Myffy Rigby

A cuisine that lends itself to long, leisurely meals shared with others, Italian usually doesn't stop at just one course. So, do as the Romans do: start with an aperitivo – and an antipasto spread – before a primo course (cue the pasta), secondo (a meat dish), contorno (a side, or three) and of course, something dolce (sweet). The Time Out team has spent years scouring the city for Melbourne's best Italian food, from hot-out-the-oven newcomers to traditional institutions that consistently deliver. So if you're craving a feast that'll knock your socks off, look no further – we've rounded up Melbourne's best Italian restaurants for you to try in 2026. Buon appetito! Editor's favourite Italian restaurants in Melbourne: 🥂 Best for a special occasion: Di Stasio Citta 👠 Best for a hot date night: Studio Amaro 🍴 Best for a long Sunday lunch: Lagotto 🍝 Best for regional Italian cuisine: Trattoria Emilia 👯 Best for a friends' catch-up: Pepe's Parlour If you're after more Italian cuisine, visit our guides to Melbourne's best pizza and gelato.

Sydney is no slacker when it comes to Italian food (just take a look at all these red-hot places here). And our pasta game is very strong. But when it comes to our pizza restaurants, we reckon they may be a slice above the rest. Whether you're a sucker for traditional Neapolitan pizzas cooked in a wood-fired oven and topped with beautiful produce, get around NY-style slabs so big you can fold them in three, or you're hungry for a Sicilian-style slice with a thick and fluffy crust, Time Out Sydney's local food writers, including Sydney Editor Avril Treasure, have pulled together the best places to get your fix – and these are the venues that are topping the class. Stay in the loop: sign up for our free Time Out Sydney newsletter for more news, food & drink inspo and activity ideas, straight to your inbox. Hungry for more? Here's our pick of the very best restaurants in Sydney right now. Love Greek food food? Us too. Check out the finest Greek eateries in Sydney.

For devotees of genuine Mexican fare, it's a great relief that Sydney is no longer only served by the tacky Tex-Mex, stand-and-stuff, burrito-centric eateries that were once the sole expression of the cuisine readily available here. There's now an exciting new wave of Mexican diners sweeping Sydney, with nary a pinata, sombrero or lucha libre mask in sight. We're not saying there isn't a time and a place for a bowl of liquid queso and a dorito or two – there really is – but with a culture and cuisine that spans thousands of years and dozens of regions, it's a crime to assume that Old El Paso and a cartoonishly large frozen Margarita is anything close to 'authentic'. Prime your palate for the true flavours of Mexico with our guide to the best Mexican eateries in Sydney, curated by Time Out Sydney's local food writers, including Editor and Mexico-lover, Avril Treasure. Stay in the loop: sign up for our free Time Out Sydney newsletter for more news, food & drink inspo and activity ideas, straight to your inbox. RECOMMENDED READS: Keen to get around some killer spots for an arvo tequila or two? Check out Sydney's best rooftop bars Love spice? Check out our guide to Sydney's hottest Thai restaurants Thirsty? Have a look at the best bars in Sydney right now

Winter 2026 update: The weather may be getting cooler, but this fresh guide to Sydney’s best restaurants is red hot. From pasta palaces to vibey date-night spots and go-hard-or-go-home grills, you’ll find everything you’re looking for here. Here's our list of Time Out's best restaurants in Sydney right now, from hot newcomers to time-honoured institutions, curated by our expert, on-the-ground editors and food writers who eat and drink their way around Sydney, including Time Out Sydney's Editor, Avril Treasure. How did we narrow it down to the very best? When deciding, we considered fun, flavour, creativity, value for money – and 'wow' factor. So yes, of course, you’ll find a fine diner inside the Sydney Opera House here, but you’ll also find neighbourhood pasta, hole-in-the-wall Thai and venues right by the sea. Happy dining, Sydney. Editor's favourite restaurants in Sydney: 🥂 Best for a special occasion: Sixpenny 👠 Best for a vibey date night: Fontana ☀️ Best for a long Sunday lunch: Corner 75 🍝 Best for an Greek feast: Olympus Dining 🫒 Best for a friends' catch-up: Bar Copains Stay in the loop: sign up for our free Time Out Sydney newsletter for more news, food & drink inspo and activity ideas, straight to your inbox. RECOMMENDED READs: Still hungry? Check out our guide to the best cheap eats in Sydney. Want more? These are Sydney's best new restaurants and bars.

From specialty Sichuan spots to hot Cantonese kitchens, Sydney has some seriously great Chinese restaurants. Time Out Sydney's local food writers have eaten their way around town to bring you this curated and up-to-date list. So whether you want to go all out and explore regional cuisines, sit down for yum cha, grab some takeaway barbecue duck or hand-thrown noodles, you'll find your spot here. These are the best Chinese restaurants Sydney has to offer – we're hungry just thinking about them. Stay in the loop: sign up for our free Time Out Sydney newsletter for more news, food & drink inspo and activity ideas, straight to your inbox.  Recommended: Here are the tastiest cheap eats in Sydney right now Check out the best Italian joints in Sydney town

It’s one of the first places you’ll visit as a tourist, a pre-theatre go-to, and home to some of the most iconic views in the world – but being a tourist hotspot means Circular Quay is not without its pitfalls. Thankfully, apart from the overpriced tourist traps, there’s still great eating and drinking to be had in the area if you know where to look. We’ve rounded up the best restaurants and bars in and around the harbour, from flash fine diners like Aria and Bennelong to Basque-inspired wine bar Deux Frères, cheap-and-cheerful spots like Mary’s and Belles Hot Chicken, top-notch watering holes Opera Bar and Apollonia, and newcomer Flaminia. There’s a mix of price points and cuisines, but they’re all ace (unlike the annoying seagulls) – and somewhere you’d want to bring your friends from overseas. Plus, keep this guide handy for when Vivid takes over the city for 23 spectacular nights. Stay in the loop: sign up for our free Time Out Sydney newsletter for more news, food & drink inspo and activity ideas, straight to your inbox. After restaurants in other parts of Sydney's city? Check out our guide to the best restaurants in the CBD. Want more? Check out our ultimate guide to the best restaurants in Sydney here.

Located on a sparkling harbour and fringed by idyllic beaches, Sydney is a true seafood city. We’re home to many cracking waterfront restaurants, and our fish and chips are top-notch. So, where are the best spots for enjoying the ocean’s gifts? Whether it’s a perfect piece of fish with a squeeze of lemon and olive oil at Margaret, Josh Niland’s legendary tuna cheeseburger at Saint Peter’s bar, or a waterfront feast that’s nearly as good as a trip to Italy at Ormeggio at the Spit, we’ve rounded up the best seafood restaurants in Sydney. The only catch? The seafood has got to be fresh-as, bro. Cast your net and dig in. Stay in the loop: sign up for our free Time Out Sydney newsletter for more news, food & drink inspo and activity ideas, straight to your inbox. Want more? Check out our guide to the best Sydney restaurants.

You know you've reached peak Sydney when you're sipping a crisp vino over a beautiful meal and outside the windows is the big blue. Perhaps it's three courses of modern Aussie fare from Sean's overlooking North Bondi Beach? Or maybe you prefer the gentler harbour vistas you get at Chiosco or Catalina, or spots that are right on the sand like Bobby's and The Boathouse Shelly Beach? One thing's for sure: eating by the water gives your meal that extra shine, which is why so many Sydneysiders flock to the shores for a special occasion, year-round. For your next extra-special soiree, book a table at one of the best waterfront restaurants Sydney has on the books, rounded up by Time Out Sydney's editors, including Editor and ocean-lover Avril Treasure, who has had her fair share (and then some) of long, boozy lunches by the sea. Stay in the loop: sign up for our free Time Out Sydney newsletter for more news, food & drink inspo and activity ideas, straight to your inbox. Looking for an epic place for a drink? Here's our guide to Sydney's very best bars.

France – the home of love, day drinking, red berets and impossibly stylish people. It’s also home to fine French fare: everything from soft cheeses and fresh baguettes to bouillabaisse bursting with the flavour of the sea. When your annual leave is all dried up, Francophiles can get their fix at one of Sydney’s many excellent French restaurants. Here are the best places to dine on French cuisine, from steak frites to silky crème brûlées, so you can feel oh-so French any day of the week. Stay in the loop: sign up for our free Time Out Sydney newsletter for more news, food & drink inspo and activity ideas, straight to your inbox. While you're here, check out: These are the best Italian restaurants in Sydney Here's where to find the tastiest Greek food in Sydney Quench your thirst with our list of the best bars in the city

Summer 2026 update: Whether you’re looking for a coffee and feed post hot girl walk, picking up a B&E after your swim or catching up with friends over a sweet treat, Sydney’s best cafés will have you covered. Sydneysiders are café people. We're constantly on the hunt for the city's best coffee and we love nothing more than donning our finest sport-luxe activewear and catching up with mates on a weekend morning over eggs, fritters and crusty artisan sourdough. So, whether it's a reward for tackling one of Sydney's most beautiful walks, an indulgent hangover fix after a night at one of the city's best bars, or a workday coffee stop, these are the best Sydney cafés, according to our in-the-know Time Out Sydney writers, including Editor Avril Treasure. We'll have one B&E roll, please.  Stay in the loop: sign up for our free Time Out Sydney newsletter for more news, food & drink inspo and activity ideas, straight to your inbox. Is it lunch time? Check out our guide to Sydney's best restaurants right now.

Everyone's got their favourite neighbourhood when it comes to eating out in Sydney, but let's not deny it: none rival the CBD for the sheer number of world-class restaurants you can choose from. Time Out Sydney's local writers, including Editor Avril Treasure, have discovered the best tables to book in the heart of the city, whether you're primed for a quick power lunch with the boss, a cruisy date night somewhere swish and satisfying or a degustation experience that'll blow you away. Stay in the loop: sign up for our free Time Out Sydney newsletter for more news, travel inspo and activity ideas, straight to your inbox.  RECOMMENDED READS: Want something a little more casual? Check out our guide to the best cheap eats in the city. Nightcap anyone? Polish off your meal with a drink at one of these fine cocktail bars. 

The Greek Islands are heaven on earth, and Athens is one of the world’s greatest cities. But if a holiday in the Mediterranean isn’t on the horizon, Sydney’s top Greek restaurants will help fill the dolmade-shaped hole in your heart. Time Out Sydney’s food writers and editors, including Editor Avril Treasure (who has a Big Fat Crush on Milos), have rounded up the best Greek restaurants in town. So, how did we narrow down the list? Well, below you’ll find everything from Sydney stalwart The Apollo (and its much-loved saganaki and slow-roasted lamb shoulder) to an old-school gyros joint where you can smash grilled Greek pita bread jammed with crisp, fatty pork bits. But they all had two things in common: they’re delicious and sing the flavours of Greece. Stay in the loop: sign up for our free Time Out Sydney newsletter for more news, food & drink inspo and activity ideas, straight to your inbox. If you're working on a budget try one of the best cheap eats in Sydney.  After Italian? Here's our guide to the tastiest Italian restaurants in Sydney. Keep eating at the absolute best restaurants in Sydney.

Any bar that’s playing 50 Cent’s 'P.I.M.P.' and serving a drink called the Walking Dead (aged rum, Fernet Branca, pineapple, lime, ginger beer served tall over ice) is more than alright in our books. Super Whatnot is one of Brisbane’s hottest bars offering up a short, sharp list of tasty cocktails (there’s a Tequila Sour in the mix, along with a Bobbie Burns and a Red Hook), great tunes and good vibes. There’s no bouncer out the front, just a girl in knee-high socks watching the numbers (there are only 60 seats at 'Whatnot) through the door. The bar, though it’s smack bang in the city, hosts a mix of indie kids, guys in suits and off-duty bartenders. On Time Out’s visit, it’s Nas and nachos night – pulled pork nachos and a Pisco Sour plus a ‘delicious beer’ for $10 along with $3 gin’n’juice for the Snoop and Dre fans. Super Whatnot is a multi-tiered wonderland of laidback fun with a team of bartenders hell-bent on serving up good times. We’ll buy that for a dollar.  

View bars, up until very recently, have traditionally been the sort of tourist traps where your Mai Tai comes pre-mixed, and the lime in your Margarita comes out of one of those green squeezy bottles. Or worse, out of a bucket. But that's a world away from Cove - the shining star on the new strip of the South Brisbane parklands. Everything is displayed on backlit shelves resembling Art Deco filing cabinets. That everything we're talking about involves a great selection of rums and bourbons and a cocktail list ranging from fun'n'fruity to more serious offerings like their Mai Tai and their riff on the Treacle - that next-day-head-banger, here with grapefruit juice and tequila. Tasty. And if you're after a snack while you're here, you could do worse than try the chilli jam doughnuts - a savoury take on their sweet cousins. Cute. The great thing about this bar is it's basically a cocktail strip, with some outdoor seating, spilling out onto the promenade. That means you can choose to either sit up at the bar with a view of the hooch or at one of the tables spilling out on to the promenade and look out over Brisbane River. Either way, you win.

Two of the city’s most talented bartenders in one place? Yup, you’ve hit the Laneway, where Callum More and Perryn Collier are making drinks and breaking hearts. The bar is hidden behind inner-city brasserie the Euro. Walk straight through the restaurant to the dark bar out the back, which confusingly can’t actually be reached by a laneway. Get 'em to make you something with their house-blended whiskey or go straight off the list. There are two of Time Out’s favourite drinks on the list – the Tipperary (whiskey, green Chartreuse, sweet vermouth) and the Boulevardier (bourbon, Campari, sweet vermouth) – and one of the most impressive beer selections we’ve seen in a good long while. Sure, there are flat screens throughout the bar but rather than footy they’re playing cuts from Charlie Chaplin movies. And OK, something needs to be done about that teenagers-losing-their-virginity music – but when they place a Toronto made with their own house-blended whiskey down in front of you, everything’s just peachy.    

This is about as close as you get to a Steampunk bar in Australia, we reckon. Sure, there's a cocktail list and guys behind the bar who are very happy and more than capable to make you a three-gin Martini or whatever, but what the Press Club is really about is getting in and getting out with beers and simple mixed drinks. Check out the gigantic metal fan in its metal cage, slowly rotating, or the big propeller hung over the bar with a giant eye right in the middle that winks every now and then. It's been a fixture here since 1998. Live'n'local bands often play here and later in the evening you'll find a tantalisingly rumptacular mix of old school hip hop and break beats. So you can see why this isn't really the place to be requesting Trinidad Sours. Because at the heart of it, this is a big, busy bar that is as much about good times as it is quality drinkin'.