The Top 100 Places to Eat Near Bar Lettera
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Rank 1. Bar Lettera
Italo-Australian Italian
Marble counters meet raw hardwood on the fifth floor of a North Sydney hotel, setting the scene for a wine bar and all-day Italian restaurant that leans into Italo-Australian cooking: pasta with native Davidson plum, burrata alongside local persimmon. The room is polished without being stiff, and the menu moves comfortably from a working breakfast through to sharing plates over a bottle in the evening.
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Rank 2. Poetica Bar & Grill
Modern Australian
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Rank 3. RAFI
Modern Australian
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The open kitchen sends smoke and char into a sleek dining room of soft light and dark wood on Miller Street in North Sydney. Toki is a fusion bistro and bar where the menu leans toward big-format sharing, think tomahawk steaks and beef tartare dressed with tendon crisps and caviar. The cocktail bar pulls its own weight. The Australian Good Food Guide awarded it a Chef Hat.
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Rank 5. Antica Dining
Italian
White tablecloths, chandelier lighting, and walls hung with artwork set the tone at this Italian restaurant in North Sydney, where the menu leans on tradition without pretending the last few decades of cooking didn't happen. The room is housed in a heritage building that gives it the kind of bones a fit-out budget alone can't buy. It holds an Australian Good Food Guide Chef Hat.
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Rank 6. Loulou Bistro
French
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Rank 7. Sails on Lavender Bay
Modern Australian
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A share-plates restaurant on a quiet Neutral Bay street where the menu leans into modern fusion and the room splits the difference between date night and group dinner with equal comfort. The wine list is considered and cocktails get proper attention. It holds an Australian Good Food Guide Chef Hat, which tracks with the polish on the plate without tipping the mood into somewhere you'd feel underdressed in a nice jacket.
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Rank 9. Sushi Oe
Sushi
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Rank 10. Coya Sydney
Middle Eastern
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Rank 11. The Dining Room by James Viles
Modern Australian
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Rank 12. Annata
Modern European New American
The wine list runs to over 200 bottles, with forty-odd available by the glass, which tells you what Annata is really about before you've even looked at the food menu. It's a modern European bistro on the Lower North Shore, the kind of neighbourhood place where the kitchen sends out precise seasonal cooking and the room genuinely expects you to linger. The alfresco garden is dog-friendly, the set menu comes with wine pairings built in, and locals treat it like a second living room.
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Rank 13. Bennelong
Modern Australian
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Rank 14. Midden by Mark Olive
Indigenous Australian
Perched on the Western Broadwalk of the Sydney Opera House, this modern Australian restaurant draws on Indigenous food traditions that predate the building by a considerable stretch. Chef Mark Olive builds the menu around native ingredients, wattle seed, bush honey, pepperberries, saltbush, things most Sydney dining rooms treat as garnish rather than foundation. The Australian Good Food Guide awarded it a Chef Hat.
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Rank 15. ARIA Sydney
Modern Australian
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- Asian Coffee Map Sydney Coffee Guide for Travelers
- Asian Coffee Map Best cafes for reading in Sydney
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Rank 18. Saint Peter
Modern Australian
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Rank 19. Matkim
Korean
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Rank 20. Yoshii’s Omakase
Japanese
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Rank 21. Rockpool Bar & Grill
Modern Australian
The Art Deco banking hall on Hunter Street sets the stage: marble columns, dark timber, and a warm golden light that makes a Wednesday feel like an occasion. This is a steakhouse, and the beef programme is the point, with dry-aged cuts cooked over a wood and charcoal grill. The wine list is one of the more serious in the country. Ranked 38th on the World's Best Steak Restaurants list, which seems about right for a room this sure of itself.
- World's 101 Best #38 · World's Best Steak Restaurants
- Australian Good Food Guide 13/20 · One Chef Hat
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Rank 22. Mode Kitchen & Bar
Modern Australian New American
Polished wood, statement pendants, and banquette seating set the tone at this CBD bistro, which sits somewhere between a long working lunch and a proper dinner out. The kitchen leans Modern Australian, wood-roasting and slow-braising its way through a menu that reads relaxed but cooks with more ambition than the room lets on. An Australian Good Food Guide Hat for the effort.
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Rank 23. Bistro George
European-Australian New American
A European-Australian bistro a short walk from Circular Quay, Bistro George holds an Australian Good Food Guide Hat and pitches itself at the full range: solo bar snacks, work lunches, leisurely dinners. The menu leans on local produce and lands somewhere between Continental and modern Australian, with a wine list broad enough to keep both the table orderer and the sommelier-curious happy.
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Rank 24. Shell House
Modern Australian
A beautifully restored heritage building in the CBD sets the stage: high ceilings, original detailing, and a terrace that opens toward the skyline. Shell House is a contemporary steakhouse where the kitchen dry-ages Australian beef before it meets an open fire grill, with the wider menu showing the same restraint. It landed at number 85 on the World's Best Steak Restaurants list, which should tell you roughly what the room expects of you, dress-wise.
- World's 101 Best #85 · World's Best Steak Restaurants
- Australian Good Food Guide 13/20 · One Chef Hat
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Rank 25. Lana
Italian
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Rank 26. Aalia
Middle Eastern
Open-fire Middle Eastern cooking in the Sydney CBD, where ironbark wood and charcoal from the Blue Mountains do the structural work rather than playing atmosphere. The kitchen pulls from Levantine and North African tradition, including medieval Arabic manuscripts, and the debt shows in the layering of spice rather than any museum-piece earnestness. It landed at number 14 on the World's Best Steak Restaurants list, though it behaves nothing like a steakhouse.
- World's 101 Best #14 · World's Best Steak Restaurants
- Australian Good Food Guide 15/20 · Two Chef Hats
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Rank 28. Besuto
Japanese
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Rank 29. Silvester's Restaurant & Lounge
Modern Australian
A share-format Modern Australian restaurant near Circular Quay, Silvester's sits on a corner that's had butchers and serious produce on it for generations. The menu moves from smaller plates through to bigger dishes, building in a way that feels designed rather than accidental. The room leans convivial rather than hushed. An Australian Good Food Guide Chef Hat.
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Rank 30. The Grill at The International
Modern Australian
Harbour views through floor-to-ceiling glass, leather banquettes, and Australian art on the walls set the tone at this upscale steak restaurant inside Sydney's International Hotel. The kitchen dry-ages Wagyu and pasture-raised beef in-house, then cooks over wood and charcoal with the confidence of people who don't need to explain themselves. It landed at number 33 on the World's Best Steak Restaurants list, which tracks.
- World's 101 Best #33 · World's Best Steak Restaurants
- Australian Good Food Guide 12/20 · One Chef Hat
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Rank 31. a'Mare
Italian
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Rank 32. Mr Wong
Chinese
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Rank 33. Firedoor
Modern Australian
Every morning the menu is written from scratch based on what came in and how the fire is burning, because Firedoor runs on Australian hardwoods alone, no gas, no electricity. Lennox Hastie's Surry Hills restaurant is a serious, sit-down affair where the open kitchen keeps the work visible and the point is restraint, not theatre. It sits at number eleven on the World's Best Steak Restaurants list, which tells you something about the aged ribeye.
- World's 101 Best #11 · World's Best Steak Restaurants
- Australian Good Food Guide 15/20 · Two Chef Hats
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Rank 34. Woodcut
Modern Australian
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Rank 35. Margaret
Modern Australian
Neil Perry's wood-fired grill restaurant in Double Bay sits at number two on the World's Best Steak Restaurants list, which is about as specific an endorsement as the universe offers. The open kitchen keeps the focus on dry-aged beef and whatever came off a boat that morning, and the room follows the same logic: nothing is there to impress you, which is exactly why it does. Australian producers run the whole show, pasture to coast.
- World's 101 Best #2 · World's Best Steak Restaurants
- Australian Good Food Guide 14/20 · Two Chef Hats
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Rank 36. LuMi Bar & Dining
Italian
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Rank 37. Restaurant Hubert
French
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Rank 39. Gran Torino
Italian
Neil Perry's Italian restaurant in Double Bay is built around the aperitivo rhythm: Martinis and spritzes arrive first, then antipasti, housemade pasta, seafood, and steak. The beef program leans into rare Australian breeds, including grass-fed Chianina, cooked simply enough that the sourcing does the talking. Ranked 27th on the World's Best Steak Restaurants list, though the room reads more like a generous Italian trattoria than a temple to beef.
- World's 101 Best #27 · World's Best Steak Restaurants
- Australian Good Food Guide 12/20 · One Chef Hat
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Rank 40. Spice Temple Sydney
Chinese
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Rank 41. Maydanoz
Turkish
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Rank 42. Yellow
Vegetarian
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Rank 43. Restaurant Leo
Italian
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Rank 44. Sala
Italian
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Rank 45. Morena
Modern Australian
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Rank 46. Porteño
Tapas
The open grill is the room's focal point, its smoke threading through exposed brick and vintage clutter to announce that this is an Argentine asado restaurant, not a steakhouse cosplaying as one. Surry Hills regulars fill the long tables for dry-aged beef cooked over fire with patience rather than theatre, and a wine list that runs Buenos Aires and Barossa in easy company. It placed 36th on the World's Best Steak Restaurants list.
- World's 101 Best #36 · World's Best Steak Restaurants
- Australian Good Food Guide 13/20 · One Chef Hat
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Rank 47. Kazan Dining
Japanese
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Rank 48. Eleven Barrack
Modern Australian
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Rank 49. Kuro Bar & Dining
Japanese
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A neon-lit basement off York Street designed to feel like a gambling den, which sets the mood pretty squarely. Hustlers. Syd is a shared-plates Asian restaurant built for late nights, with a menu that roams across the continent and a cocktail list that keeps pace. The Australian Good Food Guide gave it a Chef Hat. Come with people you like sharing with, and don't schedule anything early the next morning.
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Rank 52. The Charles
French
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Rank 54. Restaurant Garaku
Japanese
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Rank 55. Prefecture 48
Japanese
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Rank 56. Franca Brasserie
Mediterranean
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Rank 58. Clarence and V
Modern Australian
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Rank 59. Nel Restaurant
Modern Australian
Fine dining that occasionally serves fried chicken and doughnuts without any apparent shame. Nel runs a rotating 11-course degustation in a moody CBD room of exposed brick and open kitchen, where the theme changes entirely and regulars come back to see what the kitchen has cooked up next. The format is unmistakably tasting-menu serious; the attitude is something else. Three Chef Hats from the Australian Good Food Guide.
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Rank 60. Esteban
Mexican
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Rank 61. Atelier By Sofitel
French
South of France cooking in a Darling Harbour hotel, with wine racks lining the walls and a menu that leans on local produce shaped into something unmistakably French. The kitchen uses coal and char alongside classical technique, so there's smoke and richness alongside the bright, coastal flavors you'd expect. A polished, unhurried kind of dinner, the sort where you dress up a little and nobody feels self-conscious about it. The Australian Good Food Guide awards it two Chef Hats.
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Rank 62. Palazzo Salato
Italian
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Rank 63. Otto Ristorante Sydney
Italian
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Rank 64. Infinity at Sydney Tower
Modern Australian
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Rank 65. Kiln
Modern Australian
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Rank 66. Sokyo
Japanese
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Rank 67. Bistro Rex
French
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Rank 68. Sydney Common
Modern Australian
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Rank 69. Bathers' Pavilion Restaurant
Modern Australian
Floor-to-ceiling windows frame Balmoral Beach from every seat, which makes the nautical theme feel earned rather than decorative. This is a fine-dining restaurant on the Sydney Harbour foreshore, all French blue linen and an open kitchen that spills into a lounge furnished with Moroccan rugs. The chef came up through Sixpenny, and the seasonal menu leans into the harbour setting without hammering the point. A 350-bottle wine list and two Good Food Guide Chef Hats.
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Rank 71. Haco
Japanese
Charcoal grilling and tempura in the same omakase menu sounds like a contradiction until you sit at the counter and watch the chef make it feel inevitable. Haco is a compact Japanese fine dining room in the Sydney CBD, built around a single tasting progression you watch unfold in front of you. The name means theatre in Japanese, which the room leans into without apology. It holds two Chef Hats from the Australian Good Food Guide.
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Rank 72. Omakase by Prefecture 48
Modern Australian
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Rank 73. Ibushi Robata Grill
Japanese
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Rank 74. Cho Cho San
Japanese
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Rank 75. Ormeggio at The Spit
Italian
Moored at D'Albora Marinas with water views in every direction, this is a fine-dining Italian seafood restaurant where the cocktail and gelato bar sits centre stage like it owns the room. The menu skips meat entirely, leaning into sustainable seafood prepared with enough technique to keep things interesting without taking itself too seriously. A Three Chef Hat winner from the Australian Good Food Guide, it draws a crowd that dresses up slightly but still orders dessert without guilt.
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Rank 76. Viand
Thai
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Rank 77. The Apollo
Greek
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Rank 79. Restaurant Ka
Modern Australian
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Rank 80. BTWN
Modern New American
Darling Harbour views frame every table at this theatrical modern Australian share-plates restaurant inside W Sydney. The menu leans on local growers and coastal producers, with wild-caught seafood making a strong case for itself as the room fills and the energy climbs toward something noticeably louder than dinner. The Australian Good Food Guide awarded it a Chef Hat.
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Rank 81. Allta
Korean
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Rank 82. Kisuke
Japanese
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Rank 83. S’more
French
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Rank 84. Gildas
Spanish
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Rank 85. Public Dining Room
Modern Australian
Floor-to-ceiling windows look straight out over Balmoral Beach toward Manly and North Head, which makes the room feel less like a restaurant and more like a very well-catered boat. This is a relaxed fine dining spot on The Esplanade, serving a modern Australian à la carte menu with Mediterranean leanings and local produce. The Australian Good Food Guide awarded it a Chef Hat. Getting there by water taxi from Circular Quay is, apparently, a genuine option.
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Rank 86. L'Heritage
French
A converted Navy drill hall on a Mosman wharf, with national park on one side and harbour on the other, is doing a lot of the heavy lifting before the food even arrives. L'Heritage is a French bistro and brasserie that leans into the classics, escargot, beef tartare, duck à l'orange, dry-aged steak, cooked with Australian produce and served without the stiffness those dishes sometimes attract. The setting alone tends to silence the table.
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Rank 87. Figo Restaurant & Bar
Italian
Velvet booths, wine racks floor to ceiling, and exposed concrete that somehow pulls it all together: Figo is an Italian restaurant and cocktail bar in Rushcutters Bay doing the kind of old-school Roman trattoria thing Sydney never tires of. Pappardelle with osso buco ragu is the move, and the tiramisu arrives exactly as it should. A One Chef Hat from the Australian Good Food Guide keeps the regulars feeling quietly smug about their standing reservation.
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Rank 88. Takam
Filipino
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Rank 89. Kuon Omakase
Sushi
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Rank 91. Seven Spices
Modern Indian
A tandoor and a dosa menu in the same room as chilli saffron foam tells you everything about where Seven Spices is headed. It's a modern Indian restaurant in Lane Cove that pulls from street food, slow curries, and flame-cooked classics without treating any of them as lesser than the others. The room skews toward families and celebrations, and the Australian Good Food Guide awarded it a Chef Hat.
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Rank 92. White Horse
Modern Australian
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Rank 93. Nomad Sydney
Middle Eastern
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Rank 94. PELLEGRINO 2000
Italian
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Rank 95. Ennui
Modern Australian
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Rank 96. Amuro
Japanese
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A Surry Hills spot where Australian and Asian cooking get folded into each other in ways that feel less like fusion and more like a genuine point of view. The menu shifts familiar territory into something harder to categorize, which is either exciting or unsettling depending on your mood. The room is small enough that the kitchen's curiosity feels personal. It holds a Chef Hat from the Australian Good Food Guide.
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Rank 100. Shaffa
Middle Eastern
Sandwiched between two heritage sandstone buildings down a Surry Hills laneway, Shaffa is a Middle Eastern restaurant and bar built around shared plates and a deliberately festive mood. The space pulls from the energy of a bazaar, all bold spices and low lighting, and it suits a long table of friends more than a quiet Tuesday. The Australian Good Food Guide awarded it a Chef Hat.