Summarize this content to 2000 words in 6 paragraphs Everything you need to know about The Age Good Food Guide 2025 Awards.Good evening! My name’s Annabel Smith and I’m here in the Plaza Ballroom beneath the city’s Regent Theatre to help guide you through tonight’s Good Food Guide Awards, presented by Vittoria Coffee and Oceania Cruises. Who will be crowned Chef of the Year? Who will gain a hat? Will anyone lose a hat? Will Ben Shewry attend? Which chefs be at Pearl Jam instead? (Quite a few, if The Bear soundtrack is anything to go by.)Until then, here’s all you need to know about the Good Food Guide.Guests at last year’s ceremony mingle in the Plaza Ballroom’s Baroque surrounds.Credit: Ashley LudkinWhat’s The Age Good Food Guide?The Good Food Guide comes out annually and is a compilation of 500 independent reviews of restaurants, bars and cafes in Victoria visited by our team of critics in the past six months. (They visit plenty of other venues that didn’t make the cut, too.)LoadingHome to the renowned chefs’ hats, Good Food has been recognising the country’s leading restaurants for more than 40 years, by awarding venues its coveted hats – from one to the pinnacle of three hats.This year’s Guide is being launched tonight, and we’re also pressing go on our new Good Food app once the ceremony wraps.You can get your hands on the hard-copy 148-page Good Food Guide 2025 Victoria from tomorrow (Tuesday, November 19), when it goes on sale for $14.95.The Age Good Food Guide Awards 2024, also held in the Plaza Ballroom.Credit: Ashley LudkinWhat happens at tonight’s gala event?We’re back at the Plaza Ballroom for the second year in a row, where 500 chefs, restaurateurs and industry legends from the Victorian dining and drinking scenes will gather as 16 awards – including two new gongs – along with the coveted chefs’ hats, are handed out.The award ceremony begins at 7pm, hosted by Yumi Stynes (we’ll hear from Yumi soon).I’ll be with you the whole way, providing updates on all the winners, and my colleagues will be feeding us hot takes and gossip straight from the red carpet as guests pause for selfies at the media wall and make their way down to the Baroque-styled basement.The stage is currently under wraps behind giant drapes – but soon we’ll peel back the curtain and reveal all.
