Each year, leading international travel magazine Condé Nast Traveller announces its Hot List – a collection of the world’s best new restaurants, hotels and cruise ships, curated by their team of globetrotting editors. And 2024’s iteration has just dropped, featuring world-class restaurants in Cape Town and Rio de Janeiro, New York and Copenhagen – as well as one right here in Sydney. Drum roll, please: Le Foote – winner of Time Out Sydney’s Best Restaurant Award 2023– was named as one of the hottest new restaurants around the world! What’s more, it was the only Aussie venue to make the cut on the coveted list. Sorry, Melbourne.
A Swillhouse restaurant (Also Hubert, Shady Pines, Alberto’s Lounge, The Caterpillar Club), Le Foote is a choose-your-own adventure venue featuring a charming Parisian wine bar, a Mediterranean grill, and a gorgeous sandstone courtyard that looks like it’s been plucked from the South of France. It was a project years in the making and the most ambitious restaurant to date from the crew.
Condé Nast Traveller said: “Sydney hospitality maestros Swillhouse have savvy locals tackling the tourist-drenched cobblestones of The Rocks for their latest swing-and-hit restaurant, Le Foote.
“The alfresco courtyard is just the place for fluffy fish sandwiches and carafes of orange wine (Time Out Sydney has had many fish sandwiches at Le Foote and can attest they are gold-star). Upstairs, settle into the moody candle-lit bar and order two-sip Martinis to a soundtrack of funky jazz. The main dining room is draped in dramatic Greco-Roman style, with giant Etruscan canvas murals, white tablecloths, and smart waiters in crisp shirts.
“Suddenly, Sydney’s oldest neighbourhood feels fresh again,” Condé Nast Traveller added.
Whether you’re after a cracking cheese pie with a side of soulful tunes, a long lunch in the sun-dappled dining room, or a late-night vino and eye gazing, Le Foote is the spot. Even Condé Nast Traveller says so. If you haven’t checked it out yet: run, don’t walk.
You can check out the full list here, and you can check out Time Out's hottest Sydney restaurant guide here.
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