Simplicity and elegance seemed the quiet buzz words in a year which saw no great innovations or trends emerge.

Aussie food style seems to be in a holding pattern. But, our produce is amazing and we now know it and expect it.

We don't need to fuse everything from Asia with what our grandmothers, boarding school cooks and home economics teachers taught us. Being free to cook, order and eat food that tastes like the actual ingredient and not some Gucci hybrid has been refreshing, delicious and healthy.

No greater example of this than oysters. If you lined up all my spent shells this year they would form a path from Cairns to Coffs Harbour. So few were ordinary, even when eating a long way from the ocean, like at Felicity's, Mt Tamborine with its plump Tasmanians.

A trio of oysters (natural, with lime and ginger, and pancetta topped) at Angsana resort and Spa overlooking the Coral Sea at Palm Cove was memorable and so were the South Australians that came in lieu of our ordered white asparagus soup at Il Centro in Brisbane.

Pier Nine oysters always shine as does the snappy little menu of seafood mini-dishes served at the glass sushi bar. And its warm eel and soba noodle salad was particularly good. Jimmy G's, also in the city, has a small but delicious selection that includes the highly underrated Moreton Bay harvest.

But it was from Kooringal in northern Moreton Bay that the best oysters of the year came.

Restaurant II, near the Botanic Gardens, had them as well, and I nearly lost a hand trying to share a dozen with a hungry friend.

Restaurant II also produced a salad of Hervey Bay mud crab with a velvety mayo that was to die for.

Salad of sand crab, kaffir lime and mint sitting on char-grilled strips of pork belly should never have been allowed off the menu at The Dining Room at Hendra and neither should the chicken poached in sugar cane and stock with a slight hint of anise and Vietnamese mint.

Grilled quails with rosemary and olive oil at Cafe dell'Ugo in New Farm were a must, so too Bruno Loubet's quail, filled with cotechino (Italian sausage made from pig's head and mild aromatic spices) and cabbage, and served with a mushroom ravioli that he made for a special dinner at Palazzo Versace on the Gold Coast. At his Toowong base, Bruno's Tables, his beetroot ravioli with sage and horseradish butter also is a cracker.

Isis Brasserie in the Valley got almost everything right this year and a complimentary amuse gueules of smoked cod brandade on a fondue of leeks served on porcelain spoons was excellent.

Ambience is a vital ingredient in exceptional dining and there's nowhere which sends casual and serene auras quite as well as Ricky Ricardo's on the Sunshine Coast.

A day spent grazing on tapas and sipping wine there is hard to beat. In the glamour stakes, it's Vanitas (Gold Coast), Gianni (Brisbane) and Berardo's (Noosa) hands down. Sitting in the courtyard late into the evening at Gianni makes you feel like you're holidaying in Europe.

If the kids are in tow, try a glass of wine while gazing out over the Brisbane River at Watt at the Brisbane Powerhouse in New Farm, with Turkish bread and a pot of dukkah and olive oil.

I had it on good authority from an 11-year-old that the wood-fired pizzas were great at Fix in Brisbane so I dropped in for a tomato and basil topped number, and he was right.

Vroom in the Valley serves chef Pasqualino's Italian doughnuts, which are laced with orange zest and fantastic for brekkie. Pasqualino, a sprightly 81-year-old, spends half the year in Australia pumping out delicious treats from his native Sardinia and the rest of the year baking in the home country.

High-topped lemon mascarpone tarts with coffee at Olivetto's at Red Hill were fantastic as were individual passionfruit meringues at Tognini's, Spring Hill.

Have a wonderful new year celebration and enjoy eating a lot!