It’s lucky we’re hungry, because the year has brought an onslaught of red-hot restaurants to spend our precious mealtimes with.

After a reservation-required special-occasion spot? A walk-in seat with guaranteed good vibes? Or something more specific, like a Med-inspired grill and wine bar by the harbour with a two-sip Martini to tell your mates about? You’re sorted – it’s a great time to be a Sydney local. Dig in.

Armorica Grande Brasserie, Surry Hills

Crown Street’s early noughties dining boom was beginning to feel like ancient history. But nothing says “Sydney 2023” like seafood towers and five types of steak frites. Expect this and more at Andrew Becher’s ode to the Paris arrondissements. There’s room for 150 across the expansive dining room, where a tidy group of red-leather banquettes is backdropped by wood panelling and art by American illustrator David Plunkert. The lavishness does mean VIP prices – but the prix fixe menu is good value at $89. @armoricasurryhills

Clam Bar, CBD

When Andy Tyson, Dan Pepperell and Mikey Clift announced they were opening a new New York-inspired steakhouse, we expected excellence. And when Clam Bar ’s glass doors swung open in May, that’s what we got. The ex- Bridge Room space copped an all-out revamp – think Murano glass chandeliers, antique sconces and parquet floors – with the same warmth as the trio’s other venues, Pellegrino 2000 and Bistrot 916. The menu features ’80s-leaning “daggy drinks” – including one served in the “classiest tiki glass you’ll ever see” – and a standout macaroni alla vodka laced with cheesy kimchi. Plus: a magnificent raw seafood bar, and a cheese and bacon burger that’ll have a lasting impact. @clambarsydney

Funda, CBD

This pulsing, neon-lit restaurant down at the harbour end of Pitt Street is Seoul’s loss and Sydney’s gain. Jung-su Chang left two-Michelin-star restaurant Jungsik for Funda, where his genre-bending menu offers something balanced and new. Slices of blush-coloured bonito carry pickled ginger and sprigs of micro-mustard; burrata cosies up to soy-marinated raw prawns; and the spectacular yeast meringue hides makgeolli ice-cream and soybean rice cake, pinata-style. The Funda Martini combines pickled kombu-infused gin, white miso amontillado sherry and kimchi oils, a sip to rival the interesting menu. Honestly, it’s unlike anywhere else in Sydney. @fundasydney_official

Iberica, Bondi

Iberica is the two-storey Bondi Road sibling to Ikaria, a beachside Greek joint with ripper saganaki. But here, you’re taken to the pintxos-powered eateries of Spain’s Balearic Islands. The fun is in the details: a crusty hunk of house-made bread is joined by a truffle-butter candle. Lit as soon as it hits your table, it transforms the fatty spread into a dippable salty puddle. Iberian ham is topped with near-fluorescent guindilla peppers, and octopus is cooked over flames then served with smoked potato cream – and there’s a vibrant duo of paella (including a green, veg-only pan topped with grilled lemon). Terracotta-washed ceilings and rustic tableware are as transportive as the plates, taking you on holiday for the length of your meal. @ibericabondi

Ito, Surry Hills

On the surface, Ito appears quintessentially Japanese: a tidy, symmetrical facade, a ceiling inspired by shoji paper partitions, and cotton kimonos hanging on the walls. So, it comes as a tasty surprise to find a pasta menu that shakes up aglio e olio spaghetti with togarashi and spanner crab, and Wagyu mafaldine with shimeji mushrooms. An ex- Cho Cho San chef is behind a line-up of plates that love on both Japanese and Italian flavours and techniques. The Surry Hills izakaya offers something new to our city’s dining scene – and serves one of the best mochi sorbettos, too. @itorestaurant

Kurumba, Surry Hills

From a happy vantage at Kurumba’s hopper bar, you’ll watch as deft chefs spin a fermented rice flour and coconut milk batter around a domed pan, bubbles forming, and pile the pancake-like Sri Lankan breakfast staples onto a plate. In our humble opinion, it’s the best seat at Kurumba, the new restaurant from the De Hoedt family (The Fold). Kurumba means “young coconut” in Sinhala, and here on Crown Street the ingredient is found across sambols, curries and desserts. There are fried pan rolls stuffed with beef brisket, house-made puff pastry topped with spiced caramelised onions and buffalo curd, and the signature lobster kottu, where the smashing chopped-roti dish is joined by WA lobster head curry. It’s ideal fodder to have alongside the Rumba Kurumba, a holiday-ready cocktail of Ceylon Arrak, calamansi citrus and pandan that arrives in a coconut. @kurumba.syd

Kyiv Social, Chippendale

At this recent opening from Sydney-based social enterprise Plate It Forward, fluffy pampushky (garlic bread) joins hand-rolled holubtsi (cabbage rolls) and small-batch vodka (served neat). Kyiv Social is run by 23 Ukrainian refugees – aeronautical engineers, pilots, economists and more who’ve found a home in our city – in service of employing and helping feed Ukrainians displaced by war. In a bright, high-ceilinged room, with shimmering chandeliers overhead, feast on the chicken Kyiv (dressed in more-ish garlic butter) or LP’s bangers with mash. Every set menu ordered delivers one meal to a Ukrainian refugee in Australia and one to someone in Ukraine. It’s all about food for good – and really good food. @kyivsocial

Le Foote, The Rocks

In May this year, Swillhouse boss Anton Forte told Broadsheet that Le Foote was the toughest opening of his career. But it wasn’t the heritage hurdles involved in flipping an 1800s building into a grand Med-inspired grill and wine bar. It was personal pressure to do something different after more than a decade behind some of Sydney’s most charismatic venues, including Shady Pines and Hubert. Thankfully, he and the team have pulled it off. The menu shines: glossy taramasalata and crudites join grill-fired duck sausage with salsa verde, and a rum baba plops a cherry on top. The place is also a gift to The Rocks, bringing blockbuster dining (and must-order two-sip Martinis) to a strip of George Street previously known for touristy boozers. Le Foote is certainly different – in a very good way. @lefoote

Longshore, Chippendale

Clayton Wells has long departed the old Automata space at Chippendale’s Kensington Street precinct, and now the whizz kids behind Newtown’s Hartsyard have moved in. They’ve introduced a coastal-inspired menu and matching fit-out. Seafood really sings here – we loved the smoky octopus skewers and abalone party pie – and there are plates of kangaroo tartare or Wagyu tri-tip if you’re staying on land. Drop in after work for crisp whites al fresco, or hop on a snack flight of 10 bite-sized courses. @longshore.syd

Petermen, St Leonards

The latest restaurant from Josh and Julie Niland stays true to the “fin-to-scale” mission of the couple’s groundbreaking Paddington original, Saint Peter. And the à la carte format ensures it’s more accessible than its set-menu-only older sibling. Start your meal with a saltbush empanada, or a nod to the ’70s with the Murray cod Scotch egg. Made-to-share dishes include wild kingfish green curry topped with native apples and chargrilled cucumbers and the signature four-person chateaubriand, which switches out beef for Mooloolaba yellowfin tuna. Although it’s a good place to celebrate something special, there’s also a bar if you’re simply looking to stop and snack. An Aussie-focused wine list joins fresh cocktails starring local spirits, such as a house Negroni that adds yuzu, coconut and koji to the mix. @petermendining

Raja, Potts Point

When Ezra co-owners (and couple) Nick and Kirk Mathews Bowden opened Raja in July, they told Broadsheet it was “unapologetically Indian”. Young gun head chef Ahana Dutt – who brings kitchen experience from across India, as well as time working alongside Lennox Hastie at Firedoor – is adding her own (very joyous) spin to dishes that span multiple regions. Try the spatchcock makhana for her take on butter chicken, or don a bib and get stuck into the buttery, garlicky mud crab with green chutney (and roti for mopping up the puddle of sauce). Like Ezra, the playlist and interiors here win. Each artful room boasts its own theme, and the sunny courtyard is the top spot to hole up with one of Sydney’s best Gimlets in hand. @raja.sydney

Great reopens

While fresh opens get most of our attention, this year brought flashy reopens aplenty – with many deserving your mealtimes. Reigning supreme is the recently rehomed Gumshara – owner-chef Mori Higashida relocated Sydney’s “most hectic” tonkotsu ramen joint from a Haymarket food court to laneway digs nearby. Newtown favourite Sydney Cebu Lechon made moves to Blacktown, popping up a marquee and tables for a Filipino karenderia offering homemade caramelised pork sausage and roast pork belly with just the right amount of crackling (read: heaps). One Broadsheet editor’s favourite in all of Sydney (and perhaps the world) Joe’s Table moved its spectacularly tasty Thai dishes down the road in Darlinghurst and Ricos Tacos took over The Norfolk in Redfern (and added carne asada Sundays to the rotation). Malay Chinese Takeaway moved to bluer oceanside pastures, bringing near-constant lines of people hungry for slurpable bowls of laksa to Circular Quay.

Honourable mentions

If we didn’t cap it, this list could be twice the length – and would definitely include this quartet of openings. While it was here for just a good’n’short time, Babs was the pop-up we loved – courtesy of the rotating daily-made pasta, a clarified Bloody Mary and a heap of community spirit. Bsp’eria is now firing ripper pizzas – 48-hour-fermented sourdough bases topped with the likes of spicy ’nduja, mozzarella, ricotta and honey – in Penshurst. The teeny Bondi joint Makaveli delivered inventive cocktails and bright Italian-leaning bites at night (and coffee from 6am). And the Ragazzi team welcomed Palazzo Salato, a grand, art-filled CBD dining room for up to 120, with truly great pasta – the scarpinocc with Andean sunrise potato is a must-order – and a 600-bottle wine list.

Additional reporting by Pilar Mitchell, Aimee Chanthadavong and Ariela Bard.