8 Best Restaurants in Inner City and the Eastern Suburbs, Sydney

Bondi is known for being the health epicenter of Sydney and, unsurprisingly, the cafés are all about packing as much healthy food into a dish as possible. Breakfast bowls packed with eggs, vegetables, toasted seeds, and gluten-free toast is a popular option here. There's also fresh juices, smoothies and kombucha, which most grab-to-go and take to the nearby grass bank opposite the beach.

At this cute, popular little pub in Paddington, chef Colin Fassnidge (an Irishman who emerged as the most controversial guest judge on Australian TV cooking show My Kitchen Rules) has been wowing patrons for years with his shared dish for two of slow-braised lamb shoulder with kipfler potatoes, baby carrots, and salsa verde. His whole suckling pig is also a popular Sunday long-lunch treat. Starters and mains change monthly, and the restaurant's popularity has seen it open for lunch and dinner six days a week.

Fast but fancy fare, that's what this Darlinghurst café has become known for since opening in 2020—and has since expanded with three other locations, including Barangaroo. The crab omelet is a standout for breakfast and comes with avruga caviar. The cheese toastie comes topped with black truffle, there are poached lobster rolls and caviar sandwiches. The service is slick, the interiors trendy and the coffee rich, but it comes at a price. 

Celeb-chef Matt Moran’s much-celebrated beachfront offering is so much more than just standard fish-and-chips. The ocean views enhance a small and select seafood menu that includes fresh Sydney rock oysters, charcoal-grilled snapper, prawns, salmon, and whole fish of the day. The fancy fish fingers, fish burgers, and classic beer-battered fillets are musts.

It might look like nothing more than a hole-in-the-wall but this modest café has been hailed by locals as serving the best coffee in the Potts Point and Kings Cross area. And the seating outside is always packed every morning of the week. To find it, you'll need to head down Llankelly Place, a back lane that runs behind Potts Point, that offers many unique cafés and restaurants. The menu offers all-day breakfast, with the Brekkie Rice (creamed red rice, quinoa, walnuts, pumpkin seeds, and stewed rhubarb). If you can't get a seat, there's easy grab and go eats and specialized coffee, with single origin option rotated weekly. 

North Bondi Beach wouldn't be the same without Sean's, perched on a slight rise a stone's throw from the famous beach. It's been there since the mid-1990s and owner Sean Moran loads his menu with fresh produce grown on his farm in the Blue Mountains. Dishes change regularly and are only featured on a blackboard: they may include baked blue-eye fish with roasted cauliflower, or a ravioli of zucchini, mozzarella, and lemons. The many fans in Sydney means it can be difficult to secure a table but if you're lucky enough, Sean's is the epitome of Bondi—cool and laid back.

In 2019, this café opened Sydney's first self-serve batch-brew bar, with craft beer--style taps where you can drink as much single-origin coffee as your heart desires or can handle. But this is more than just a trendy spot for coffee: the menu is filled with quirky dishes, with many vegan offerings. The eggplant katsu roll is very popular.

Once just a standard pub in Surry Hills, this spot was completely gutted and renovated and recently opened as a high-end dining experience. Upstairs you can start with a cocktail or two, which gets very lively on weekend. Then downstairs, the dining space is expansive but feels intimate with low lighting. Each dish is carefully prepared and a taste explosion. Roasted chicken skin with liver mousse and sweet Davidson plum is a must to start, followed by the dry-aged Aylesbury duck with rhubarb. The wine list is extensive, the cocktails carefully mixed and for art lovers, there's a vast array of bold art throughout the restaurant.