Gault&Millau's The Yellow Guide launches in Sydney

Sydney is about to be hit with another restaurant guide, awarding hats and scores out of 20 no less. Launched last night at food lovers destination, Salt Meats Cheese, with a crowd of chefs, champagne and canapés, Gault&Millau Australia's 'The Yellow Guide' for Sydney 2014 is the newest kid on the reviewing block.

Gault&Millau Australia's 'The Yellow Guide' Sydney 2014

Hailing from France, Gaullt&Millau (for us Aussies, phonetically pronounced "Go Me-yo") Australia recruited industry professionals and trained them to international Gault&Millau reviewing standards; evaluating more than 1000 meals for the inaugural Sydney guide.

While scores out of 20 are pretty standard, no restaurant scoring less than 10 appears in the Yellow Guide; resulting in more than 300 of what are considered to be Sydney's best published in the guide.

Gault&Millau Australia's hat system

Hats are awarded differently to the current incumbent system, starting with 1 hat for a score of 11 or 12, up to 5 golden hats for a perfect score of 20. The addition of a score/icon for venues with 12 or more cheeses offered is a very French touch.

The restaurant reviews are generally longer than the bite-sized ones in the incumbent guide, with some spanning whole pages but the majority being half pages of a smallish font size.

Gault&Millau Australia's top hatted restaurants

And while there are many similarities up the top hatted end, it's the three, two and one hats in Gault&Millau Yellow Guide that are particularly different; with hats awarded in much greater volumes from three hats and down.

There are currently no 5 golden hat restaurants in Sydney, though I'm not sure that's even a realistic result. It's yet to be seen how Gault&Millau Australia will be received - by restaurants and diners - but another perspective can't be all bad. Congratulations to the Yellow Guide's hats in Sydney.

Five hats (18.5 to 19 points)
Momofuku Seiobo, Quay, Sepia

Four hats (17 to 18.4 points)
Billy Kwong, The Bridge Room, Chiswick Restaurant and Bar, est., Gastro Park, Jonah's Restaurant, Marque, MoVida, Rockpool, Rockpool Bar & Grill, Sean's Panaroma, sixpenny, Tetsuya's

Three hats (15 to 16 points)
Altitude Restaurant, ARIA Restaurant, Arras, The Bathers' Pavilion, Bei Amici, Bentley Restaurant & Bar, Berowra Waters Inn, Bistro Boulevard, BLACK by Ezard, Busshari, Cafe Sydney, Cara & Co (closed), Catalina, China Doll, Clareville Kiosk, Cottage Point Inn, The Cut Bar & Grill, The Devonshire, Fix St James, Flying Fish Restaurant & Bar, 4Fourteen, Four in Hand Dining Room, Fratelli Paradiso, Kitchen by Mike, Longrain, Lucio's, Ms. G's, Otto Ristorante, Pendolino, Pilu at Freshwater, Pony Dining (The Rocks), Popolo, Porteno, Restaurant Atelier, Spencer Guthrie, Spice Temple, Tastevin Bistro & Wine Bar, Tomislav Restaurant, Uccello, Verde Restaurant + Bar, Vini

Two hats (13 to 14 points)
A Tavola, Agape Organic Restaurant, Almond Bar, Ananas Bar & Brasserie, The Apollo, Aqua Dining, Ash St. Cellar, Azuma Chifley, Balla, Bambini Trust, Bar H, Barbuto Restaurant, Baroque Bistro Patisserie, Barrenjoey House, Barrio Chino, The Bellevue Dining Room, Berta, Bishop Sessa, Bistro Moncur, Bistrode CBD, Blancharu, bloodwood, The Boathouse on Blackwattle Bay, Bodega, Bondi's Best, Bronte Road Bistro, Buffalo Dining Club, Buon Ricordo, The Burlington, Burnt Orange, Buzo Trattoria, Cafe Lyon, Chef's Gallery, China Beach, Chophouse, Cipri Italian, Cucinetta Ristorante & Bar, deviate, The Dining Room, The Duck Inn Pub & Kitchen, Dunes Restaurant & Kiosk, Enopizzeria, Felix, The Fish Shop, Foley Lane, Foveaux Restaurant & Bar, Garfish Manly, Ginger & Spice, glass brasserie, Glebe Point Diner, Gowings Bar & Grill, Grecian Blue, Hartsyard, honeycomb, House, Hugos Manly, Icebergs Dining Room & Bar, il perugino, Intermezzo Ristorante, Jah Bar, Kabuki Shoroku, Kalevu, Kobe Jones Teppanyaki, Letoile, La Rosa Bar & Pizza, La Tratt, La Trattoria on Norton, Luke Benchmark, Malabar @ Darlinghurst, Manly Wine, Manta, Mexicano, Mission Restaurant and Bar, Morena, Mr Wong, Neptune Palace, Neutral Bay Diner, Nilgiri's, North Bondi Italian Food, O Bar and Dining, Ocean Room, Ormeggio at The Spit, Orto Trading Co, Oscillate Wildly, The Owl House, The Pantry, PaperPlanes, Pizza Mario, Pompei's, Public Dining Room, Red Lantern on Crown, Restaurant 16, Ripples Chowder Bay, Ripples Milsons Point, Ripples Sydney Wharf, Rocket Restaurant, Sails on Lavender Bay, Sake Restaurant & Bar, the sardine room, Signorelli Gastronomia, Sokyo, Spice I Am Darlinghurst, Starfish Avalon, Steel Bar & Grill, sugarcane, Sugaroom, sushi e, tapioca, The Tea Room Gunner's Barracks, Three Blue Ducks, Toko Restaurant & Bar, Ume, Verandah Restaurant & Wine Bar, Wilbur's Place, Wildfire, The Wine Library, Xanthi, Yoshii, Zaaffran

One hat (11 to 12 points)
Aki’s Indian, Angel Restaurant, Antoine’s Grill, BAHBW, Banjo Patterson Cottage Restaurant, Bau Truong, Beppi’s, bills, Bistro Bruno, Bitton Café & Grocer, Blue Eye Dragon, The Boathouse Palm Beach, Booth St Bistro, Brown Sugar, Café Sopra, The Carrington, Cavallino, Chairman Mao, Chat Thai, Chinta Ria Mood for Love, The Cook’s Garden, Courtney’s Brasserie, Danny’s Seafood, Delicado Foods, Din Tai Fung World Square, The Eathouse Diner, Efendy, Emmilou, Fei Jai, Firefly Neutral Bay, Fish Face, 42 Bannerman Trattoria e Bar, Galileo Restaurant, Garfish Crows Nest, Garfish Kirribilli, Gazebo Wine Bar, Golden Century Seafood Restaurant, Grappa Ristorante e Bar, The Grounds of Alexandria, HaNa Ju-Rin, Harvest Store & Kitchen, Hickson Road Bistro, High St Bistro, Home Thai, Hugos Bar Pizza, Iron Chef Chinese Seafood Restaurant, Izakaya Fujiyama, Jamie’s Italian, Ju Ge Mu & Shimbashi, Kazbah Balmain, Kobe Jones Sydney, Kujin, La Brasserie, La Grand Bouffe, La Grillade, La Pesa Trattoria, La Scala on Jersey, Lachlan’s Restaurant, love.fish, Lucio Pizzeria, Machiavelli Ristorante, Malabar@Crow’s Nest, The Malaya, Mamak, The Morrison Bar & Oyster Room, New Shanghai, Nostos, The Old Library, Oliveto Ristorante & Bar, Osteria Riva, Palace Chinese Restaurant, Palings, Parma, Pony Neutral Bay, Quattro Paste, Queenies, Radio Cairo, Red Chilli Sichuan Restaurant, Red Lantern on Riley, Rengaya, Ripples Whale Beach, The Riverview Hotel Dining Room, Safi, Sakana-Ya, Seven Lanterns, Spice I Am Balmain, Stella Blu, Stuyvesant’s House, Szechuan Garden Restaurant, Temasek, 3 Weeds Restaurant, Treehouse, The Union Restaurant, Via Napoli Pizzeria, Vicinity Dining, WAQU, Wildwater Grill, The Winery

Food, booze and shoes attended the launch of Gault&Millau's The Yellow Guide as a guest, with thanks to Savannah PR.