Sydney’s Best Restaurants

Indagare is always scouting for the newest best restaurants, classic spots and neighborhood gems that feel like a special find. Though the restaurant scene changes often, here is our current list of top tables in Sydney, for any occasion.

Pellegrino 2000 is a buzzy Surry Hills favorite that channels the old-school spirit of Roman and Florentine trattorias, with tomato tins stacked on open shelves and dried pasta on display alongside modernist Italian prints against stucco walls. 80 Campbell Street

The late Bill Granger opened several eponymous restaurants in Sydney, and the bills outpost in Surry Hills is the place for a fabulous afternoon brunch. Granger perfected the art of delicious yet simple food in convivial (if noisy) surroundings. His ricotta hotcakes with banana and honeycomb butter are considered a Sydney icon right up there with the Opera House. 355 Crown Street

Located 15 minutes from downtown Sydney, Chiswick Woollahra is a beautiful greenhouse-style, farm-to-table restaurant that serves seasonal fare such as house-made focaccia, wood-fired eggplant with chickpea miso and flank steak with heirloom carrots. 65 Ocean Street

The more local alternate to Icebergs at Bondi Beach, Sean Moran's beach shack-turned-restaurant feels quaint and neighborhoody. The menu at Sean's changes daily, with an emphasis on fresh ingredients and Italian home cooking, so you will likely find pasta and grilled seafood dishes scrawled on the blackboard menus. 270 Campbell Parade

Pilu at Freshwater channels the best of Australian dining with a gorgeous seaside setting, open-air dining room and elegant, beach-inspired décor. Award-winning chef Giovanni Pilu is Sardinian and takes pride in authentic regional dishes, including Sardinian classics such as seadas. Moore Road

Beach meets brasserie at Bert’s Bar and Brasserie, a beloved Newport restaurant serving a predominantly coastal-European menu. Appetizers might include selections from the oyster bar or steak tartare, while mains could be seafood pasta, rib-eye steak or whole lobster. 2 Kalinya Street

Aalia is a Middle Eastern and North African restaurant within Harry Seidler's landmark MLC Centre, with warm lighting and timber pillars setting an atmosphere that suits a celebration. The kitchen draws on dishes and techniques researched across the region, including recipes pulled from 10th-century Arabic cookbooks, structured as a progression from raw dishes and mezze through mains and sides. Shop 7.07-7.08/25 Martin Pl

This steak and seafood grill takes its cues from the great Manhattan steakhouses, right down to the martinis and the oysters Rockefeller. Clam Bar's seafood tower, tableside fish filleting and a choice of steak cuts cooked over charcoal headline the menu, served with classic sauces and sides like beef fat potatoes and creamed spinach. 44 Bridge Street

From the same family as other Sydney hot spots like est. and The Ivy, Mr. Wong is a modern Cantonese den that pays homage to yum cha (dim sum). The two-level restaurant serves Cantonese classics such as Chinese roasted duck. But, of course, the dim sum selection is the star. 3 Bridge Lane

A statue of Neptune presides over this subterranean Italian dining room at Neptune's Grotto, set into sandstone foundations beneath sister restaurant Clam Bar. Comfortable booths, candlelight and a soundtrack of old Italian jazz lend the space a clubby, after-hours feel. Tortellini and tagliatelle with pork and veal ragu anchor the pasta menu, alongside updates to classics like cotoletta alla panna. Loftus Lane & Young Street, 44 Bridge Street

Restaurant Hubert is a buzzy French eatery helmed by the owners of several of Sydney's most popular venues. While the menu leans into sophisticated French classics, the overall atmosphere is casual and convivial, with a rustic-chic dining room decorated with burgundy booths and vintage-inspired lighting. 15 Bligh Street

a’Mare serves classic Italian cooking at Crown Sydney in a plush dining room that opens onto a waterfront terrace. The menu covers handmade pasta, crudo and wood-grilled steaks, and several dishes are finished at the table. Level 1/1 Barangaroo Avenue

Chef Lennox Hastie spent his career in Michelin-starred European kitchens before opening the rustic Firedoor Restaurant. With a kitchen fueled entirely by wood fire, it emphasizes fresh local ingredients and presents an impressive menu of elevated comfort food. 23/33 Mary Street

With an industrial-chic interior, Ester is a trendy spot serving eclectic dishes that highlight unusual ingredients. 46-52 Meagher Street

Foodies keep flocking to chef Josh Niland's seafood restaurant Saint Peter—now located within The Grand National Hotel—where the kitchen uses lesser-known cuts in a scale-to-tail style, including seafood charcuterie. 161 Underwood Street

With an enviable location on the rooftop of Customs House, the upscale Café Sydney Restaurant provides harbor views from its dining room, which has floor-to-ceiling windows, an outdoor terrace and a cocktail lounge. Expect exquisite dishes like Suffolk lamb with smoked eggplant, labneh and mint, plus a host of seafood and shellfish specialties. Customs House, Alfred Street

Award-winning restaurant Catalina Rose Bay—one of the grande dames of the Sydney dining scene—is for those who prefer more serene water views than those found at such trendy seafront spots as Icebergs. Owners Michael and Judy McMahon have now been joined by their children James and Kate, whose glittering CVs include stints at some of the city's top restaurants and bars, injecting a new, forward-thinking spirit into this old classic. Lyne Park, 596F New South Head Road

Hardly under the radar, the Icebergs restaurant is famous for good reason. Its wraparound floor-to-ceiling windows provide panoramic views of Bondi Beach. The food—simple Mediterranean dishes—is refreshingly unpretentious for such a legendary setting: chalk it up to that casual Bondi spirit. 1 Notts Avenue

The main restaurant at Bathers' Pavilion serves seafood-focused Modern Australian cooking inside a 1920s bathing pavilion on Balmoral Beach in Mosman. Tablecloths striped in blue and white set a seaside tone. Walls of glass look straight out onto the sand. 4 The Esplanade

Maybe Sammy is an elevated, theatrical, award-winning bar with a themed menu that celebrates classic films and television. It's a regular on World's 50 Best Bars list. 115 Harrington Street

The Baxter Inn is a boisterous, yet sophisticated candle-lit whiskey bar hidden in an alley in Sydney's Central Business District. With an impressive selection of top-shelf whiskies, classic cocktails and beer, it's an undeniably good time, especially for whiskey fans. 152/156 Clarence Street