Sunday, September 6, 2026

The Top 100 Restaurants in Sydney

The best restaurants in Sydney, by the professional record: 50 Best, Australian Good Food Guide, and World's 101 Best have all weighed in, and their honors are what rank this list. Saint Peter comes out on top.

Aalia and Gran Torino hold the next two places. Australian Good Food Guide shows up on more of this list than any other guide, with World's 101 Best next.

Categories

  1. Rank 1. Saint Peter

    Modern Australian


  2. Rank 2. 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.


  3. 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.


  4. Rank 4. ARIA Sydney

    Modern Australian



  5. Rank 4. Sixpenny

    Modern Australian


  6. Rank 7. Bennelong

    Modern Australian



  7. Rank 7. 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.



  8. Rank 7. Yellow

    Vegetarian



  9. Rank 13. Allta

    Korean


  10. Rank 13. Arrana

    Modern Australian

    Native Australian ingredients anchor the menu at this fine dining room in Springwood, where the Blue Mountains are less a backdrop than an active ingredient. The kitchen leans into the landscape, pulling flavors from country the Gundungurra and Darug peoples have known far longer than any restaurant critic. The room is intimate and unhurried, the kind of place where the service notices things. Two Chef Hats from the Australian Good Food Guide.


  11. 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.


  12. 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.


  13. Rank 13. Catalina Restaurant

    Modern Australian


  14. Rank 13. Civico 47

    Italian



  15. Rank 13. Franca Brasserie

    Mediterranean


  16. Rank 13. Gildas

    Spanish


  17. Rank 13. 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.



  18. Rank 13. Lana

    Italian


  19. Rank 13. Matkim

    Korean


  20. Rank 13. Mimi's

    Modern Australian





  21. Rank 13. Restaurant Ka

    Modern Australian



  22. Rank 13. White Horse

    Modern Australian



  23. Rank 33. a'Mare

    Italian


  24. Rank 33. Abhi's

    Indian


  25. Rank 33. Amuro

    Japanese


  26. Rank 33. 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.


  27. Rank 33. ANTE

    Modern Australian


  28. 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.


  29. Rank 33. Armorica

    French


  30. Rank 33. arthur

    Modern Australian



  31. Rank 33. Bar Copains

    Modern Australian



  32. Rank 33. 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.


  33. Rank 33. Bastardo

    Italian



  34. Rank 33. Bessie's & Alma's

    Modern Australian


  35. Rank 33. Besuto

    Japanese



  36. Rank 33. 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.




  37. Rank 33. Brasserie 1930

    Modern Australian


  38. Rank 33. 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.


  39. Rank 33. Cafe Paci

    Modern Australian



  40. Rank 33. 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.


  41. Rank 33. Cho Cho San

    Japanese


  42. Rank 33. Clarence and V

    Modern Australian


  43. Rank 33. Coya Sydney

    Middle Eastern


  44. Rank 33. CRICCA

    Italian


  45. Rank 33. Eleven Barrack

    Modern Australian


  46. Rank 33. Ennui

    Modern Australian


  47. Rank 33. Entrata

    Italian

    An Italian restaurant set inside a converted house on the edge of Sydney's Hills District, with bushland visible from the dining room and a sommelier who takes the wine list seriously. The kitchen turns out modern Italian cooking that keeps one foot in tradition, and the room is warm enough that a long dinner here feels like a reasonable way to spend an evening. The Australian Good Food Guide awarded it a Chef Hat.



  48. Rank 33. Esteban

    Mexican


  49. 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.


  50. Rank 33. Fior

    Modern Australian


  51. Rank 33. Firepop

    Modern Australian


  52. Rank 33. Fontana

    Italian


  53. Rank 33. Fred's

    Modern Australian


  54. 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.



  55. 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.




  56. Rank 33. Infinity at Sydney Tower

    Modern Australian



  57. Rank 33. Jane

    Modern Australian


  58. Floor-to-ceiling glass frames an unbroken view over Whale Beach, and every table in the dining room faces it, which sounds like a marketing promise until you're actually sitting there. Jonah's is a European-leaning coastal restaurant with a seasonal menu built around local produce, the kind of place where the ocean does a lot of the heavy lifting and the kitchen is polite enough to keep up. Smart enough for a long lunch, a little dressed-up for dinner.



  59. Rank 33. Kiln

    Modern Australian


  60. Rank 33. Kindred

    Italian



  61. Rank 33. Kisuke

    Japanese


  62. 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.





  63. Rank 33. Maydanoz

    Turkish


  64. Rank 33. 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.


  65. Rank 33. Morena

    Modern Australian


  66. Rank 33. Mr Wong

    Chinese


  67. Rank 33. Newmarket Room

    Modern Australian

    The dining room at this Warwick Farm restaurant sits inside the Inglis bloodstock complex, and the horse-world setting is not subtle. It's a Modern Australian restaurant where the alfresco terrace looks out over riverside stables, which makes for a more distinctive backdrop than most. The menu runs to butter-poached lobster and pressed lamb shoulder, and the cocktail list takes itself seriously enough to earn its own paragraph in the menu.


  68. A Victorian terrace on Glebe Point Road that was once a private investigator's office, which may explain why the atmosphere feels like it has something to hide. It's a wine bar and restaurant loosely inspired by Mexican flavours, though the menu roams freely: dry-aged sirloin, barramundi, tres leches cake. Whitewashed walls and open fireplaces keep things easy, and the Australian Good Food Guide gave it a Chef Hat.


  69. Rank 33. Nomad Sydney

    Middle Eastern


  70. Rank 33. Nour

    Lebanese


  71. Rank 33. Omakase by Prefecture 48

    Modern Australian


  72. Rank 33. Oribu

    Japanese

    A live olive tree strung with fairy lights sits at the center of the room, which tells you immediately that Oribu is playing a longer game than your average Japanese restaurant. This is fine dining, rooftop, Parramatta's first of its kind, built around omakase platters and wagyu with choppped wasabi and sansho salt. The Australian Good Food Guide gave it a Chef Hat. Theatrics are part of the deal, and the bar is a reasonable place to start.


Browse a location

Current Location

Metros

Recents

  • No recent searches yet.

Eat Score

The score comes from the awards it's won, weighted by who gave them: a Michelin star outweighs a listicle. When you sort by what's nearby, distance changes the order, never the score.

    How we score →

    Drink Score

    The score comes from the awards it's won, weighted by who gave them: a Michelin star outweighs a listicle. When you sort by what's nearby, distance changes the order, never the score.

      How we score →

      Stay Score

      The score comes from the awards it's won, weighted by who gave them: a Michelin star outweighs a listicle. When you sort by what's nearby, distance changes the order, never the score.

        How we score →

        Do Score

        The score comes from the awards it's won, weighted by who gave them: a Michelin star outweighs a listicle. When you sort by what's nearby, distance changes the order, never the score.

          How we score →

          Best Place Score

          The Best Place Score rates the area around a point, not any one place. Most of it is the record: the scored places within reach, weighed by distance, so more good stuff nearby means a higher score. The rest is how life is in that country and what it's like right there: how people rate their own lives, how long and how well they live, how safe they are, the air, and the weather. If it looks low, we probably haven't found enough critics out here yet.