This will be our very first visit to Australia, staying in the Sydney CBD and South Wharf area of Melbourne. We/ve did a bit of research and have come up with a very tentative list of restaurants that looked appealing.

Sydney; Marilgold for dim sum, PJ O'Brien's for pub fare, Golden Century for Chinese seafood, Masuya Izakaya for Japanese, and the Riverview Hotel for Sunday roast.

Melbourne; Hutong Dumpling Bar for xiao long bao, Cumulus for local fare and Bohemian Restaurant for Spanish tapas.

I'd love to hear from more experienced travelers if these would be good choices. We'd also love to get some recommendations for Vietnamese in Melbourne, though it looks like there are plenty of options to walk around and choose. Will also be doing a similar request on Chowhound as well. Thanks in advance for your help.

For Melbourne: recommend Din Tai Fang for dumplings, love Cumulus, never heard of Bohemian . For Vietnamese I love Thanh Tam in Victoria street Richmond which has banh cuon and pancakes .
I would recommend Supernormal in the city for great local food and Movida for tapas .
Really you walk along Victoria street and choos from many of the Vietnamese places.

Thank you northie! We've been to Din Tai Fung previously in Japan which is why we thought to try Hutong, plus they have some pretty nice dishes besides dumplings. We'll look into Thanh Tam and we've heard about the many places along Victoria Street, but it's always helpful to learn of a fellow Fodorite's favorite.

Hutong is very good. Lots of my work mates eat there regularly. Gets very busy. I also like Chin Chin and agree with Cumulus. I have been to Movida a few times and it is good. You will be spoilt for choice.

Among your options I've had the pleasure to dine at both Marigold and Golden Century and could recommend them highly. In fact we just had a delicious seafood dinner at Golden Century tonight, and it lived up to our expectations now built up from several visits over the years.

Tagging along as we will be there next month.

Fantastic, thank you so much for your responses. We're very much looking forward to our visit, exploring two new cities and enjoying some great food.