After a jam-packed year of new restaurant openings, Sydney shows no signs of slowing down in 2023. This list of new and upcoming restaurants in Sydney is big, diverse, and exciting—and we love to see it.
In this update, we bring you news of a huge new CBD trattoria from the Ragazzi team, a new waterfront venue with its own private beach, and a Surry Hills laneway wine bar serving caviar hash browns.
Ready? Here's our list of the best new and upcoming restaurant openings in Sydney right now.
Coming Soon: Upcoming Restaurant Openings In Sydney
Get excited about these soon-to-open fine diners, bars, cafes, delis, and more.
Brasserie 1930
CBD
The swish soon-to-open Capella Sydney is collaborating with Brent Savage and Nick Hildebrandt of The Bentley Group to welcome Brasserie 1930, a ground-floor restaurant perfectly suited to the building's grand, historic aesthetic. “The heritage dining room is one of the most beautiful we’ve seen, and our intention is to create a Sydney institution," Savage said.
"The menu will hero brasserie classics, done our way,” he adds. In the kitchen, methods including curing, smoking, fermenting and preserving feature heavily, with the charcoal grill anchoring the open kitchen plating up dishes like glazed quail with whipped feta and green olive salsa, coal-grilled steaks, duck breast and sausage with roasted plum, fennel, spinach and glazed eschalot, and dark chocolate mille feuille with passionfruit sorbet and vanilla cremeux.
Hildebrandt's wine list will highlight interesting producers and big names of Australian and European vino, while also tapping into The Bentley Wine Vault. Read more about Brasserie 1930 here.
Brasserie 1930 will open on 15 March 2023.
Palazzo Salato
CBD
Since opening in 2019, the Love Tilly Group's pint-sized pasta joint Ragazzi has become a cult favourite in Sydney. A basement pasta laboratory called Fabbrica was the first off-shoot of the winning concept—but the team has something much bigger in store for 2023. Palazzo Salato will be the group's largest venue, seating 120 across two storeys in a heritage building in the CBD. Slated to open in April, Palazzo Salato is inspired by Gramercy Tavern in NYC and will feature a walk-in-only bar, a more refined restaurant space, and a private dining room for 20.
At the bar, you'll find Americano and Nebiolo poured alongside three of the four classic Roman pastas on offer: carbonara, alla gricia, and, a Ragazzi fave, cacio e pepe. In the dining room, the team will finally be able to stretch their legs, so to speak, taking their pasta to new heights in a much larger kitchen space. "For the first time, we have a kitchen with enough room to swing a cat," says Love Tilly group executive chef Scott McComas-Williams. "[This will allow] us to produce some of my favourite hand-shaped pastas like agnolotti dal plin, scarpinocc ,and fagottini while still being able to grill, roast and braise cuts of meat, veg and fish from our long-time producers."
There's more to come too: Following the street-level bar and trattoria on Clarence Street, a second bar and outdoor dining space will open underneath, with a separate entrance off Kent Street. This is set to open in late 2023. Read more about Palazzo Salato here.
Palazzo Salato is slated to open in April 2023.
Longshore
Chippendale
It appears we won't have to lament the loss of the Hartsyard team for too much longer. After closing the beloved Enmore Road restaurant only recently (making way for Irene's, which has quickly become equally loved), Jarrod Walsh and Dorothy Lee have revealed that they'll be setting up shop in the former Automata site. The new venue is Longshore, a seafood-focused 100-seat restaurant with an experimental snack-style tasting menu as part of the experience (we know Sydney loves to snack).
“Our menu combines coastal ingredients with Asian techniques and flavours, and will change regularly with what we like to call ‘freestyle cuisine’, ” explains Lee. “We’ll always have three ‘fish of the day’ and core proteins like wagyu and pork loin, but garnishes will adjust seasonally based on what’s available from our local producers, the best across NSW.”
Longshore is slated to open in mid-April 2023.
Lune Croissanterie
Darlinghurst
After years of rumours and speculation—Melbourne's ultra-famous croissanterie Lune has confirmed it will open a Sydney location in 2023. It's set to be the star of the new Oxford & Foley dining precinct, taking up permanent residence when the new TOGA Group development opens next year.
On the news of the Sydney location, Lune founder Kate Reid said, "The prospect of Lune being in the neighbourhood of many heavyweight Sydney greats in Darlinghurst and Surry Hills is incredibly exciting for us, and we only hope to add to this with our specific brand of buttery deliciousness. We can’t wait to show the world what we have in store for Lune Sydney!”
Lune is slated to open in Sydney in 2023.
Le Foote
The Rocks
From the all-star Swillhouse team (Restaurant Hubert, Alberto's Lounge, The Baxter Inn), Le Foote will be a pub transformation like no other. Basically, Swillhouse has taken on one of Australia's oldest pubs, Phillip's Foote in The Rocks, and will be turning the destination into a charming Euro-style wine bar and restaurant. Once a sailors’ bar, custom’s agent, and stable, the historic site became a pub in the early 1970s—and we couldn't think of a better custodian than the Swillhouse team for this ultra-charming spot.
While council submissions, heritage approvals, and site works are sorted, the Swillhouse gang is welcoming walk-ins all summer long for a bar takeover dubbed "101 George St". Expect summer beers, natty wines, good times, and a spontaneous lineup of live entertainment.
Le Foote is due to open soon.
Now Open: New Restaurant Openings In Sydney
From hidden gin bars to stylish CBD bistros, here are Sydney's most exciting new restaurant openings.
St Siandra
Mosman
Complete with its own private beach set-up, St Siandra will bring a little of the Amalfi to the sparkly waters of Middle Harbour. With Nomad's former head chef Sam McCallum at the helm, the multi-storey restaurant, bar, and event space will be yet another jewel in Sydney's already impressive collection of waterfront venues.
Here, McCallum will be dishing out local seafood at its best with a touch of his Mediterranean flair. Think seven-spice Moreton Bay Bugs, wood-fired flatbread with smoked garlic chickpea hummus, Pacific Oysters with Ajo Blanco, and Skull Island tiger prawns served on skewers. There'll also be a luxurious Jack's Creek Angus bone-in Wagyu striploin with a butter-poached lobster tail. To drink, there is spritz on tap, European vino like chilled Chianti or a Provence Rosé, and a list of signature cocktails named after famous local yachts like "Champagne Charlie" and "Rum Runner".
Beau Bar
Surry Hills
Surry Hills favourite NOMAD has expanded its footprint with Beau—a brand new laneway wine bar and all-day bakery-cafe in one. Down the road from NOMAD, on the laneway that connects Foster Street and Reservoir Street, expect freshly baked manoush and Middle Eastern flavours at the bright and sun-kissed "Beau & Dough" cafe. Meanwhile, Beau Bar is the latest in a growing list of new wine bars in Sydney.
Hidden within the same SJB-designed venue as Beau & Dough, the bar features a breathtaking temperature-controlled wine wall lined with dedicated wine fridges. Indeed, Beau Bar feels like the next step NOMAD fans have been waiting for: a spot to fully appreciate the depth and breadth of the NOMAD cellar. Kick the night off with a peaty "Foray Down Fracks Lane" whisky cocktail, then pair your wine with an ox tongue and lobster roll, caviar hash browns, or kingfish tabouleh.
Petermen
St Leonards
Acclaimed chef Josh Niland and his wife Julie have taken on the lower North Shore this year with a new 60-seat restaurant called Petermen. In line with Josh's noted commitment to championing sustainable seafood, Petermen focuses on the growers and producers that seek to elevate the standard, and change the culture of how we consume food.
The St Leonards spot is open for dinner during the week, then Saturday lunch, and—maybe most new and exciting for the Nilands—there'll be a Sunday brunch offering too. At dinner and lunch, there are raw options (like line caught bonito and "its bone soy"), a preserved section of cured delights (like Port Lincoln Berrima octopus and espelette pepper), a menu of charcoal grill items, and grand mains designed to share, like a yellowfin tuna Chateaubriand for four with sides like shoestring fries and garlic Warrigal greens.
Meanwhile, the all-new brunch offering will re-introduce some cult favourites, like a sea urchin crumpet, a spanner crab croissant, and Manjimup marron scrambled eggs. New brunch items include smoked Murray cod bacon and maple pancakes (yum).
Pinky Ji
CBD
Drowning in neon lights, floral mala garlands, and images of glamourous Bollywood stars, Pinky Ji is a sibling to Jessi Singh's popular modern Indian Daughter-In-Law venues in Melbourne, Adelaide and Byron Bay. Beyond the outrageous (and amazing) interiors, this basement spot is dishing out Singh's signature unauthentic Indian, with cocktails and party vibes to boot complete with one retro karaoke machine.
The menu encompasses snacks, raw, street, grill, wok, tandoor, and curry sections, with highlights including crab curry croquetas on charred sweet corn puree, wok-fired Wagyu, and half lobsters in Sri Lankan coconut curry sambal. The menu has been carefully curated by Jessi (who learned to cook from the women in his Punjabi family) and former Chin Chin head chef Johann Jay, and caters to all dietaries.
BrewDog
South Eveleigh
The South Eveleigh dining precinct is now home to a sprawling BrewDog taproom. The $3.2 million venue is a part of the Scottish craft beer behemoth's ongoing partnership with local hospo group Australian Venue Co. and is the fourth BrewDog site for Australia, but the first for Sydney. Located within one of the old locomotive workshops, the huge dining room and bar has space for 720 inside and an outdoor beer garden for 190. You can expect to find 40 beers on tap including BrewDog's famous draught beers, guest tap takeovers, and collabs with local Sydney breweries too.
“We’re so excited to bring ‘The Dog’ to Sydney!" Australian Venue Co.'s Evan Gargaro said in a statement. "The space is truly incredible, we’re thrilled to be part of the next chapter of the historic South Eveleigh precinct. The huge beer garden is going to be a hit, we can’t wait to open this venue just in time for the Sydney summer.”
Sala
Pyrmont
The spot at the end of Jones Bay Wharf in Pyrmont has entered a new era with Sala. The famous wharf venue was once upon a time home to Flying Fish and most recently Chuuka, a Chinese-Japanese collab between Chase Kojima and Victor Liong. Sala is something else entirely—an Italian, led by chef Danny Russo (The Russolini Group) and Kerrie and Con Dedes (Dedes Waterfront Group). Here, head chef Michael Lewis is doing a seafood-forward menu—honouring the harbourside location and its past life as Flying Fish—with ample Italian flair.
Think squid ink tortellini with crab meat, roast tomato, and lemon and caper sauce (Russo's signature) and crispy risoni fingers with caviar and parmesan. The menu is "a balance between authenticity and spontaneity," explains Russo. “We wanted to call on nostalgic Italian flavours and give them a modern flair to offer a sophisticated yet playful experience to diners." To drink, head sommelier Rocco Pezzullo has pulled a list of Italian varietals, grown locally and overseas. There's a full Negroni "collection" and a list of seafaring signatures like an Oyster Shell Martini.
Kissuu
Darlinghurst
In case you missed it, a long-awaited revival of Oxford Street is in full swing. The once vibey late-night strip is due to see a raft of new openings with the Oxford & Foley precinct due to open in 2023 and other new spots popping up like Noir nightclub—and now, Kissuu.
This intimate two-storey spot is half funky Japanese diner, half Studio-54-inspired disco lounge. Put together by partners head chef Adam Burke (ex-Nobu) and music curator and DJ Richy Penny, it's fun and vibey. Think tempura Balmain bug lettuce cups with umami mayo and caviar, alongside stuffed chicken wings with prawn and wasabi kimchi, and lamb ribs with moro miso and pomegranate. Once darkness falls and you’re feeling groovy, ascend the stairs for funky edits of Diana Ross, Gibson Brothers, and Candi Station in a red neon-trimmed futuristic setting.
Nomidokoro Indigo
Darlinghurst
Nomidokoro Indigo might be Sydney's smallest Japanese eatery, but it is definitely bringing some serious A-game to the fore. From the team behind Darling Square's buzzy Nakano Darling, Indigo is a teeny saké bar and izakaya that'll transport you directly to the backstreets of Tokyo.
Behind deep blue noren (short Japanese curtains) is a wall of saké and an 11-seat counter. Co-owners Tin Jung Shea, Mitomo Somehara, and Chris Wu have designed a menu of simple snacks, side dishes, and heartier items, each made from scratch from the dashi to the miso. While you sip saké from traditional tokkuri bottles, you can sample ika shiokara (fermented squid), miso-marinated cream cheese, wagyu tongue, or beef brisket, karaage school prawns, and deep-fried scallops.
Oborozuki
CBD
Oborozuki is housed within one of Sydney's most luxurious apartment buildings—Opera Residences at Bennelong Point. The concept for Oborozuki is as fancy as its address: a high-end teppanyaki and kaiseki-style restaurant and bar, complete with floor-to-ceiling glass windows, private teppanyaki rooms, and the largest kaiseki dining room in Australia.
Oborozuki's take on kaiseki (a chef's table degustation experience, akin to omakase, though more formal) is fusion-style. It follows a sequence of cold to hot dishes over 10 courses, each one a precise work of art created by head chef Kei Takamatsu. Highlights of the kaiseki include blacklip abalone, Tasmanian lobster, and grilled Ozaki A5 ribeye. Heading up the luxe teppanyaki is head chef Felix Zheng. Here, 10 immersive courses are fired up and dished out in your own private room.
Kiln
CBD
Sitting 18 storeys up with a spectacular and rare view across Surry Hills, Central Station, and the city—Kiln is Ace Hotel Sydney's rooftop dining destination. It's the hotel's crowning jewel, complete with retractable ceilings, glass walls, and chef Mitch Orr at the helm. Enter via a back laneway, where hotel lobby elevators will teleport you to two spacious terraces, with the kitchen and glowing woodfired hearth as the centrepiece.
Here, Orr is flexing his genre-bending skills with fiery native ironbark and assorted fruitwoods to flame and smoke a neat list of fun but inventive dishes. On the menu are snacks like Jatz with smoked butter and anchovy and larger plates like grilled Abrolhos Island scallops with preserved lemon butter, and Marron with desert lime and long pepper. For dessert, there's corn ice cream with popcorn and salted caramel and a steamed chocolate cake with poor man’s orange sorbet.
TOKO
CBD
TOKO was one of a handful of restaurants that really set the pace in Surry Hills way back when. After 15 years in their iconic Crown Street digs, TOKO has moved on—to a new location, that is. These days, you'll find the TOKO team in the heart of the city, in a new underground location on George Street, delivering a new but familiar TOKO experience.
The new menu, created by owner Matt Yazbek and head chef Sunil Shrestha, features big hits from the last 10 years, like their stunning sashimi platters, signature nigiri, smoked miso king salmon, and yuzu meringue cheesecake. There's also some new dishes too. Like, TOKO tartare and caviar, Murray cod, and tempura zucchini flowers.
Other new additions include an ultra-comprehensive Japanese drinks offering—and Australia's first sake sommelier. The sprawling new CBD restaurant has been designed by the same architect as the OG Surry Hills venue (Matt Darwon). It features a 16-person private dining room, a robata grill, and a sushi bar that doubles as an omakase. And, music to any Sydneysider's ears, TOKO has a 2am lisence, which means it's open past 10pm too for late-night dining.
The Charles Grand Brasserie & Bar
CBD
The Charles is a Euro-style cafe, wine bar, and ultra-grand two-level brasserie all in one—and it's the newest venue from the team behind French favourite Loulou Bistro in Lavender Bay. It's an elegant, decadent affair complete with lashings of black marble, a wrap-around mezzanine, a sculptural staircase, and twinkling chandeliers.
Built into the Art Deco ACA Building on King Street in the CBD, the brasserie has its own duck and poultry dry-age room and two flashy copper-plated duck press, which forms part of the theatre of its signature dish: canard à la presse (10-day whole dry-aged Maremma roasted and pressed duck) complete with tableside saucing and carving. The Charles Bar next door does breakfast (croissants, house crumpets with eggs Arlington, or duck eggs and toasted brioche soldiers—caviar optional). From 11am til late, it's a bar menu serving yet more caviar with gnocchi fritto, a signature Caesar salad, and rotisserie chicken and frites.
RAFI
North Sydney
From the group behind Bopp & Tone, The Butler, SoCal, and The Botanist, RAFI is a 300-person drinking and dining behemoth—and one that's decked out with sunny terraces, a cocktail bar, a restaurant, private dining room, chef's table experience, and a central glasshouse structure called The Abor. Yes, it's big—and where you'll want to spend many summer arvos.
Hailing all the way from Peru, Rafi's Executive Head Chef Matias Cilloniz has created a menu that draws from our fair city's coastal elements and can be summed up in two words: "fresh" and "seasonal". Sustainability is also front of mind here, and menu highlights include the glacier 51 toothfish with chickpea miso, fresh chickpeas, and chilli; raw south coast tuna with cucumber, avocado, and fresh yuzu; and dry-aged duck crowned with fresh plum and mustard leaves. Feeling adventurous? Better order the crispy potatoes with cultured cream, chives, and sea urchin then (yes, really).
Rekōdo
CBD
Picking up where Bea left off in the iconic noodle bowl-shaped Barangaroo House building, Rekōdo is a restaurant and vinyl bar inspired by Japanese listening rooms. Rekōdo—Japanese for "record"—is as much a listening experience as it is a spot to sip sake and fill up on fiery red miso sesame eggplant. On the sonic front, treat your ears to Klipsch La Scala AK5 speakers, a McIntosh MC152 amplifier, a McIntosh MP100 Phono Preamp, and a set of McIntosh MT2 turntables. Tunes will switch between live vinyl DJs, Rekōdo's catalogue of vinyl, and guest musical curators.
Head chef Paddy McDermott's Japanese-inspired menu is fun and energetic. Think DIY temaki hand rolls, wagyu tataki with ponzu and onsen yolk, modanyaki noodles, and pickled watermelon with ume. Sydney loves an omakase—and if you whisper the word, the chefs will curate a playlist (read: menu) for you.
Gildas
Surry Hills
It's been a minute since Lennox Hastie made a huge splash on the Netflix series Chef's Table: BBQ. But the acclaimed Firedoor chef does have something new in the works for Sydney. Gildas is a Firedoor spinoff in the form of a Spanish wine bar, following a neat collection of other Spanish-influenced openings in the last 12 months (Parlar and La Salut among them). Gildas is a stone's throw from Firedoor, opening within the former Chur Burger site.
Inspired by Hastie's time spent in the Basque country, dishes include the likes of tartare with rock oyster cream and sorrel, spanner crab churros, charred leeks with lado, traditional Jamon Iberico from Spain, and ham made in NSW from Bundarra Berkshires but in a Spanish style. There's also a trio of the bar's namesake, gildas—a classic Basque pintxos (skewered snack) of white anchovy, guindilla pepper, and olive— with two twists cheekily called the "Grillda" as well as the "Matilda". For dessert, the highlights are tocino de cielo (egg and syrup flan) and smoked buffalo milk soft serve with dulce de leche.
Enoteca Ponti
Potts Point
From the team behind Potts Point’s beloved Parisian-inspired diner Bistro Rex, and just a few doors down on Macleay Street, Enoteca Ponti has taken over the former Monopole site. Here, the team has picked another famous city as its muse: Rome. Described as a classic Italian restaurant, chef Aldo Farroni (ex Shell House) is plating up refined favourites like fluffy housemade focaccia, Italian-style charcuterie and cheese, and Appellation oysters alongside more intriguing items like lasagne spring rolls, caviar pizza, and veal tartare.
Out of the four famous pastas of Rome, you'll find a perfected Amatriciana with guanciale and pecorino Romano; there's a mushroom ravioli with dashi broth, a beetroot ravioli, and salt-baked whole John Dory too.
Still To Come
- Byron Bay eatery Harvest is due to open its first Sydney venue at the new surf lodge at Wisemans Ferry in 2022
- A new era for Fort Denison—which is due to become a restaurant, bar, and wine room
Image credit: Pinky-Ji, Dexter Kim for Buffet Digital, St Siandra, Longshore, Capella Sydney, Lune Croissanterie, Swillhouse, NOMAD Group, Josh Niland, Pinky-Ji, Steven Woodburn, Sala, Kissue, Nomidokoro Indigo, Oborozuki, Kiln, TOKO, The Charles, RAFI, Steven Woodburn, Nikki To, Enoteca Ponti