The Best Places To Eat & Drink In Sydney
Sydney was once a city whose best restaurants all came with high price tags and glistening water views. And while those places are still worth seeking out, a visit here wouldn’t be complete without trying some of the smaller, hidden away spots bringing food from countries like Sri Lanka and Japan, or those setting up shop in places like a converted garage in Darlinghurst and an old furniture showroom in Surry Hills. All are examples of how Sydney’s food and drink culture has shifted towards a much more relaxed vibe.
Café Shenkin Owned by a father and his sons, Shenkin is a true Sydney standby. This casual Israeli cafe started small and has since grown to four locations with full kitchens (all serve breakfast and lunch, the Enmore location also serves dinner Thursday-Saturday) and a separate espresso bar in Newtown. But they all still very much feel like family-run businesses. Shenkin’s menu includes things like flaky pasties filled with cheese, meat, and spinach, green and red shakshukas, and large plates of housemade dips with flatbread - the kind of food we’d be happy to eat pretty much anytime.
Flour and Stone There are a few things you must do when you come to Sydney: see the Opera House, lie out on Bondi Beach, and, if you’d like to spend a lot of money to be semi-terrified, climb the Harbour Bridge. Eating a lamington - a cube of sponge cake dipped in chocolate and covered in coconut - should also be on that list, and Flour and Stone’s version (they soak theirs in panna cotta) is the best one in the city. The bakery is small and popular, so if you can’t find a table to sit with your coffee and cake, take it all with you as you walk along the Woolloomooloo Wharf.
Cornersmith The cafe culture in Australia is unique: these places are fast, fresh, and often very serious about their coffee. Cornersmith in Annandale is a relaxed, seasonally-focused one that’s entirely vegetarian. If it’s a nice day, there are a few small tables outside, or Cornersmith offers DIY picnic boxes, and they’ll even let you borrow a picnic blanket to take to the small park right across the street. They also have a picklery in Marrickville where they hold regular workshops on bread and cheesemaking, home-brewing, preserving, and vegan baking.
Shuk Shuk took over an old corner store in the backstreets of Bondi and turned it into a lively spot serving Israeli food. The shakshuka is our go-to all day choice, but we also love their salads full of herbs and sprinkled with dukkah, and the hummus with minced lamb. If you don’t have time to sit in, pick up an egg and bacon roll on the run or some of their house-baked bread and pastries. There are also two locations in the suburbs of Chatswood and Elizabeth Bay if you find yourself outside the city.
Brickfields Prince Alfred Park has basketball and tennis courts, large open fields, and an outdoor heated pool, so it’s a great place to spend an afternoon. And since that afternoon should also involve food, pick up something nearby at Brickfield’s. This tiny corner cafe in Chippendale is a quick walk from the park and has a regularly-changing menu of salads, sandwiches, and pastries, and a famous sourdough ciabatta loaf. The bacon sandwich hasn’t left the menu since it opened in 2012, but you don’t need us to tell you that a bacon sandwich is going to be fantastic - just order it.
Boon Cafe A fun spot in Haymarket (at the top end of the city), Boon Cafe is a Thai restaurant inside a grocery store. You could head here for a breakfast of crab congee, baked eggs with smoked fish, and pandan custard toast, plus a matcha or turmeric latte. Or you could come for a lunch of rice bowls, spicy noodles, and sandwiches. Either way, don’t leave without wandering through the aisles and buying something sweet for later.
Icebergs Dining Room & Bar Icebergs might be the best restaurant with a view in Sydney. It looks out over Bondi Beach and the Icebergs sea pool below so you’ll get a white-tablecloth experience with perfect service, a view of one of Sydney’s great icons, and an excellent people-watching situation. The food is Australian-Italian and involves lots of seafood. Come for lunch (because you want to see these views during the day), or for a cocktail at the bar as the sun goes down.
The Boathouse Palm Beach Sunny, bright, and beachy, The Boathouse (as the name suggests) is set right on the water in a converted boathouse on a pier. It might be a little further than you’d usually go for brunch (an hour’s drive out of Sydney), but it’s well worth the trip if you’re looking for something really special. Sit out on the deck at a wooden picnic table and take in Sydney’s northern beaches while you eat fluffy muffins, granola, egg and bacon rolls, smashed avocado on toast, or a fish burger. It’ll feel like a vacation on your vacation.
Fratelli Paradiso This all-day cafe, restaurant, bar, and bakery has been serving classic Italian food on the sidewalks of Potts Points since 2001. Come for a morning coffee and pastry while you read the paper and pretend to be a local, or settle in for a long lunch or dimly-lit dinner. The menu is scrawled on a blackboard inside and often includes dishes like calamari fritti and housemade scampi pasta. Make your way through the long wine list, or get the waiter to surprise you with something that’s already open, and don’t leave without a plate of the boozy tiramisu.
Restaurant Hubert Hubert opened in the Sydney CBD (Central Business District) in 2016, but it feels like it’s been there for much longer. Make your way down a set of stairs into this underground cavern and you’ll think you’re in a mansion hidden somewhere in Europe. The space is split into a cocktail bar and dining room, where you’ll eat comforting French food like steak tartare with fries, chicken fricassee, and crème caramel. It’s hard not to love this one.
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