Restaurants & Cafés
Your guide to breakfast and brunch, fine dining and cheap eats in Sydney
The 50 best restaurants in Sydney
This is the definitive, ranked list of where to eat in Sydney right now. These are the top restaurants we send our friends and family to when they ask for recommendations. They’re the places that are more than just exciting food and exceptional drinks – they’re also a guaranteed good time. We’ve thrown in a mix of price points because sometimes you want to drop cash like a tourist and eat inside the Opera House, and sometimes you want a mini-treat, like some next level Bangladeshi food. If you want a better idea of how we price things there’s this helpful guide, and remember those dollar signs don’t include drinks. There’s some old faithfuls on this list that we keep coming back to, but we prioritised innovation, excitement and fun so that you can start at the top and work your way through the best restaurants Sydney has to offer. Bon appétit! If you're working on a budget try these cheap hacks for fancy places. Or maybe you just want a drink? Here's 50 of Sydney's best bars to help you along. RECOMMENDED: The 50 best cheap eats in Sydney.
The best cheap eats in Sydney
In a perfect world, we'd spend every night enjoying fine cuisine at Sydney's most indulgent restaurants. We'd be at Quay and Rockpool Bar & Grill... anywhere, really, that requires half (or all, or far more than) what's currently in your bank account for a shared plate. But we do not live in a perfect world – sometimes the stove is broken, the thought of checking your balance makes you break out in hives and skipping meals seems a viable option. But you don't have to do that! There's a host of cheap restaurants in Sydney all around our fair town serving up tasty food at prices that won't leave your wallet empty. In fact, there's plenty of fun to be had in Sydney on a shoestring budget, starting with these 25 things to do in in Sydney under $25. Or maybe you want to know where to get a cheap meal every night? RECOMMENDED: The 50 best restaurants in Sydney.
The best cafés in Surry Hills
It was once a forbidding slum, but now the scariest thing about this inner-city utopia is the waiting time to get your smashed avo on a Sunday morning. No visit to Sydney is complete without a coffee and a repast at the undisputed breakfast capital of Australia – here are the places you need to know about, and how long you can expect your satisfaction to be delayed. RECOMMENDED: Surry Hills area guide. Want the best of the brunch? Check out our guide to the 20 best breakfasts in Sydney. After a dining hit list? Brush up on our guide to the 50 best restaurants in Sydney.
Sydney's top restaurants
Time Out Sydney Food Awards: Winners
The Time Out Food Awards is the one night of the year when we recognise Sydney's champions of the restaurant scene – and throw a party to remember. On September 25, 250 of the city's culinary experts, professional eaters and Time Out readers gathered at Porteno for the 2017 Food Awards. Check out the full list of winners and nominees below, and be sure to read our full recap of the night. Disappointed you missed out? Sign up to our newsletter and you'll never miss another chance to party with Time Out!
Eight Sydney institutions for your dining bucket list
New restaurants are often in the spotlight, ready for their Instagram close-up. But Sydney is also home to a host of long-running venues that are still at the top of people’s dining hit lists – hell, Time Out has been writing about them from our very first issue, back in 2007. These establishments have stuck to their mission statement, offering great food with polish and personality. They’re safety zones that don’t give in to fast-breaking fads, but they can be progressive, too – Billy Kwong was one of the earliest adopters of native ingredients. Meanwhile, places like Sean’s Panaroma, Golden Century and Fratelli Paradiso show that it’s possible to stay timeless without coming across like a dusty museum display. These are the restaurants that have stayed vital over the last ten years and belong on the Sydney dining honour roll. Want more top chefs? Check out our guide to the 50 best restaurants in Sydney. Want something a little more casual? Check out our guide to the best burgers in Sydney.
Where to eat seafood in Sydney
Sydney is a seafood city – we love our fish and chips, we've got one of the biggest seafood markets in the country and everyone is going nuts for poke. So where are the best restaurants for eating the ocean's gifts? Whether you want to get around a whole mud crab at Mr Wong, try freshly shucked oysters overlooking Blackwattle Bay or be adventurous and try fish offal at Saint Peter, these are the best seafood restaurants in Sydney. RECOMMENDED: Our guide to the 50 best Sydney restaurants
The best Sydney cafés
The best cafés in Bondi
In a suburb where morning runs, dawn surfing and AM yoga are part of your daily routine, breakfast really is the most important meal of the day. We got up with the sun to find the best brekkies in this clean-living corner of Sydney. For more, check our guides to the best coffee in Sydney's CBD, Sydney's best cycling cafés and Sydney's best coffee cocktails. RECOMMENDED: Our guide to the best Bondi restaurants
The best bacon and egg rolls in Sydney
Whoever first put cured, fried pork and soft, melty eggs together deserves a seriously prestigious award, in our opinion. Stuff them between two layers of soft white bread, spread on a heap of butter and you’ve pretty much got food nirvana right there. So we took it upon ourselves to traipse the streets of Sydney to find you the best bacon and egg rolls to fix any hangover, heartbreak or hard-earned snack. Man, it’s a tough job.
The best coffee in the Sydney CBD
There is a lot of bad coffee in this town. Thankfully, there’s a hell of a lot of good stuff too. In fact there’s some bloody brilliant coffee in the CBD, just waiting for you to come on in and order up. When you're in need of a city caffeine-fix, one of these ace coffee houses will see you right. Here's our guide to the best coffee in the Sydney CBD, from Circular Quay up to Wynyard, to Town Hall, Barangaroo and everywhere in between. Not in the CBD? Here's where to find the best Sydney coffee elsewhere else, plus consult our guides to Sydney's best coffee experiences, cycling cafés and Bondi cafés for more inspiration. RECOMMENDED: Sydney's best coffee cocktails
Sydney's foodie hotspots
The best restaurants in Surry Hills
From the city fringes to deep Crown Street, Surry Hills really is a bit of a hub for dining in Sydney. While Porteno and Firedoor and may be the top notch options, you'll also find plenty of places that are big on fun like Bodega, Salaryman and Bar H. Add to it cheap eats at Xage; great pub dining at the Dolphin, BYO winners and old favoruites like Longrain and and it's not hard to see why you'll often find yourself out for dinner in Surry Hills on any given night of the week.
The best restaurants in Newtown
Newtown has been bringing its A-game on the restaurant front for as long as we can remember. You can enjoy five star dining at Continental Deli Bar Bistro and Oscillate Wildly or casual but tasty as fare at Hartsyard, Jack's and Bach Eatery. You'll also find lots of great vegan options and the Thai restaurants this area has long been famous for dotted throughout the boho 'burb. RECOMMENDED: The 50 Best Sydney Restaurants
The best restaurants in Bondi
While most trek to Bondi to lap up the sun and sand, it's worth noting there are plenty of ace restaurants to check out too. Whether it's a long lunch at Sean's Panorama or Bondi Icebergs Dining Room and Bar or a sandy-footed post-swim snack at Porch and Parlour or Pompei's you'll find somewhere great to eat in North and South Bondi and beyond.
The best restaurants in Manly
This popular pocket of the Northern Beaches is best known for its foamy shore breaks and ferries, but Manly also dishes up some good dining options for after the sun goes down and before the party vibes are cranked up to 11. Whether you want smoked meats and awesome burgers from Papi Chulo, a beautiful brunch spot or just a really good serve of fish and chips from Fishmonger, Manly has a venue for the job. Want a drink? Check out Manly's best bars while you're in the neighbourhood.
The best restaurants in Darling Harbour
Darling Harbour is definitely one of Sydney's most visitor-heavy areas, packed with hotels, attractions, exhibitions and ways to while away a day in the city. When you need to refuel for more adventures these are the restaurants Darling Harbour is known for, from the ribs at Hurricane's to fine dining at Sepia and casual waterfront bites at Beer DeLuxe.
The best restaurants in Parramatta
The Parramatta precinct has been growing fast in recent years – the CBD here is now one of the second biggest commercial hubs outside the Sydney CBD – and so the restaurant scene is on the rise. Inner city slickers like Gelato Messina and Chefs Gallery have Parra outposts, and longstanding local favourites like Temasek and Nonna Maria's still pull the crowds. RECOMMENDED: Our guide to the 50 Best Sydney Restaurants
For the sweet tooth
The best patisseries in Sydney
We’re pretty lucky that here in Sydney we have some of the best darn pastry chefs in the country. From the genius that is the strawberry watermelon cake at Black Star Pastry, to that ginger tart at Bourke Street Bakery, here’s where to get a lil’sweet stuff in Sydney.
The best desserts in Sydney
We don’t know about you, but dinner ain’t dinner for us without dessert. Sometimes it’s a bowl of silky, melting gelato, or it could be a maple syrup-drenched pudding or a good old fashioned passionfruit pav. Damn it, sometimes it’s an ornate plate of food made to look just like the brittle twigs on the forest floor (that’s when we’ve got the coin to get into Sepia). Regardless, it’s the traditional way to finish a meal, and we intend to keep up that tradition for as long as our waistbands can take it.
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The Miser
Any Australian theatre geek worth their salt knows Bell Shakespeare. Its productions of the theatre world’s classics are renowned, and this March it's putting on the hilarious comedy of manners by French playwright, Molière, The Miser. First performed in 1668, The Miser follows the story of Harpagon, a tight-fisted and money-hungry man who loves cash more than he loves his own children. He’ll do anything to hold on to every last penny in his possession, and when Harpagon sets his sights on an inappropriately young woman (who is herself interested in Harpagon’s son) hilarity and antics ensue. If this hasn’t sold you already then you may be interested to know that the production team includes director Peter Evans, Bell Shakespeare’s founder and actor, John Bell; as well as a cast of seasoned veterans including Michelle Doake, Harriet Gordon-Anderson, Elizabeth Nabben, Sean O’Shea, Jamie Oxenbould, Russel Smith, Damien Strouthos and Jessica Tovey. This version of the play has been translated by the celebrated playwright Justin Fleming, earning the already funny premise a delightful Australian twang. The production will be housed at the Sydney Opera House, opening March 2 and running for a little over a month as it closes on April 6 before heading to Canberra and Melbourne. Book your tickets at the Bell Shakespeare website. But be quick, this show is a barrell of laughs and is bound to sell out quick.
Four winter getaways that will help you afford your spring getaway
Everyone knows the best rewards are the ones you get by doing the things you love, right? Well here’s something for those of you with a bit of wanderlust. When you book a stay at one of over 200,000 hotels worldwide with Qantas Hotels, you'll get rewarded with Qantas Points for every dollar you spend. If you’re not familiar with Qantas Hotels, don't fear. It’s a hotels booking platform with the added benefit of earning coveted Qantas Points on your bookings. What's more, they even have a price match guarantee so you won't have to worry about paying more for your stay*. Here’s the deal: you’ll earn three Qantas Points per A$1 spent on the site. Those points can then be put towards your next stay, so you’ll be paying less, which means you can go away sooner**. Earning those extra points is also a super compelling reason to plan your next getaway, right? Sounds pretty peachy to us. Below we’ve selected four very appealing accommodation options you could go on with Qantas Hotels.
Thrones! The Musical Parody
The night is dark, and full of... jazz hands. A far cry from Westeros’s blood-soaked wedding venues and questionable leadership choices, Thrones! The Musical Parody is a retelling of the epic story you know in a tone you don’t. It follows a group of Game of Thrones fans as they attempt to cheer up their friend, Linda (the only one among them who hasn’t seen the show) in the wake of her divorce by re-enacting all eight seasons – yup, it will include the final one! Shenanigans unfold as the group works through the overarching story and a cast of over 40 characters, singing catchy original showtunes with titles including ‘Stabbin'’, 'Hold the Door' and ‘You Know Nothing’. The show arrives brandishing five-star reviews from the Edinburgh Festival, where it has played for four consecutive years. It will premiere in Sydney on Wednesday, June 5 at the Playhouse and run for three weeks. Luckily, you don't have to pay the iron price – tickets start at $45 per person plus an $8.50 booking fee. Book yours on the Sydney Opera House website.
How Cities Work
If your little roadrunners have a fascination with the concrete jungle around them, you can blow their minds with architectural and urban design facts at How Cities Work. This exhibition at the Museum of Sydney will showcase everything from the city's green spaces to the secret underground world of sewers in the belly of the city. It’s the world premiere of this family-friendly exhibit, which is based on the popular Lonely Planet children's book of the same name, written by Jen Feroze and illustrated by James Gulliver Hancock, who’s collaborated with Sydney Living Museums to create this exciting exhibition. This is one exhibition where you're allowed to, and are even encouraged to, touch the exhibits. Kids can take what they’ve learnt off the pages and get to know the city even better through a series of interactive, tactile experiences. They’ll be poking through buildings, wandering around city streets like Godzilla among the skyscaper miniatures and exploring the underground without leaving the museum. This thriving metropolis will be on show from December 15, 2018 until July 21, 2019. Entry is free for Sydney Living Museums members and kids under the age of five.
