13 To Visit: The New Sydney Restaurant, Bar and Cafe Openings We’re Excited About in February 2026

• First look: old meets new at Darband 2.0, a family-run Persian dining room in Auburn. Expect double the space compared to the 20-year-old original, special touches sourced from Iran and the return of a perfect sunshine-coloured dessert. 

• Grill Americano adds $2 espressos, Italian-style pastries and brekkie rolls to the weekday offering.

• Find some of Sydney’s best rice and wings at a petrol station.

• Valet is just one more reason to hit the south end of King Street. A local roaster’s behind the cafe – there are miso-caramel tarts and, of course, excellent coffee.

• Cafe-slash-bar Volume One is doing things differently: simple food, free counselling and music.

• Is 2026 Sydney’s year of the Spanish diner? This beachy new tapas bar is a strong start.

• First look: Bronte Road Fish opens to fanfare for its bang-up fish burgers and crunchy, umami potato scallops.

• First look: Dumps World is the inner west’s new too-cute dumpling grocer – with chicken parmie and XO scallop dumplings and nourishing “post-babes” meals.

• First look: Jimmy’s Shawarma adds a Beirut-style shawarma bar to Enmore Road. Plus, Lebanese beers and live Arabic music.

• Hit Hamsi Taverna for chef Somer Sivrioglu’s take on Turkey’s “biggest gift to Australia” – it’s the prime position for a sunset drink, charcoaled seafood and a particularly good fish sandwich.

• First look: At the Sandoitchi team’s new onigiri bar, they want you to say “itadakimasu” for your meal. The set menus, katsu fish and salt-and-vinegar karaage eggplant are particularly special.

• Ramen newcomer Towzen arrives direct from Kyoto with a top-selling Sichuan tantanmen.

• First look: this new family-run bakery has perfected its pies. Head in for thick slices of blueberry pie, individual sour cherry pies, chunky babka, refreshing Persian soda and traditional Turkish coffee.

Closures

• Peter Gilmore’s peerless fine diner Quay closed on Saturday February 14. Our top chefs and food writers farewell the icon – sharing what the venue, and the man, meant to them.

• One of Sydney’s most beloved nightclubs is closing less than a year after moving into a Chippendale pub.

• Day-to-night beauty The Corner is closing five months after opening in a verandah-wrapped Palm Beach space.

• Ricos Tacos at The Norfolk is closing. Its captain Toby Wilson is departing to focus on pop-ups and creative work. Keep an eye out for Ghostboy Cantina’s return.

• Wildflower, Marrickville’s pioneering brewery, is closing. Kind of. The wild-fermented brews will soon be out of production – but there’s plenty of time to party.