All the New Sydney Restaurant, Bar and Cafe Openings We Got Excited About in July 2024

• First look: Pep’s Italian Ice introduces Earlwood to a semi-frozen scoop from New York City. Is it sorbet? Is it granita? It’s kind of both, and this new family-run spot’s dedicated to it.

• First service: Rafi Urbnsurf barrels in with “sub-zero” cocktails and an excellent view. Head to Olympic Park for a Mai Tai and seafood-heavy feast, whether you hit the waves or not.

• First look: It’s bluebird days only at Kakigori Kaiji, the new specialty shaved-ice shop in Haymarket. Mountains of fluffy white snow are carved from glassy blocks of ice imported from Japan – and it’s the only place in Sydney you can get it.

• Wedges with sour cream and chilli rule at 20 Chapel, Corey Costelloe’s fresh digs. Opening to a booked-out weekend, it’s driven by a team of friends with Rockpool cred.

• Is Superfreak Sydney’s coolest cafe? With its sunny interiors and buttery porridge, we think it could be.

• First look: a Darlinghurst fave reopens with a fresh fit-out and dinner for brunch. The viral hotcake is still in residence and there are plans for it to become a wine bar by spring.

• Chatswood deli Yangga swaps cold-cuts, cheeses and dips for Korean banchan, stews and soups.

• Now open: At the Loulou team’s new North Sydney four-parter – in the Walker Street precinct – the dining takes you from Japan to Europe. There's Soluna, Genzo, Sol and Una, with everything from Wagyu pretzel burgers and pretty wine bar plates to Japanese skewers and a riff on a Kit Kat.

• First look: Australia Street scores Comedor, a suave backstreet joint where Alejandro Huerta’s on the pans. There’s a $35 set menu that changes weekly – with dishes like silky corn and miso pasta and the “best cheese” the chef’s ever tasted.

• First look: Berkelo Kitchen pivots from bakery to kitchen with its new suburban dream of a restaurant – where that topnotch sourdough forms the base of pizzas in a charming cottage surrounded by kitchen gardens.

• First look: Taku Taku whacks jumbo cuts of slow-cooked pork atop curries in North Sydney. The small eatery also has Hong Kong-style French toast, plus matcha revved up with coffee and coconutty hojicha.)

• Now open: Kajiken, the Michelin-recommended noodle chain from Nagoya, is all about abura soba. The broth-less bowls bring chilli oil, rice vinegar and other condiments to the mix – and there are already queues down the street.

• The Bentley Group’s CBD wine bar Monopole enters a swish new era. It’s now a French heavy-hitter with a duck burger and mille-feuille – both destined to become Sydney favourites.

Worth the trip
• Natty drops, roast beef sangas and jazz nights: five food stops transforming Milton into a real-deal dining destination.

• First look: the Hunter Valley’s taking it up a notch with its latest opening, a dining room at Harkham with blood orange Margs and spaghetti aglio e olio fired up with peperoncini.

Additional reporting by Amy Chanthadavong, Jasmine Crittenden, Lucy Brewer, Monique Foy, Pilar Mitchell, Samantha Payne, Sydney Baldwin and Tim Grey.