

Chef’s hats vs Michelin stars

Hats are Australia’s answer to stars, awarded each year by the Good Food Guide published with The Sydney Morning Herald and The Age, on a scale of one to three. The two systems aren’t equivalent. Hats come from the guide’s scored reviews, while Michelin’s inspectors are anonymous, pay for their meals and judge only the food on the plate. Far more restaurants hold a hat than hold stars in any comparable Michelin city, so a hat isn’t a star in waiting, though the three-hat restaurants are the ones most often tipped for stars.

The nearest Michelin stars: New Zealand

Until South Australia’s results are out, the nearest starred restaurants are across the Tasman. The first MICHELIN Guide New Zealand, revealed on 30 June 2026, gave stars to 15 restaurants. Essence in Queenstown is Oceania’s first two-star restaurant, with an eight-course menu at NZ$450 (about $255), and tasting menus at the one-star restaurants start at about NZ$90. Our New Zealand page lists them all, from Auckland to Queenstown, with their prices.