The best restaurants in Sydney for a long lunch

Chef Neil Perry's swansong restaurant is one of his most personal ventures. Margaret feels very much like a family affair. Step inside and Perry’s daughter, manager Josephine Perry Clift, might be the first to greet you. Look towards the open kitchen, and you’ll spot executive chef Richard Purdue on the pass, who began working alongside Perry over 30 years ago as an apprentice at Rockpool. The menu is pure Perry: Mediterranean and Asian flavours refracted through a contemporary Australian lens, bolstered by namechecked produce that’s some of the finest in the land.

Pro tip: Scan the cocktail list, and you’ll discover the perfect Martini was “quintessential” to Margaret, Perry’s late mother, after whom the restaurant is named. Seems only fitting, then, to start with one.

This little beachfront restaurant looks like a coastal café but has the heart of a fine diner, and for 30 years it has been setting the standard for thoughtful modern Australian cooking. These guys were all about the local produce long before it was cool, and with views out over Bondi Beach it's the best place to spend a chunk of your weekend on memorable food and great wine.

Pro tip: Right now they're doing a three-course set menu with three choices per course, bread and appetisers for $120 a head.

Its positioning and extensive glass walls make you feel as if you’re floating on the harbour, surrounded as you are by stunning views. The design of the space is mid-century-Italian-mod – lime green and purple textiles versus timber and concrete furnishings. The menu is a similar fusion of ideas, commonly described as modern Italian food with a Japanese twist. 

Pro tip: If you can't make a lunch opt for the late sitting to luxuriate in the tasting menu.

It can be easy to overlook the old guard in favour of the new, but we can't think of many better ways to spend an afternoon than gazing at Freshwater Beach, pretending you're in Sardinia and eating Giovanni Pilu's delectable Italian food.

Pro tip: Freshwater is a short Uber from Manly, which means you can add a ferry trip to double down on waterfront views. 

When you sit down at the beautiful marble topped counter that runs the length of the new-look Paddington eatery it’s not a simple matter of ‘what do you want to eat?’, but rather, ‘what can you not afford to miss?’. Take it from us, Saint Peter has transformed the expectations of seafood dining in Sydney.

Pro tip: Go hard on the starters – the seafood charcuterie is unlike anything else you can eat in Sydney, maybe Australia.

The Northern Beaches is a top pick for a long and lazy lunch by the sea and the Newport is an outstanding choice for families and friends alike. With plenty of restaurants to choose from, stunning views and club price drinks, why not settle in and really make a day of it?

Pro tip: There's an exciting kids area to keep the little ones entertained while you grab that extra glass of bubbles.

Imagine if you were going to spend the rest of your life at one bar and restaurant. You’d need it to be the complete package.  We’re talking incredible drinks, great service and enough cheese to kill a man. An ace steak wouldn’t hurt and if they could also have an impressive canned goods store that would last you through an apocalypse, that’d be the cherry on top. At Continental you’re looking at your future life partner, in venue form.

Pro tip: One of Continental's most popular signatures is its canned cocktails. Order one for the puns (will it be a Mar-tinny to start?) and several more for the flavour.

It only happens on the last Sunday of every month, so plan ahead and book early for the monthly crab curries at Lankan Filling Station. It's a Sunday set menu where your tiny table is so laden with flavours, spices and colours that it’s like dining inside a kaleidoscope.

Pro tip: Buy some of the house-made curry powders and sambols to take home and tide you over until next month's banquet.

Mimi's is something of a chip off the old block (Merivale's Bert's did fancy coastal bistro first), but it's also its own fancy beast. With a prime position right on Coogee Beach, it's worth making it a day trip for the beautiful views out those huge, arched windows. Dress for the occasion and treat yourself – if there was ever a time to order bumps of caviar and vodka, it's now.

Pro tip: Merivale pretty much specialise in long lunch venues, so take your pick from Bert's, Totti's, or Fred's.

Roasted ducks, whole mud crabs and rock lobsters might hog the limelight at Mr Wong, but smart players know to make it a lunchtime occasion. It's only during the daylight hours that they have their dim sum menu available, and it's some of the finest dumpling work in town.

Pro tip: You can still get the big ticket proteins at lunch time so it's a win all round.

We might be a city of forever shifting dining whims, but our love of scampi, split and grilled in their shells, next to a tangle of spaghetti wearing vermillion tomato sugo and chopped parsley like edible couture never falters. That’s why it’s always a roll of the dice for how hard it’s going to be to get a table at Fratelli Paradiso for lunch on a weekend. This simple dining room with a giant chalkboard on one wall stands staunch in its consistency in the face of a dining scene fixated on the hot new trend.

Pro tip: The wines by the glass are a great time, but by the bottle the range opens out to something a whole lot more fun and diverse.

Mediterranean by the Pacific isn’t exactly groundbreaking for the Bondi dining scene. But trust us, every once in a while, something familiar yet exceptional comes along and changes the script. Enter: Lola's Level 1.

Pro tip: Book a table on the balcony to soak up that sunshine and good vibes. 

Bennelong offers you everything to love about the city bundled up into one extravagent dining experience. Yes, the fine dining scene in Sydney has quite the reputation for serving teeny-tiny portions that leave you in desperate need of a maccas run on the way home. But with dishes like Bennelong's much loved sashimi scallops served with oyster cream, pickled white turnips and black vinegar laver, an overwhelming kick of flavour and depth will leave any thoughts of hunger totally KO'd. We recommend ordering the glorious chocolate crackle for dessert. You won't regret it. 

Pro tip: A walk around the Botanic Gardens is socially distant, beautiful and a great way to finish your love affair with the city.

Another from Maurice Terzini and the Icebergs family, CicciaBella is launching their own take on a long – or eternal – lunch. The plates at CicciaBella are perfect for snacking and sharing on the good stuff – think olives, prosciutto, burrata and seafood fregola, the Terzini salad, ripe tomatoes and torn basil. The three-course Italian feast runs every Saturday and Sunday, and throws a bottomless component into the mix too, with two hours of free flowing bellinis, mimosas, bubbles, rose, house wines and beers for $99.

Pro tip: If you're going fancy with the la carte menu, be sure to take on CicciaBella’s famous tiramisu for a sweet finish (it's already included if you opt for the set menu).  

The freshest addition to Sydney's steak scene and the crowning jewel of Martin Place's insane $170 million hospo hub at the foot of the Siedler-designed MLC tower, is New Zealand import Botswana Butchery. The sprawling 300 seat diner comes with a rooftop space for 350 above two floors of restaurant space that's almost always bustling with crowds. Floor-to-ceiling glass windows and tucked-away niches add to the venue's relaxed indoor-outdoor atmosphere. The entire lush fit-out is complete with velvet wingback chairs, making for quite the swish experience indeed. 

Pro tip: Given the name, it's unsurprising that the menu at Botswana Butchery is heavy on the meat, so make sure everyone in your party is a card-carrying carnivore. 

Overlooking Chiswick's lush gardens with a glass of rosé in one hand and a spoonful of delectable food in the other is what we like to call Sydney-heaven. Plus there are loads of big tables if there's a big group involved, and it's the perfect window to order the famous Moran family slow-roasted lamb.

Pro-tip: If you've got a group of four or more opt for the set menu, which was developed by Head Chef Taylor Cullen, and includes plenty of tasty bits from the garden, along with shareable plates of bannockburn chicken, roasted eggplant and slow roasted lamb shoulder.

This glitzy Woolloomooloo spot is known for being a wharfside runway for stars and the go-to for long lunches. With its postcard-worthy location and packed tables, Otto isn’t short on buzz. For an Italian restaurant to be making one of the best vegan menus in town, they're not short on talent either.

Pro-tip: In tandem with a specialty vegan menu Otto offers the most flavourful vegetarian menu, too.

Let’s face it, drinking Spritzes among ocean views and a corps of Sydney’s most beautiful people at neighbouring tables will never go out of style. Even if the water is so cold you can hardly feel your face, we still like to be near it, which is what makes Icebergs such a great time. 

Pro tip: Do the turn by heading through to the bar afterwards for cheeky drinks and maybe even a fashionable (chair) boogie.

Befitting the sun-splashed murals and share-plate centric fare, the terrace is adorned with palm trees, dangling outdoor lights and a bright palette of breezy, coastal pastel colours. Kick back for an extra long lunch fuelled by bottomless rosé and rosé sangria for $89 per person – you'll have more than enough food to go around too, with kingfish creviche, chicken tinga tacos, sweet corn and house-made chorizo quesadillas. And it's just $10 per person to add a beer package to your meal.

Pro tip: Ask for a table outside – rosé just tastes that much better in the sun.