The best restaurants in Bondi right now

Sean’s is freshness, simplicity and fun on a plate – it’s the antidote to every bad meal you’ve ever had. Chef and owner Sean Moran cooks his own food his own way. And has done since he opened the restaurant in 1993. The restaurant looks straight out over Bondi Beach – it’s some of the best real estate in the country. The breezy coastal friendliness, the welcoming room and the fiercely produce-driven menu (very often specials will change depending on the week, or even the day) is an all-seasons win.

Totti’s wood-fire bread is almost as famous as the golden stretch of sand down the road. It arrives straight out of the oven, puffed and piping hot, and is the perfect vehicle to mop up creamy burrata or piled high with sweet cherry tomatoes and salty prosciutto. Order that, and then some. Some pass Totti’s off as just a hot place in town to see and be seen – but that would be doing head chef’s Mike Eggert’s food a disservice. Because the pasta, snacks and Neapolitan ice cream sandwich slaps. Book way ahead of time to secure a seat in the outdoor courtyard under the olive trees.

Marco Ambrosino is no stranger to excellent Italian food. He’s one of three OG founders of Potts Point stalwart Fratelli Paradiso, as well as Sydney institution 10 William Street. So it makes sense that his current restaurant, Lola's Italian and Bar, is on-point. Named after Ambrosino’s daughter, Lola’s focuses on Italian classics with a side of sea breeze. Highlights include golden and pillowy gnocco fritto topped with San Daniele prosciutto and guindilla pepper; vitello tonnato with blushing pink veal, a creamy tuna maionese, and salty pops of crisp capers; and a rich and luscious pappardelle bolognese.

Australia’s biggest beachside restaurant makes a splash at the iconic Bondi Pavilion. The venue rolls restaurant, café and bar into one multi-purpose venue. There’s a kiosk for takeaway coffees; and a chic, dining room, bar and ocean-facing verandah that seats 67. Plus, room for 140 more on their walk-in-only, Med-style terrace, ‘The Front Yard’, complete with olive trees and Australian natives stopping inches short of the actual beach. Lunch right on Bondi Beach? How good is that.

Icebergs can be everything you love about Sydney, or it can be everything you hate. Those with even a slight case of reverse snobbery might accuse this top-shelf Bondi restaurant of being a little private beach club at times. Admittedly, fellow diners do have a tendency to give off a ‘comfortable on any size yacht’ vibe. But letting that get in the way of what could potentially be an epic lunch would be a mistake. Because when it’s good, it’s very, very good. At the height of its excellence, it gives you the feeling every restaurant should leave you with: utter refreshment.

Found on happening Hall Street, pan-Asian restaurant Lulu is peachy-hued and pretty, fitted out with marble tables, plush banquet seating, warm timber floors and rattan chairs. Don’t let Lulu’s good looks fool you, though. The kitchen – overseen by executive chef Shintaro Honda and head chef Bryan O’Callaghan – pumps out flavour-packed plates that showcase dishes and tastes found in Thailand, Korea, Vietnam and China. You should probably start off with the scallop and prawn Hokkaido toast, featuring sweet seafood, buttons of ponzu mayo and pops of bright roe, which may be the snack of the summer.

There’s only one place you need to be right now, and that’s face-first in a focaccia con porchetta. The outrageous sandwich is a hot, fatty, rich and juicy pile of chopped-up roast pork straight from the rotisserie, laid with crisp cos lettuce leaves and grilled eggplant, all smooshed between pieces of pizza bread in a happy delicious mess. And that’s what happens when you put Orazio D’Elia in the kitchen at full power.

There are very few venues in Sydney that are truly beachfront, but North Bondi Fish is in as close in proximity to Bondi Beach as the grassy knoll. As you walk in there’s sand on the doorstep – this isn’t decorative, it’s just what happens when you’re 12 metres away from one of the world’s most popular shorelines. Given it’s prime NoBo position, this bright and breezy seafood palace has been the spot for many long lunches since it opened back in 2013.

There's a natural affinity between Bondi and the tiny, cove-like beaches of Mexico's Baja Peninsula: beautiful people, breezy dispositions, weather more amenable to tidbit snacking than multiple-course dining. Headed up by the team behind Potts Point's Sonora, Bondi's Carbon, and nearby Taquiza, Calita is a marisqueria, or seafood restaurant, inspired by the region – but with a little Bondi flavour thrown in. It's nabbed a primo waterfront location too, sandwiched between Bondi institution Sean's Panorama and café Porch and Parlour.

Look, it’s probably been said 100 times before, but we’ll say it again: Rocker, Bondi’s breezy and cool restaurant and bar, rocks. Found 200 metres from Bondi's golden stretch of sand, the relaxed eatery by Darren Robertson (also Three Blue Ducks) and Cameron Northway (also Melbourne's Loti) has been keeping Bondi locals well fed and hydrated since 2017, and the good times have just kept on coming. As well as tasty dishes and fun vibes, Rocker slings some banging deals too, including a bottomless brunch, which changes with the seasons. 

This little café and wine bar on Curlewis Street is pretty much the size of a walk-in-wardrobe. Though while the kitchen is tiny, the food that comes out has big flavours and you can tell it's been cooked with love. It's the kind of place you can pop in for a glass of wine and end up staying for dinner. And be sure to come the next day for a ripper brekkie and loaded sandwich.

In its basic structure, Fish Shop is just like your seaside local – you pick a main from snapper, ocean trout, barramundi or King Ora salmon, as well as a market fish, then add a condiment and tack on a side – but after that, it goes off-script. Add on sugo with capers, salsa verde or tangy ladelomono, a Greek-style vinaigrette of lemon and oil. Sides are less along the lines of floury chips, and more in the vein of freekah with apricot chopped through, or fagioli bianchi with herbs and lemon.

Mikey’s is a slice of New York in Bondi – think retro net curtains, exposed brickwork and copper pipes, red and white checked tablecloths, and rock ’n’ roll vibes all round. The pizza bases are made with Australian high-protein flour and are baked on Sicilian clay stone, and then they’re topped with tasty morsels sourced from some of our favourite providores: Vic’s Meats, Forage Gourmet Edibles and Two Providores. One of the best parts is that you can order pizza by the slice if you want, meaning that you're saved from the profoundly difficult decision of only getting to try one flavour.

Named after the French word for sweetheart, Chouchou (pronounced “shoo-shoo”) is an ode to the small bars and bistros Paris is known and loved for, and where owner Arthur Gruselle is from. The cosy neighbourhood spot has taken over the former Rosenbaum and Fuller digs on O’Brien Street, Bondi. Come for traditional and comforting French fare, without the fuss.

When you walk into this Hall Street staple you can instantly smell fragrant Thai basil and hear the sounds of woks clanging. They do seriously big serves (one serve will satisfy two) of grilled meats, super rich curries and wok-fried favourites. You'll also find a whole page of the menu devoted to duck (try the boneless roasted 'Lucky' duck) and lamb (the massaman uses whole lamb shanks) alongside plenty of veggo dishes. 

If you’re a fan of the OG Darlinghurst Chaco Ramen, then you should get around the Bondi outpost. The ramen here is excellent: balanced, soul-warming, delicious. Choose from a pork broth, a chicken broth, veggie or vegan ramen. Our pick is the chilli coriander ramen with poached chicken, a cluster of coriander leaves, some springy wood-ear mushrooms and a savoury broth with a hint of chilli.

The queue at Bills can still be a mile long, but nobody seems to care – partly because it’s a scene in itself waiting for a table and everyone seems to know each other, and partly because the turnaround is unusually quick. It's even easier if you pop in for dinner and order roast cod, a high-end schnitzel or a couple of fresh small plates.

Pompei's is a great restaurant. That's not to say the service is slick, but it is friendly. Start with some grissini (that's breadsticks to youse) with a plate of prosciutto while you think about pizza. Play it straight with a margarita (tomato, buffalo mozzarella and basil) or try the broccoli topped with mozzarella and ripped up chunks of pork sausage. They also make an excellent pizza biancho (that's pizza sans tomato) with thin slices of potato, sea salt and rosemary. The bases are thin, wood-fired and made on a stone (all very traditional) and if you fancy your dough folded, this is the place to come - the salami and ricotta calzone is a ripper.

China Diner offers a cross-pollination of Indonesian, Vietnamese, Thai and Chinese dishes. They're doing a menu that’s been designed with big groups in mind. For the most part, it’s pretty decent stuff. Think: prawn and black fungi wontons with black vinegar, chilli and sesame; chilli caramel pork belly; and white cut chicken with ginger and shallots.