All the New Sydney Restaurant, Bar and Cafe Openings We Got Excited About in May 2025

• Mixed Business answers an age-old question: where to get a drink after dinner at Emma’s Snack Bar?

• First look: Izakaya Gaku goes all-in on a hard-to-find rice dish in Five Dock. Grab one of the tatami-style seats in a cheery space that, quite honestly, feels like you’re in Japan.

• Don’t paint the town yellow: a few weeks ago, decade-old Tequila Mockingbird became Venezuelan restaurant TQM. Then council spied its egg-yolk yellow facade – and whacked it with a $6000 fine. But the owner’s locked in – and is using the public’s support as evidence it should stay.

• Find an ex-Saint Peter chef’s no-waste plates – including a “quirky take” on prawn toast – at The Studio. It’s a wine bar that demands a short road trip south.

• First look: in the CBD, Little Indo Town serves bouncy handmade noodles, spicy beef rendang and drinks from the “Starbucks of Indonesia”.

• First look: Room Ten is new again with a revved-up menu that rivals its hot younger sibling Pina. Here’s what to order – including a serve of dippy eggs that win with soy butter and house-made chilli sprinkle.

• The soup at Loop de Loop is worth a country trip. Find noodle numbers from around the world, Balkan-style chicken soups and silky French onion bowls at the winter-long pop-up from an ex-Porteno chef.

• South Sydney sanga favourite Kosta’s opens in Martin Place – and this one thing is what to order.

• Red Mill Rum’s new cellar door is the spot for buttery, barrel-aged exclusives you can’t sip anywhere else.

• A Vietnamese gelato shop opened in Cabramatta in December. It was so popular, a Marrickville outpost quickly followed. Head in for small-batch, coconut-milk scoops like soursop and tamarind, and a “gelato-fied banana bread”.

• Find Caness in an old grocery on Oxford Street. It’s all about tapas (with Middle Eastern flair). And don’t miss the seriously good bread.

• In a red-lit basement on Clarence Street, the slick Herbs Taverne bartenders are pouring a “traffic light” of Negronis, bringing Mucho’s signature dive-bar energy to Sydney’s small-bar heartland. The drinks and the mood hit just right, so Herbs was immediately Hot-Listed.

• First look: a couple of ex-tradies from Puebla are grilling Mexican street snacks at El Taco. Expect volcanos, gringas and quesadillas – all with lacy cheese skirts and smoky charcoal flavours.

• First look: Berta’s Deli serves sandwiches that go beyond the basics – with quality meats, inventive vegetarian options and house-made condiments, all on soft Turkish bread.

• First look: the bread lords at AP continue their reign with a harbourside rotisserie joint. There’s a croissant “golden hour”, then Whole Beast porchetta and golden chook stuffed into crispy white rolls baked in-store.

Closures

• Farewell, Bayswater Kitchenette. After six years of serving comforting Italian classics like mushroom polenta and banoffee pie, the beloved Italian diner in Potts Point closes its doors on Thursday May 29.

• Don’s Katsu – the one-dish-wonder joint from the Bones Ramen team – wrapped up its run in Potts Point in early May. Then the team announced Bones’ final service will hit in July. The Bayswater Road building has been sold, but there’ll be a 2.0 spot for all your soup needs soon.

Additional reporting by Howard Chen, Jasmine Crittenden, Dan Cunningham, Monique Foy, Alice Jeffery, Pilar Mitchell, Samantha Payne and Bineeta Saha.