The standard-setter for fine dining in Sydney. Executive chef Peter Gilmore is tireless in his pursuit of what’s interesting, new and Australian. His backyard is peppered with test plantations of rare vegetables, he works with local ceramicists on custom crockery and, like interstate peers Ben Shewry and Jock Zonfrillo, he’s a leading advocate for native produce. The restaurant’s theatrical tasting menus show off all this and more, bolstered by some of the city’s best harbour views.

Irreverent, boundary pushing and umami obsessed are the most apt descriptors for Automata. Chef Clayton Wells honed his skills in three very different kitchens: Tetsuya’s, Quay and Momofuku Seiobo. His ability to blend these divergent experiences in a coherent manner makes him one of Sydney’s most exciting next-gen talents. Take in a reasonably priced five- or seven-course meal and you’re in for classic European techniques, new-world vegetables and Asian flavours – often all on the same plate.

Ester’s younger sibling is half restaurant, half wine bar and lives in a raw, basement-like space. Expect a long wine list of both classics and genre-busting naturals, plus an innovative, ever-changing snack menu focused on woodfired flavours and eating with your hands. One of our favourite dishes to date is crisp squares of honey- and five spice-marinated pig’s ear served on a skewer. Once again, the staff is possessed with noticeable poise. Choose the wine and ask for matching food, or chose the food and ask for matching wine. Either way, it’s all memorable.

Until Lumi and its Miso-strone came along, the idea of a Japanese-Italian restaurant sounded distinctly unappetising. But in the hands of chef Federico Zanellato (ex-Noma, Attica and Ormeggio at the Spit), this fusion not only makes sense – it makes you wonder why more people aren’t doing it. Enjoy 10 courses with matched wines from Michela Boncagni (Lumi’s sommelier and Zanellato’s wife), with serene views of Pyrmont Bay to keep you occupied between acts.

Seiobo was the first restaurant in David Chang’s Momofuku empire to open outside the US. Under the stewardship of chef Paul Carmichael – who grew up in Barbados and arrived here in 2015 – it’s turning out traditional and not-so-traditional Caribbean dishes reimagined using Australian produce, with superb results. Refined takes on Antiguan sweet-potato dumplings, fried plantains and jerk chicken are all possibilities of the singular tasting menu. One of the city’s best front-of-house teams works a fun, vibe-y room that feels worlds away from its casino location.

This elevated vantage of Bondi’s sloshing surf is one of Australia’s great views – one a less conscientious restaurateur might easily lean on. Not Maurice Terzini, who’s been pushing his resplendent Italian diner to greater and greater heights since 2002. Under current executive chef Monty Koludrovic, long lunches in this smart aquamarine room have never been better, largely thanks to a strict insistence on top-quality Australian produce, which makes the mostly classic menu sing.

We can’t think of a more beautiful restaurant than this one. It’s like no other place in the city and actually feels like dining in a home kitchen. Ask for one of the two tables shared with the chefs, who, from the other end, put finishing touches on Mediterranean-inspired dishes pulled from the woodfired oven. Head chef and American export Danielle Alvarez has a hefty CV that includes a stint at the revered Chez Panisse in California, something that’s writ large on the menu.

This waterside property feels like an opulent hotel. There’s a reception to greet you, it’s luxuriously decorated with period furniture and the bar has a scalloped design that’s almost mesmerising. The menu mixes classical French and Italian dishes and high-end Australian seafood cooked with the precision the prices imply. Despite this, Bert’s is versatile and accessible, just as suitable for dates as for celebrating a boozy long lunch with friends or family.

The room is dim, the volume loud and the drinks are flowing. More than any other venue on this list, the focus here is fun. Ben Milgate and Elvis Abrahanowicz opened this tapas and cocktail bar before they became better known for their Argentinean restaurant Porteño, when little else like it existed in Sydney. Many have since tried to replicate this simple but perfectly executed package, but none have succeeded like Bodega.

You’ll feel like a real VIP when you arrive at Ormeggio. It’s hidden among yachts, in the marina just near the Spit Bridge in Middle Harbour. Executive chef Alessandro Pavoni is from the northern-Italian region of Brescia and oversees a menu of nuanced dishes that range from glazed pork jowl, to creamy risottos and some of the prettiest entrees in town. Australian seafood shines here, so come for Moreton Bay bugs, Queensland red scarlet prawns and Sydney rock oysters done creatively.

When Tetsuya Wakada opened his eponymous restaurant in 1989, its sophisticated service and careful marrying of Japanese and French cuisines changed the game. Thirty years on, it remains one of the most elegant and on-brief examples of fine dining Sydney has to offer, if a little solemn. Tetsuya’s is about balance and fastidious technique – ideals passed down to a legion of alumni who today run many of the city’s best restaurants themselves.

As soon as you walk into this good-looking restaurant you’ll see what you’re in for. At the central firepit they’ll be charring whole lambs and suckling pigs Argentinian style; you’ll spot a bar stocked with wine local and imported, natural and classic; and you’ll grasp that this restaurant cares not for trends or tropes, just what’s good according to owners Ben Milgate, Elvis Abrahanowicz and Joe Valore. Take a decent-sized crew and share the good stuff.

When Brent Savage’s Yellow turned vegetarian in 2016, it seemed like a potential misstep. What actually happened is: it got better. It’s now Sydney’s only purely vegetarian fine-diner, rivalled only by the all-vegan Paperbark when it comes to cooking vegetables with a level of care and creativity that will impress all but the most stubborn carnivores.

Get the best Australian produce from both the paddock and the soil, and cook it over an open flame. That’s it. It’s an extremely simple concept, but one few execute with the precision and aplomb of chef Lennox Hastie, who learnt the trade at Spain’s pioneering Asador Extebarri. Sit at the kitchen bar and watch Hastie roast a dry-aged steak, a prawn straight from the tank or a simple potato

Few restaurants have maintained their excellence and hunger for invention like this one. Bentley opened in an old Surry Hills pub in ’06 before moving to this grander location in 2013, announcing its culinary ambitions in the process. Chef Brent Savage and sommelier Nick Hildebrandt continue to post some of Sydney’s most varied and progressive wine lists and degustations. Depending on the season, you could find anything from white beetroot and rare fennel-like herbs to caramelised lactose, olive-oil ice-cream and pineapple beer. All dietary needs are catered for in the most delicious ways possible.

Calling LP’s an American barbeque place is underselling it. Yes, there are smoked meats. Yes, they’re cooked in a Southern Pride Smoker shipped from Texas. And yes, the restaurant has a rowdy diner feel. But this isn’t a derivative brisket and pulled-pork haunt – it’s an Australian interpretation with all the cultural influences that brings. Aside from the smoky big-hitters, look out for the house charcuterie, sangas and exceptional sourdough. Plus it’s got a great bar if you just want a drink.

If Fred’s has the most beautiful dining room in Sydney, Bennelong has the most iconic. Aside from the fact it’s set within the window-cupped, city-facing end of the Opera House, the dining area is spectacular, no matter if the sun pours in or the CBD’s lights are illuminated. Quay’s Peter Gilmore and head chef Rob Cockerill run a menu that matches the location – seafood from nearby waters, house charcuterie made with all Australian produce and a show stopping desserts, such as pavlova sculpted to match the sails above it, and the best lamington you’ll ever eat.

If you want a charming, reliable venue – the kind where you’re just as likely to see a first date as you are a 50th wedding anniversary – this is it. The three-decade old restaurant is family-run, has traditional Ligurian eats, friendly waiters and walls so busily plastered with art you can barely discern the wall colour. And not just any art – take a squiz and you’ll see a Sidney Nolan and Archibald finalists such as Garry Shead. Not that you’ll be looking up from the plate too much – the pastas are exceptional.

Golden Century has been serving Sydneysiders with classic Cantonese fare for more than three decades. Many of its popular orders are now legendary, the pippies with XO sauce most of all. Arrive at midnight or a few hours later on a Sunday and you might see some of Sydney’s best chefs bulldozing their way through out-of-the-tank seafood, mud crab with ginger and shallot, and maybe a bizarre mix of cheap imported beer and luxury wines.

Restaurants all over Sydney have tried to copy Mr Wong’s refined Cantonese-led menu, its modern fit-out and the quality of its service, but none have been successful. Consequently the large but intimate-seeming space is always packed, even though it’s down a CBD laneway. Inside, a bank of barbequed ducks aren’t just great to look at: they’re plump, juicy and delicious. Likewise the delicate dumplings, which are some of the city’s best. Chef Dan Hong sets a benchmark that has the right amount of Aussie-Cantonese nostalgia.

Imagine a beautiful timber-built seaside home, one with spectacular, sea breeze-swept views and a courtyard that walks onto the sands. Now fill it with tablecloths, birthday celebrations and plates of seafood-led Italian fare, and you’ve got Pilu. Choose between head chef Jason Saxby’s traditional or innovative menu. Either way, you’re in for flavours from Sardinia, the region owner Giovanni Pilu himself is from.

The concept is modern Japanese, unrestricted by tradition and more influenced by what goes well with sake or a Japanese-style highball. Maybe that’s a plate of wasabi-dressed oysters or grilled, kombu-buttered prawns. The setting for this slick restaurant isn’t the dark red and black palette you might expect; the space is white, light and brown and sits somewhere between industrial warehouse and Japanese bathhouse.

There are two options at this flashy Star City restaurant: Chase Kojima’s modern Japanese menu or Takashi Sano’s $165, give-me-whatever omakase. The former offers premium Australian meats off the robata grill, some of the best nigiri rolls in Sydney and umami-punching mains, while the latter is an intimate, bar-only, several-hour excursion into Japanese tradition and raw seafood.

Like Yellow, this vegan fine diner stands up to its meat-serving competitors. That’s almost all thanks to the brilliance of executive chef Joey Astorga. He’s created a menu that relies not on meat and dairy substitutes but on using ingredients in innovative ways and native ingredients to impart the richness plant-based food is criticised for lacking. The bar is equally progressive, using native ingredients creatively in cocktails and serving the funkier side of Australian natural wine.