The Top 100 Places to Eat Near Table Manners
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Rank 2. Wagyuto
Japanese
The restaurant takes its name from the Japanese word for a Western chef's knife, which tells you something about where this place sits, one foot in Japanese tradition, the other in the cooking-obsessed Sydney dining scene. It's a considered, sit-down Japanese restaurant in sleepy Clovelly, and the kitchen leans hard on local produce while keeping the cooking precise and unfussy. The kind of room where people are there to eat, not to be seen.
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Rank 3. Mimi's
Modern Australian
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Rank 4. Osteria Coogee
Italian
A neighbourhood Italian osteria a short walk from Coogee Beach, where house-made pasta and focaccia share the menu with fire-grilled octopus and the kind of seasonal specials that give regulars an excuse to come back. The room leans into trailing ferns and cane pendants, which sounds like a lot but somehow settles into somewhere easy to stay for a long lunch. It holds an Australian Good Food Guide Chef Hat.
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Rank 6. Saint Peter
Modern Australian
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Rank 8. 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 9. Sella Vinoteca
Italian
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Rank 10. 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 12. 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 13. 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 14. Civico 47
Italian
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Rank 15. 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 16. Ursula's Paddington
Australian New American
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Rank 17. Fred's
Modern Australian
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Rank 18. Catalina Restaurant
Modern Australian
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Rank 19. 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 20. Tanuki Restaurant Sydney
Japanese
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Rank 21. 10 William Street
Italian
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Rank 22. 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 23. Porcine
French
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Rank 24. Yellow
Vegetarian
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Rank 26. Restaurant Ka
Modern Australian
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Rank 27. White Horse
Modern Australian
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Rank 28. 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 30. Franca Brasserie
Mediterranean
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Rank 31. arthur
Modern Australian
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Rank 32. 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 33. Gildas
Spanish
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Rank 34. Jane
Modern Australian
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Rank 35. R by Raita Noda.
Japanese
An open kitchen doubles as a stage at this omakase and theater dining restaurant in Redfern, where two chefs work in near-silence while guests sit close enough to hear the knife. The rain-inspired interior tilts quiet and contemplative, which sets the right mood for a meal built around precision and patience. Chef Raita Noda has been running omakase in Sydney for years, and this is his latest, most considered room.
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Rank 36. 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 37. Armorica
French
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Rank 38. Takam
Filipino
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Rank 39. Nour
Lebanese
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Rank 40. Allta
Korean
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Rank 41. Ito Restaurant
Japanese
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Rank 42. ARIA Sydney
Modern Australian
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Rank 43. 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 44. Kisuke
Japanese
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Rank 45. SOUL Dining
Korean
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Rank 46. The Blue Door
Modern Australian
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Rank 47. The Apollo
Greek
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Rank 48. Bessie's & Alma's
Modern Australian
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Rank 49. Amuro
Japanese
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Rank 50. Bastardo
Italian
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Rank 51. 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.
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Rank 52. Bar Copains
Modern Australian
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Rank 53. Cho Cho San
Japanese
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Rank 54. Bistro Rex
French
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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 58. Nomad Sydney
Middle Eastern
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Rank 59. PELLEGRINO 2000
Italian
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Rank 60. Viand
Thai
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Rank 61. Otto Ristorante Sydney
Italian
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Rank 62. Fontana
Italian
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Rank 63. Kindred
Italian
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Rank 64. The Botanica Vaucluse
Modern Australian
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Rank 65. Attenzione Food & Wine
Italian
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Rank 66. Ennui
Modern Australian
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Rank 67. Chez Beckett's
Modern French
Softly lit and tucked into Chippendale's Kensington Street, Chez Beckett's is a modern French bistro where the industrial bones of the building meet white-tablecloth formality without feeling stuffy. The menu leans into the classics, escargots, tartare, duck, done with Australian seasonal produce threaded through. The wine list is curated and the cocktails are genuinely considered, which the after-work crowd in the corner seems to have figured out already.
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Rank 68. Restaurant Garaku
Japanese
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Rank 69. Prefecture 48
Japanese
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Rank 71. Kuro Bar & Dining
Japanese
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Rank 72. Sydney Common
Modern Australian
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Rank 73. Bennelong
Modern Australian
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Rank 74. Kuon Omakase
Sushi
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Rank 75. Infinity at Sydney Tower
Modern Australian
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Rank 76. Lana
Italian
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Rank 77. Kazan Dining
Japanese
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Rank 78. Kiln
Modern Australian
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Rank 83. Esteban
Mexican
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Rank 84. Ibushi Robata Grill
Japanese
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Rank 85. Omakase by Prefecture 48
Modern Australian
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Rank 86. Spice Temple Sydney
Chinese
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Rank 87. 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 88. Restaurant Hubert
French
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Rank 89. Palazzo Salato
Italian
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Rank 90. The Charles
French
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Rank 91. Restaurant Leo
Italian
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Rank 92. Morena
Modern Australian
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Rank 93. Matkim
Korean
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Rank 94. 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 95. Clarence and V
Modern Australian
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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 97. Eleven Barrack
Modern Australian
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Rank 99. LuMi Bar & Dining
Italian
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Rank 100. Maydanoz
Turkish