12 Best Restaurants in Sydney, New South Wales

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. 

Sitting at the edge of newly completed Barangaroo like an elegant stack of wide, plant-filled bowls clad in charred timber, this three-level spaceship has a seating capacity of 900 people and offers three ways to dine: the House Bar at the pedestrian promenade level offers craft beers, cocktails, or coffee and share plates, Rekōdo restaurant & Vinyl Bar, a sprawling fine-dining restaurant offering Japanese fusion with both indoor and outdoor dining, and the buzzy rooftop bar, Smoke, which has good views across the harbor and an outstanding cocktail list.

Balmoral Beach is blessed—not only does it have an inviting sandy beach and great water views, but it also has one of the best eating strips north of the Harbour Bridge. Queen of the strip is Bathers' Pavilion, which includes a restaurant, café, and lavish private dining room. Here you'll find a menu packed with the best local ingredients no matter if you're dining for a casual breakfast, lunch, afternoon tea or dinner. There's a choice of fresh light salads, wood-fired pizzas, and seafood dishes. No reservations taken for the café.

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.

Named after celebrity chef and cookbook author Bill Granger, this sunny corner café is so addictive it should come with a health warning. It's a favorite hangout of everyone from local nurses to semi-disguised rock stars, and you never know who you might be sitting next to at the newspaper-strewn communal table. If you're not interested in the creaminess of what must be Sydney's best scrambled eggs, try the ricotta hotcakes with fresh banana and honeycomb butter or the corn fritters. The coconut-poached chicken sandwich with cucumber and lime mayonnaise makes an ideal lunch. 

Locals rub shoulders while eating no-fuss Chinese food at TV chef Kylie Kwong's trendy restaurant. Kwong prepares the kind of food her family cooks, with Grandma providing not just the inspiration but also the recipes. The prawn wontons with brown rice vinegar are always popular, but the standout dish is the deep fried whole sand whiting with black bean and sea parsley. If you have a big appetite, indulge in a variety of dishes with the seven-course banquet (A$75).

It's named after a cloud, but with its floor-to-ceiling-windows looking out on Cockle Bay, timber fencing (both on the floor and strung in different lengths from the ceiling) akin to what you might see in sand dunes, a suspended/flying vintage speedboat, and perhaps the best and freshest seafood offerings in Sydney, Cirrus may as well be named for the sea it floats above. The five-course, degustation-style menu is very popular, with courses involving high-end fare like caviar, oysters, and scallops. The grilled Moreton Bay bug on the à la carte menu is sumptuous and a must try. The wine list is carefully curated with a focus on pairing white wines, with red limited to those light in body.

There's a reason why there's always a queue snaking down the street. This is undoubtedly the best gelato in Sydney, with unique flavors that change all the time. There's now many Gelato Messina parlors across Sydney but this is the original. DIY sundaes available. No seating so grab and walk down the tree-lined Victoria Street.

The fashionable and famous just adore perching like seagulls over the swimming pool at the south end of Australia's most famous beach. It is one of the must-visit restaurants in Sydney, for both the sensational view and the exquisite food. The menu featuring modern Italian- and Mediterranean-inspired dishes, with signature options like spaghetti vongole and crispy skin barramundi. The elegant space includes a stylish bar with a broad selection of cocktails, fine wines, and craft beers. But it's the floor-to-ceiling windows providing breathtaking views of the iconic surf and coastline that is the true drawcard here—along with celebrity spotting. 

It's always a fun night at this fashionable post-industrial Thai eatery because you never know who you'll end up meeting at the large communal table. The generous-size innovative mains—some say the best Thai food in town—are designed to be shared. Begin with a simple starter of either betel nut leaf with prawn-toasted coconut or a freshly shucked oyster with red chili and coriander. Mains include the stir-fried pork belly with chili and ginger, while egg nets—lacy omelets filled with prawns, pork, peanuts, and bean sprouts—are also a popular choice. Longrain's cocktails are legendary for their generous pours; try the ping pong—a luscious mix of passion fruit, lychee, and vodka.

Sign up for one of the monthly cocktail classes to learn the barman's secrets.

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.

A meal at Rockpool is a crash course in what Mod Oz cooking is all about, conducted in a glamorous, long dining room with a catwalk-like ramp. Thai, Chinese, Mediterranean, and Middle Eastern influences can be found in the dishes here. The menu is extensive, with caviar from around the world to start. The Wagyu beef is butchered on-site, with the premium oyster blade cut costing A$125; the tagliatelle with a rich mushroom and truffle sauce is equally satisfying. Don't miss the date tart for dessert—it's been a Rockpool favorite since 1984.