The Inner West is one of the great foodie pockets of Sydney/Eora, embracing our city's eclectic heritage and our innovative restaurant scene in one tasty collection of suburbs, with flavours spanning Egyptian street food and famous canned martinis to a vibey Peruvian taberna and fine dining without the fuss.
These are Urban List's picks for the best Sydney Inner West restaurants right now.
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Cafe Paci
131 King Street, Newtown
Image credit: Cafe Paci | Instagram
The award-winning Cafe Paci is a top example of Sydney's ever-growing upscale-casual restaurant cohort, walking the line between midweek dinner spot and fine diner.
You'll find an a la carte menu that follows Finnish chef Pasi Petänen's signature European sensibilities—think fermented carrots with 'nduja on rye, potato dumplings with XO trout, and ox tongue rye tacos with sauerkraut—that's suited for small nibbles or fully-fledged feasts. Book here.
Rising Sun Workshop
1C Whateley Street, Newtown
Image credit: Rising Sun Workshop | Instagram
This motorcycle workshop-meets-ramen house puts on an exciting all-day spread in a unique warehouse setting. The menu features creative and seasonally changing takes on Australian fusion cuisine, often with a focus on fresh seafood and other native Australian ingredients with an Asian twist. The meal is best washed down with one of their natural wines or boutique brews on tap, or their banging Bloody Mary.
Westwood Pizza
245 Australia Street, Newtown
While there are many pizza places in the Inner West, there are few that draw hungry Sydneysiders in like Westwood. This hole in the wall is the brainchild of Mitchell Westwood, whose CV includes other top-billing pizza joints like Queen Margherita of Savoy and nearby Bella Brutta.
Anyone who’s had the pleasure of a visit will point you in the direction of the garlic honey pizza made with confit garlic oil, fermented garlic honey, fior di latte and pecorino.
FICH
3/98-106 Audley Street, Petersham
Image credit: FICH | Instagram
Jose Silva and Manny Paraiso wanted to draw on the nostalgia of after-school snacks, and give them a little more polish without forgoing the casual essence of fish and chips.
Since opening in 2018, FICH has earned itself a rep for dishing out excellent seafood with a sustainable mindset to boot—we reckon they do some of Sydney's best fish and chips.
Baba's Place
20 Sloane Street, Marrickville
Image credit: Baba's Place | Instagram
Baba's Place is a melting pot of Sydney immigrant culture. As you walk in through the warehouse roller door, you'll see the ornately framed art hanging salon-style, ornate rugs, lace tablecloths, and armchairs that belong in your nan's house.
The eclecticism doesn't stop there, with the food taking inspiration from neighbourhood "wog" culture in dishes like the much-loved tarama on toast, half-chickens with toum and pickles, and semolina cake with seasonal fruit. With tunes blaring and a fun wine list, Baba's Place is ideal for a night out exploring the true flavour of Sydney's Inner West.
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Bistro Grenier
266 King Street, Newtown
Image credit: Bistro Grenier | Instagram
Bistro Grenier is a playful, candle-lit French restaurant on the mezzanine level of favourite Newtown wine bar Odd Culture. The menu blends French culinary tradition and creativity in dishes like pisaladierre; baked scallops in fermented piperade butter; a côtelette de porc served with braised boneless trotters, prunes and sugarloaf cabbage; and a self-saucing maple syrup pudding chômeur with buttermilk ice cream.
Bistro Grenier offers a largely French wine selection including back vintages and little-seen releases pulled from Odd Culture’s cellar, plus French favourites like chartreuse and Picon Bière in a space fitted out with deep burgundy peaked ceilings and walls, dark timber elements, and soft diffused lighting.
20 Chapel
20 Chapel Street, Marrickville
20 Chapel is a wood-fired restaurant by a trio of respected Sydney restaurant industry names, including former Rockpool Bar & Grill culinary director Corey Costelloe in the kitchen. The menu offers premium Australian beef and pork (butchered and aged on site), top-tier seafood and hyper-seasonal, organic produce from STIX farm, while drinks cover Negronis on tap, local tipples from from Ester Spirits, Young Henrys, Philter and Poor Tom’s, and a balanced selection of Australian and intentional wines.
We love the chefs table right among the action for a memorable dining experience for up to 12.
Continental Deli
210 Australia Street, Newtown
Image credit: Continental Deli | Instagram
This date-night favourite is the closest you’ll get to European café culture in the Inner West. The cute deli, bar and bistro is ideal for enjoying an al-fresco martini (or “Mar-tinny”, one of Continental’s famous canned cocktails), or French dip sandwich at the wooden bar.
The formal dining space upstairs caters to those seeking a more substantial meal from the bistro menu, on which you might find baked scallops, grass-fed steak tartare, or roasted lamb rump with artichoke purée and mustard seed jus.
Cairo Takeaway
81 Enmore Road, Newtown
This Enmore Road favourite specialises in Egyptian street food, and you'll find Inner Westies lined up out the door any night of the week. The beloved pita pockets, filled with falafel, cauliflower, charcoal lamb kofta or charcoal chicken will set you back a reasonable $13 or $14, and it’s BYO for those wanting to share a bottle on a budget.
Casa Esquina
79 Elliott Street, Balmain
Image credit: Casa Esquina | Steven Woodburn
Casa Esquina is a modern Argentinian restaurant by the group behind Paddington’s Tequila Mockingbird and Esteban in the Sydney CBD. The Balmain restaurant occupies a historic corner building, with a ground-level courtyard and upstairs balcony for breezy outdoor dining, and the ground-level dining room centred around the lively open kitchen with a flaming parrilla grill turning out Tajima Wagyu rump cap, whole fish with anchovy gribiche and butter, and even whole suckling pigs, all calling for accompanying chimichurri and salsa criolla.
In the bar, South American wine regions are represented alongside Australian and European producers. Cocktails integrate South American elements like Nixta corn liqueur, Aguas Mansas mezcal and Torrontés wine, plus nods to Argentina’s favourite sips like an upgraded Fernet and cola.
Maiz
33 Enmore Road, Newtown
Walking into Maiz feels like you’re in a courtyard in Oaxaca or Puebla, and this Newtown restaurant breaks away from the typical taco with a vision of linking authentic food to the Aussie culinary scene by celebrating corn in all its form.
The menu covers tacos, filled molotes, chilaquiles, flautas and loads more, plus an extensive selection of agave spirits served as signature margaritas and specialty cocktails like the Pata Gordo: duck fat-washed mezcal, xocolatl mole bitters and pepita syrup.
Bella Brutta
135 King Street, Newtown
Image credit: Bella Brutta | Instagram
Bella Brutta is in the sophisticated-but-casual niche that the Inner West does so well, just like Café Paci next door.
A typical meal here looks like a few bits from the antipasto selection (like pickled mussels, salumi, and silky stracciatella, followed by pizzas topped with primo local and imported ingredients. Come for the delicious pizza and stay for a tiramisu, or plan ahead and order takeaway online.
Sixpenny
83 Percival Road, Stanmore
Image credit: Sixpenny | Instagram
Sixpenny owns fine dining in the Inner West, bringing out the best in Australian produce, carefully sourced from small producers on a $250pp tasting menu that changes regularly.
Wines are sourced from across the world but focus on small producers, and the dining room, in its early-20th-century building, is minimal but warm, with chefs delivering dishes direct from the kitchen for a dining experience that feels deeply personal and polished.
Pepito's
276 Illawarra Road, Marrickville
Image credit: Pepito's | Instagram
Described as a "rocking neighbourhood taberna", Pepito's is a Peruvian party that goes deep on good vibes, great food, and delicious pisco-infused cocktails best enjoyed in the al fresco courtyard.
Head Chef Jeffrey Forrest is from the States, but does Peru's melting pot of immigrant influences (Italian, Japanese and Chinese) proud. Try the prawn and kingfish ceviche drenched in Tiger's Milk, or ox heart skewers with panca chili and anticuchera sauce.
Bloodwood
416 King Street, Newtown
Image credit: Bloodwood | Instagram
Located in the former Newtown Conservatory, Bloodwood Restaurant & Bar is decked out to suit its industrial surrounds with recycled and reclaimed furniture and finishes throughout four different spaces. Head chef and owner Claire Van Vuuren dishes up an ever-changing menu of share plates using fresh-as produce from local and small-scale producers and farmers. And to accompany it: an extensive wine list, cocktail options and local beers.
Emma’s Snack Bar
59 Liberty Street, Enmore
Image credit: Emma's Snack Bar | Instagram
Owner Anthony Sofy’s parents immigrated from Lebanon in the late '60s, quickly opening this little slice of heaven as a convenience store. Since then, Emma’s has survived reinvention, evolving from corner store to sandwich shop to restaurant.
Today, Emma’s is both cosy and cosmopolitan, serving Lebanese fare from charcoal-grilled meats to mezze (there are no fewer than four types of hummus on the menu) plus a few exciting additions to ensure vegetarians are well-catered for. We love to visit and hit the bargain $65pp banquet for dips, salads, falafel, ladies fingers, kafta, Moorish chicken, hand-cut chips and bread.
Little Lagos
125 Enmore Road, Newtown
Little Lagos provides a permanent home for Nigerian cuisine in Sydney, after owner Ade Adeniyi ran pop-ups and stalls across the city. Nigeria is home to hundreds of tribes, each offering a different cuisine, so Little Lagos attempts to represent a range of Nigerian dishes, with hearty and spicy Nigerian stews among sides of pounded yam, fried plantain and, of course, the famous jollof rice.
Pistou
601 King Street, Newtown
Image credit: Pistou | Instagram
Pistou is a romantic, French-inspired spot with a menu that heroes a weekly rotation of seasonal cheeses, charcuterie, freshly made dips, and sandwiches—the sort of things you’d expect to snack on while rolling around a French vineyard. On top of the menu, there's a large cabinet stocked with charcuterie and pickles, so you can pick something up to take away (Sydney Park is a short stroll away), or pull up a seat and stay a while.
Tamaleria & Mexican Deli
463 Marrickville Road, Dulwich Hill
While munching down the odd Aussie-style taco and burrito is nice, if you want the real deal, Tamaleria & Mexican Deli is where it’s at. Headed up by Rosa Cienfuegos, what once started as a homesick foodie's pop-up venture has escalated into a full-blown one-stop-deli for all of the most authentic Mexican essentials, with a full food menu as well—if you're not sure where to start, it has to be the famous hot tamales.
Two Chaps
122 Chapel Street, Marrickville
While Two Chaps is best known as a daytime cafe, it offers a special pasta menu on Friday and Saturday nights, with a frequently changing set menu priced at $70pp that's well worth a visit after dark.
You can expect a pasta or two, with some exciting in-season veggies to accompany, and they are BYO at $10 a bottle too—making it a great option for a low-key date night that still delivers on the food front.
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Main image credit: Baba's Place | Instagram
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