A backstage pass to the city's best restaurants, and how to enjoy them.

In the lead up to the annual Sydney Morning Herald Good Food Guide Awards on Monday night, we present the five finalists vying for the Vittoria Coffee Restaurant Of The Year Award.

Each year (and this will be the 32nd, in the Guide's history), the game gets tighter, and room for error drastically decreases. And no one is more critically aware of this than the five chefs behind Sydney's most important restaurants.

Among those at the vanguard are Peter Gilmore at Quay - the restaurant with bazillion dollar harbour views and a menu where rich softness is punctuated by mind-blowing texture. Gilmore's penchant for rare and tiny everything means a new discovery on every plate. Chef Federico Zanellato's seemingly effortless skill at LuMi - the restaurant literally caught in a glass case of Italo-Japanese devotion - has most of Sydney's serious food fans sitting up straighter. Meanwhile, check out Daniel Puskas flying solo in the Sixpenny kitchen now co-founder James Parry has left the building. He's continued to build on his style of cool, serene restraint.

Barbadian native Paul Carmichael hit our shores last year from New York, bringing flavours from his childhood (the dreadlocked chef credits his mother's cooking prowess for a lot of the flavours and techniques he uses) and electrifying the menu at the notoriously hard-to-get-into Momofuku Seiobo. And then there's the pure elegance and joy of dining at Sepia where Martin Benn serves a menu that's as much magic as it is grounded in fantastic produce. Benn holds an all-access pass to the most spectacular seafood in the country and leads an army of devoted chefs.

In a year of restlessness for top tier dining (both Marque and Rockpool Est 1989 shut their doors, re-fueling the usual 'fine dining is dead' debate), these are the restaurants that reinforce the need for light and shade in our dining landscape. They bring context and texture, original thought and a sense of aesthetic.

This year has a record 50 finalists for 16 award categories including Citi Chef of the Year, Best New Restaurant, Vittoria Legend and brand new award, Cafe of the Year). The black tie awards night is the Oscars of the Australian restaurant scene. It will be held at the Streets of Barangaroo in a purpose built marquee styled by inimitable interior architect Pascale Gomes-McNabb, will feature a menu from leading Sydney chef Brent Savage (Bentley Restaurant and Bar, Monopole, Yellow and soon-to-open Cirrus) and will be MCd by comedian Tim Ross.

The Sydney Morning Herald Good Food Guide award night, presented by Citi and Vittoria, is on September 5. The Guide will be on sale in newsagents and bookstores from September 6, with all book purchases receiving free access to the new Good Food app.

And the finalists are...

Lumi Dining

Who the hell would pipe a glossy black sesame emulsion on top of salt-baked beetroot? And make it look like a party-time continental cake? And make it taste earthy, explosive, incendiary? Only someone like LuMI's Federico Zanellato. The gleaming glass-walled space on Pyrmont Wharf is lit by a starry ceiling of pendant lights, and service strikes that very Italian note of both informality and care. 56 Pirrama Road, Pyrmont. 02 9571 1999. http://lumidining.com.

Momofuku Seiobo

Dreadlocked Barbadian chef Paul Carmichael has left behind the menu inherited from Ben Greeno, the former captain of The Star's hardest-to-book restaurant, and has come into his own in vibrant, living colour. Every dish is electric on the plate and each component tells a story. The Beach Boys and Pavement soundtrack continues to crank and the knowledge and professionalism of the young staff is forever impressive. Seibo rocks and it rocks loud. The Star, 80 Pyrmont Street, Pyrmont. 02 9777 9000. seiobo.momofuku.com.

Sepia

What an elegant, joyful restaurant this is, seven years on. Dining at Martin Benn and Vicki Wild's downtown restaurant has the rhythm of Japanese kaiseki, yet service is personable and warm, and comfort levels are high. Benn's obsessive skills with Australian seafood and mastery of Japanese flavours mean the seemingly fragile food hides bombshells of flavour. 201 Sussex Street, Sydney. 02 9283 1990. sepiarestaurant.com.au

Sixpenny

While things have changed behind the scenes – co-founder James Parry has departed, leaving the gifted Daniel Puskas in sole kitchen control – Sixpenny has gone up in value. The Nordic-influenced dining room remains serenely statement-free. There's a still a choice of six-or-eight course tasting menus and the beautifully realised food still feels just-picked and plated. 83 Percival Road, Stanmore. 02 9572 6666. sixpenny.com.au.

Quay

Between the mud crab congee – the country's most luxurious comfort dish – and a member of the floor staff subtly taking a white napkin to be replaced with a black (just in case the white leaves any threads on a dark outfit) and the smart, snappy matches it's hard to find fault here. Poached quail is a perfect example of that signature Peter Gilmore rich softness punctuated with the sweet crunch of toasted hazelnuts. Upper Level, Overseas Passenger Terminal, the Rocks. 02 9251 5600. quay.com.au.