3 Best Restaurants in The Rocks, Sydney

Quay has been Sydney’s top restaurant for 30 years and it's still going strong with chef Peter Gilmore's experimental Mod Oz cuisine created with seasonal, local produce. The menu has carefully created seafood dishes, like greenlip abalone. But it’s the White Coral dessert, which is what Quay has become known. It's a white chocolate ganache shell filled with feijoa ice cream and coconut cream. Add in the sweeping vista of the Opera House and the sparkling harbor, and it's perhaps no surprise that prebooking is essential.

The lure of this decadent restaurant high above Sydney Harbour on the 36th floor of the luxurious Shangri-La Hotel, is the view through the floor-to-ceiling windows, but the Mod Oz dishes presented with a strong European influence are equally impressive. The produce hails from local farmers. For a special occasion, gather a dozen friends to dine in the opulent, egg-shape private dining room, or indulge in the seven-course degustation with matching wines. On weekends the adjoining bar can be a little noisy as the night wears on, so it might be a good idea to beat it early or join in the fun.

Most people come to this buzzy bar at the end of Pier 4 for a quick bite before a show at the adjacent Sydney Theatre Company, but the views of the Harbour Bridge are so spectacular that it's worth coming here any time. It gets busy before a show starts, but then the crowd vanishes, leaving it a pleasant place to linger over a quiet glass of wine or cocktail and soak in the amazing view. The menu is split into small tapas-style eats to share or large mains, and there's plenty of variety from hearty pastas, fish-and-chips and antipasto boards.