18 Best Restaurants in Sydney, New South Wales

With windows overlooking the Opera House and Harbour Bridge, Aria could easily rest on the laurels of its location. Instead, celebrity chef Matthew Moran creates a menu of extraordinary dishes that may be your best meal Down Under. It doesn't come cheap but fine fare rarely does, especially in Australia. This foodie favorite enjoyed a recent multimillion-dollar refurbishment, with the restaurant now being one of the most stylish in Sydney.

Balmoral Beach is blessed. Not only does it have an inviting sandy beach and great water views, but it also has one of the best eating strips north of the Harbour Bridge. Queen of the strip is Bathers' Pavilion, which includes a restaurant, café, and lavish private dining room. Here you'll find a menu packed with the best local ingredients no matter if you're dining for a casual breakfast, lunch, afternoon tea or dinner. There's a choice of fresh light salads, wood-fired pizzas, and seafood dishes for around A$30. No reservations taken for the café.

One of Australia's most renowned chefs, Peter Gilmore, oversees the kitchen at possibly the most superbly situated dining room in town. Tucked into the side of the Opera House, the restaurant affords views of Sydney Harbour Bridge and the city lights. Gilmore's creations are as special as the view and showcase the best of Australia's produce with a focus on terroir. Whatever you do, leave room for dessert, with the cherry jam lamington, a clever interpretation of an Australian classic, which has been a constant on the menu for almost a decade. It's that good. Pretheater dining is available if you are going to a performance in the Opera House.

It's named after a cloud, but with its floor-to-ceiling-windows looking out on Cockle Bay, timber fencing (both on the floor and strung in different lengths from the ceiling) akin to what you might see in sand dunes, a suspended/flying vintage speedboat named Alvin, and perhaps the best and freshest seafood offerings in Sydney, Cirrus may as well be named for the sea it floats above. The five-course, degustation-style menu is very popular but the seafood platter of oysters, fat Skull Island prawns, strawberry clams, ocean bugs, and pipis (triangular clams) with seaweed mayo ponzu and red-wine vinaigrette is a must. The wine list is carefully curated and all about the white wines, with red limited to those light in body.

Bondi is known for being the health epicenter of Sydney and, unsurprisingly, the cafés are all about packing as much healthy food into a dish as possible. Breakfast bowls packed with eggs, vegetables, toasted seeds, and gluten-free toast is a popular option here. There's also fresh juices, smoothies and kombucha, which most grab-to-go and take to the nearby grass bank opposite the beach.

Blackbird Café is great place to take a break while exploring Darling Harbour. The weekday lunch specials are all under A$20 and a good value. There are great views from the balcony, so try and nab a table there. The à la carte menu includes starters of haloumi and vegetable stack or grilled prawns and crab, and there's a wide range of pizza, pasta, burgers, and grills.

Located on a jetty that juts out into the ocean, this café is a favorite with Sydneysiders who travel up on weekends and tuck into hearty breakfasts, like poached eggs on sourdough with avocado and pesto, and its trademark coffee that comes with a cocoa anchor on top. It's licensed with many enjoying a long champagne lunch with fresh seafood. A great spot for spotting Australian celebrities.

At this cute, popular little pub in Paddington, chef Colin Fassnidge (an Irishman who emerged as the most controversial guest judge on Australian TV cooking show My Kitchen Rules ) has been wowing patrons for years with his shared dish for two of slow-braised lamb shoulder with kipfler potatoes, baby carrots, and salsa verde. His whole suckling pig is also a popular Sunday long-lunch treat. Starters and mains change monthly, and the restaurant's popularity has seen it open for lunch and dinner six days a week.

Fast but fancy fare, that's what this Darlinghurst café has become known for since opening in 2020. The cheese toastie comes topped with black truffle, there are poached lobster rolls and caviar sandwiches. The service is slick, the interiors trendy and the coffee rich, but it comes at a price. This is one of the more expensive breakfast or lunch spots in Sydney, with breakfast costing around $30 a main.

Celeb-chef Matt Moran’s much-celebrated beachfront fish-and-chips offering is so much more than just standard fish-and-chips. The ocean views enhance a small and select seafood menu that includes fresh Sydney rock oysters, charcoal-grilled snapper, prawns, salmon, and whole fish of the day. The fancy fish fingers, fish burgers, and classic beer-battered fillets are musts.

Started as a specialty coffee creator, Pablo & Rusty opened a sit-down café back in 2010 and it has been a popular spot for coffee meetups ever since. The interiors are stylish and hip, there are single-origin espressos and sophisticated breakfasts and lunches. There's also outdoor seating.

It might look like nothing more than a hole-in-the-wall but this modest café has been hailed by locals as serving the best coffee in the Potts Point and Kings Cross area. And the seating outside is always packed every morning of the week. To find it, you'll need to head down Llankelly Place, a back lane that runs behind Potts Point, that offers many unique cafés and restaurants. Easy grab'n'go eats and specialized coffee, with single origin option rotated weekly. More than a tiny opening crammed with tables that flow out onto Llankelly Place, this cozy café serves some of the best coffee in the Kings Cross area.

North Bondi Beach wouldn't be the same without Sean's Panaroma ("Sean's" to locals), perched on a slight rise a stone's throw from the famous beach. It's been there since the mid-1990s and owner Sean Moran loads his menu with fresh produce grown on his farm in the Blue Mountains, aptly named "Farm Panaroma." Dishes change regularly and are only featured on a blackboard: they may include baked blue-eye fish with roasted cauliflower, or a ravioli of zucchini, mozzarella, and lemons. The many fans in Sydney means it can be difficult to secure a table, and some the say the service is hit-and-miss (if not a bit arrogant), so be warned.

In 2019, this café opened Sydney's first self-serve batch-brew bar, with craft beer--style taps where you can drink as much single-origin coffee as your heart desires or can handle. But this is more than just an übertrendy spot for coffee: the menu is filled with quirky dishes, with many vegan offerings. The eggplant katsu roll is very popular.

Darling Harbour and Barangaroo are undoubtedly two of the busiest areas of Sydney so for a quiet reprieve step into this tucked-away café. With an impressive wooden art installation snaking around the ceiling, outstanding coffee and freshly baked croissants and muffins, this is the perfect place to recharge before more adventuring.