Best Restaurants in Sydney 2026: Good Food Guide, Gourmet Traveller and Local Legends on One Map

Paddington, Sydney · Seafood tasting menu

Josh and Julie Niland's seafood restaurant in Paddington's Grand National Hotel serves a 10-course tasting menu at dinner, using whole fish in dishes such as fish-bone noodles in bull-kelp broth. It holds three hats, won the Good Food Guide's Drinks List of the Year 2027 and ranked 66th on The World's 50 Best Restaurants 2025 extended list.

Covered by The Sydney Morning Herald (Good Food) and Broadsheet

Stanmore, Sydney · Contemporary Australian tasting menu

Dan Puskas's suburban tasting-menu restaurant, where head chef Tony Schifilliti's cooking leans on house ferments, reopened its kitchen pass to diners after a 2026 refit. The Good Food Guide named it Restaurant of the Year 2027 and kept it on three hats.

Covered by The Sydney Morning Herald (Good Food) and Broadsheet

Sydney CBD · Chinese

Chinese restaurant from the team behind Pellegrino 2000, Neptune's Grotto and Clam Bar, mixing Sichuan, Cantonese and Hunan cooking; Peking duck is carved to order.

Covered by The Sydney Morning Herald (Good Food), Time Out Sydney and Broadsheet

Barangaroo, Sydney · Italian

Alessandro Pavoni's waterside Italian restaurant at Crown Sydney mixes classics with modernist dishes, and makes pesto at the table from a marble-topped trolley.

Covered by The Sydney Morning Herald (Good Food) and Broadsheet

Sydney CBD · Korean fine dining

Korean fine-dining restaurant serving an 11-course set menu built around fermentation, with a house-made non-alcoholic tea pairing.

Covered by The Sydney Morning Herald (Good Food) and Broadsheet

Balmoral Beach, Sydney · Contemporary Australian

Restaurant on the sand at Balmoral Beach where chef Aaron Ward cooks dishes such as steamed mud crab and smoked duck; a bistro and a Thai restaurant share the building.

Covered by The Sydney Morning Herald (Good Food) and Time Out Sydney

Sydney Opera House, Sydney · Modern Australian

The restaurant inside the Sydney Opera House is now led by Rob Cockerill, who cooked beside Peter Gilmore from its 2015 opening. Gilmore-era dishes such as the pavlova remain on the prix fixe menu.

Covered by The Sydney Morning Herald (Good Food) and Time Out Sydney

Newtown, Sydney · Contemporary, Finnish-influenced

Finnish owner-chef Pasi Petanen's Newtown restaurant serves staples such as molasses-glazed potato bread, ox tongue rye tacos and potato dumplings in trout XO.

Covered by The Sydney Morning Herald (Good Food) and Broadsheet

Chippendale, Sydney · Wood-fired contemporary

Mat Lindsay's Chippendale restaurant has cooked around a wood-fired oven since 2013, with long-running dishes such as oysters roasted in chicken fat and a salted caramel semifreddo. It holds two hats and a place in Gourmet Traveller's 2026 guide.

Covered by The Sydney Morning Herald (Good Food) and Broadsheet

Balmain, Sydney · Neapolitan-style pizza

Daniel Semrani's Balmain pizzeria makes what he calls crunchy contemporary Neapolitan pizza, with a crisp, structured crust. It ranked 16th on 50 Top Pizza World 2026 and Semrani was named Pizza Maker of the Year.

Covered by Time Out Sydney and Time Out Australia

Double Bay, Sydney · Steakhouse and seafood

Neil Perry's Double Bay restaurant breaks down and dry-ages beef in house, served beside about 30 non-steak dishes such as wood-grilled John Dory. It holds two hats and is in Gourmet Traveller's 2026 guide.

Covered by The Sydney Morning Herald (Good Food) and Time Out Sydney

Redfern, Sydney · Greek

Greek restaurant set around a courtyard under a glass oculus, where chef Özge Kalvo cooks dishes such as grilled sardines and lamb skewers over fire, with a deep list of Greek wines.

Covered by The Sydney Morning Herald (Good Food) and Time Out Sydney

Paddington, Sydney · French bistro

Nik Hill and Matt Fitzgerald's upstairs French bistro on Oxford Street is known for terrine, pâté and gougères, with the wine bar L'Avant Cave below. Hill is set to represent Australia at the 2027 Bocuse d'Or, per the Good Food Guide.

Covered by The Sydney Morning Herald (Good Food) and Time Out Sydney

Darlinghurst, Sydney · Italian

Candlelit Darlinghurst Italian from the team behind Bessie's, the successor to Bar Vincent per Broadsheet, with dishes such as chicken under a brick and duck lasagne.

Covered by The Sydney Morning Herald (Good Food) and Broadsheet

Circular Quay, Sydney · Modern Australian

Matt Moran's long-running restaurant at Circular Quay looks straight up at the Opera House sails and serves prix fixe and tasting menus cooked by Tom Gorringe and Moran. The Good Food Guide calls its souffle a house classic.

Covered by The Sydney Morning Herald (Good Food) and Broadsheet

Darlinghurst, Sydney · Classic Italian

Beppi and Norma Polese opened this Darlinghurst Italian in June 1956 and their son Marc runs it today; Time Out calls it Australia's oldest continuously owned Italian restaurant. Gourmet Traveller readers voted it the 2026 Enduring Excellence award.

Covered by Time Out Sydney and Broadsheet

Surry Hills, Sydney · Wood-fire cooking

Lennox Hastie cooks every ingredient over flame or embers at this Surry Hills restaurant, which serves a six-course set menu with a long dry-aged steak as an optional add-on.

Covered by The Sydney Morning Herald (Good Food) and Broadsheet

Barangaroo, Sydney · Cantonese seafood

The Cantonese seafood restaurant left its Sussex Street home in 2021 and reopened at Crown Sydney with live tanks and classics such as XO pipis and two-course Peking duck.

Covered by The Sydney Morning Herald (Good Food) and Broadsheet

Bondi Beach, Sydney · Italian seafood

Italian dining room on the cliff above Bondi's ocean pool, focused on seafood such as risotto with scallop XO and chargrilled octopus caponata.

Covered by The Sydney Morning Herald (Good Food) and Time Out Sydney

Pyrmont, Sydney · Japanese-Italian tasting menu

Federico Zanellato's wharfside restaurant in Pyrmont serves a Japanese-Italian tasting menu, with snacks such as sea urchin gunkan topped with stracciatella.

Covered by The Sydney Morning Herald (Good Food) and Broadsheet

Sydney CBD · Cantonese

Large Cantonese restaurant in a CBD laneway with about 240 seats, more than 70 dishes and a 40-page wine list, per Gourmet Traveller.

Covered by Gourmet Traveller and Time Out Sydney

Woolloomooloo, Sydney · Meat pies

Waterfront pie cart in Woolloomooloo that Time Out dates to 1938, known for the Tiger pie topped with mashed potato, mushy peas and gravy. It trades late into the night.

Covered by Time Out Sydney, Broadsheet and CNN Travel

Darlinghurst, Sydney · Breakfast cafe

Bill Granger's original cafe, whose scrambled eggs and avocado toast Broadsheet credits with exporting Australia's breakfast culture. Weekend queues form for the communal table.

Covered by Broadsheet and Time Out Sydney

Haymarket, Sydney · Thai

Thai restaurant group founded in 1989; its Thaitown branch on Campbell Street sits between Thai supermarkets and is known for gai yaang chicken marinated in turmeric and lemongrass.

Covered by Broadsheet and Time Out Sydney

Haymarket, Sydney · Malaysian

Malaysian restaurant in Chinatown where diners queue outside the street-facing kitchen for roti; Time Out also singles out its nasi lemak.

Covered by Broadsheet and Time Out Sydney