4 Best Restaurants in The Rocks, Sydney

With windows overlooking the Opera House and Harbour Bridge, Aria could easily rest on the laurels of its location. Instead, celebrated chef Tom Gorringe creates a menu of extraordinary dishes that may be your best meal Down Under. There's inventive seafood dishes, premium meats, and beautifully presented desserts. The dining experience is focused on different four-course tasting menus, with matching wines. And this dining experience doesn't come cheap but fine fare rarely does, especially in Australia. 

One of Australia's most renowned chefs, Peter Gilmore, oversees the kitchen at possibly the most superbly situated dining room in town. Tucked into the side of the Opera House, the restaurant affords views of Sydney Harbour Bridge and the city lights. Gilmore's creations are as special as the view and showcase the best of Australia's produce with a focus on terroir, with dishes like aged Kurobuta pork or Tasmanian southern rock lobster. Whatever you do, leave room for dessert, with the cherry jam lamington, a clever interpretation of the Australian classic cake, which has been a constant on the menu for almost a decade. It's that good. Pretheater dining is available if you are going to a performance in the Opera House but booking is essential.

Quay has been Sydney’s top restaurant for 30 years and it's still going strong with chef Peter Gilmore's experimental Mod Oz cuisine created with seasonal, local produce. The menu has carefully created seafood dishes, like wild blacklip abalone or native freshwater marron or crayfish. But it’s the White Coral dessert, which is what Quay has become known. It's a white chocolate ganache shell filled with feijoa fruit ice cream and coconut cream. Add in the sweeping vista of the Opera House and the sparkling harbor, and it's perhaps no surprise that prebooking is essential.

Found inside the Roslyn Packer Theatre, the Walsh Bay Kitchen offers light Asian fusion fare, with flavors of miso and wasabi-crumbed fish often found on the menu. It gets busy here before a show, due in part to the fact that the food here is so much cheaper than at neighboring restaurants. It's a pleasant spot to linger and enjoy a quiet wine from the extensive list when the crowds empty out.