The pitch for one of Sydney’s most influential restaurants is a simple one: a neighbourhood place using local and sustainable ingredients, serving organic and biodynamic wine, all of it ever-changing, all of it centred around a woodfired oven.
The Abercrombie’s ground-floor wine bar is where you can shop fun wines or hole up for the evening. Take your vino home, or settle in at the communal table or upstairs in the cosy bar. Gildas, charcuterie from LP’s and locally made cheese are on the snacks menu.
This casual diner by social enterprise Plate if Forward is providing hospitality training and support to Ukrainian refugees who’ve found a home in Sydney. Chicken Kyiv and handmade dumplings are highlights on the home-style Ukrainian menu.
The Hartsyard team have turned the old Automata space into a coastal-inspired diner, where it’s all about the repeat visit. Your first visit might involve à la carte hits like sand whiting bathed in XO pipi butter. The next? An experimental 10-course snack flight.
This tiny cocktail bar in Chippendale’s Kensington Lane precinct delivers a true Spanish tapas experience – complete with tinned seafood, Basque-style sausage from the grill, and a strictly Spanish drinks list.
An update on the classic French bistro, this inner-city spot combines nostalgia with plenty of modern swagger. Expect a menu of Gallic standards, and a lengthy wine list spanning French and Australian regions.
This pocket-sized cafe in the old Cadbury chocolate factory is where to go for onigiri sets, cod roe toasties and a succinct menu of Japanese cocktails. Another winner from the Kurumac team.
If you spot a seeded ciabatta roll on a menu in Sydney, chances are it came from Brickfields. One of the city's OG artisan bakeries, this compact corner is where to go for killer sourdough, oozy mushroom melts and coffee by Mecca.
Established in 1925, The Lansdowne Hotel is one of the city's most iconic live music venues. Everyone from Billy Eilish to You Am I has graced its hallowed stages, and the Mexican-inspired rooftop is where you want to be at sunset.
The Chippo Hotel is one of Sydney’s enduring live music venues, where you can catch the best upcoming bands and comedy acts on the intimate stage. Settle into the beer garden for a lazy afternoon session and vegan pub grub from the in-house bistro, Mama B’s.
Gin Lane will convert anyone who says they don’t like gin. Of the 80-plus drops this dapper bar offers, many focus on botanicals you may have never tasted in the spirit before. As well as expert cocktails, the gin and tonic on draught here is a major highlight.
A water feature with a huge buddha head. An illuminated technicolor jungle motif. And stone-stacked walls covered in vines. This hidden, intimate cocktail bar looks like a scene straight out of Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom.
Bringing experience from Employees Only, Frankie’s Pizza and Spice Temple, this speakeasy has cracking cocktails, DJs till late and live music most nights of the week. Find it in the former Freda's space in Chippendale.
This is a buzzing South American-inspired cocktail bar and diner by the teams behind Gin Lane and Eastside Bar & Grill. Expect ingredients such as spiced worm salt and grasshoppers, Margarita "trees", and more than 100 types of mezcal and tequila.
