Chef Ben Willis' restaurants Temporada and Aubergine were the big winners from the ACT at the Sydney Morning Herald Good Food Guide 2015 Awards overnight.

Aubergine remains the only two-hatted restaurant in the capital this year and was named Regional Wine List of the Year, while the new Temporada has gone straight into the guide with its first hat and an award for Best Short Wine List.

Willis and business partner Chris Darragh opened Temporada earlier this year and have been winning praise for its intriguing food and relaxed dining.

Sommelier Josh Donnelly oversees the wines at both restaurant and won praise for creating an "eclectic, bold, thrilling" list at Temporada with just 49 wines. At the other end of the spectrum, his 650-strong list for Aubergine was described as comprehensive with serious intent.

Mr Willis said he was surprised but happy to win the award, particularly for the Best Short Wine List at Temporada. He said they hadn't come to the awards night expecting to win.

"When you own restaurants you're there trying to keep customers happy, doing what you enjoy doing, then you go to an awards night and they hand you an award. It just seems a bit surreal, it's a great acknowledgement of what you do," he said.

"There's no agenda when we set up wine lists, or choose what wines we put on. There's no agenda to win awards. They're customer-focused wine lists, they need to be accessible for the customers."

Mr Willis said the award was a credit to the team and the staff and everyone involved in both restaurants.

Wine writer and judge Jeni Port said Donnelly's work "simply can't fail to impress".

There were single hats for some of the mainstays of Canberra's fine dining scene: Water's Edge on the waterfront at Parkes and Courgette in the city, both owned by chef James Musillon; the Turkish-inspired high-end restaurant Ottoman in Barton, owned by Serif Kaya; Italian & Sons in Braddon, owned by Pasquale Trimboli and his brothers.

But there were also new entries in the form of Capitol Bar and Grill, the glitzy restaurant at QT Hotel in NewActon (the former Rydges Lakeside) which has been open just this year.

Malamay, the modern Asian restaurant at the Burbury Hotel, has gained a hat and the bold and noisy eightysix on Lonsdale Street in Braddon gets a hat after knocking on the door for a year - it was half a point short of a hat last year.

Also in the region, Biota Dining in Bowral was named La Maison du The Regional Restaurant of the Year while Cupitt's Kitchen in Ulladulla on the south coast moves up to take a hat.

The Sydney Morning Herald Good Food Guide 2015 is available for $10 with the Sydney Morning Herald on September 6 at participating newsagents and 7-11 stores. The Guide is also available at smhshop.com.au and at bookstores for $24.99 from Tuesday, September 2.