It feels like every week, there’s a new place in Sydney aiming to steal your heart and treat your tum. Choosing where to pledge your allegiance is a challenging task when you’re famished, so we’ve partnered with reservation royalty Now Book It to make the decision-making just a touch easier.
From delicate Japanese dining to hearty pizza, here are eight Sydney restaurants worthy of a visit this autumn.
Fortuna Drink + Eat
Darlinghurst
For a rollicking good time and casual dining, Fortuna is the Italian food joint to beat—how many other restaurants offer paint and sip Sundays? Prepare your gullet for eye-watering helpings of pasta and woodfire pizza, all crafted with premium ingredients like Stracciata cheese and just the right amount of truffles. The lamb ragout mafalde in particular will be on your mind for weeks after it touches your lips. It also happens to offer a mean breakfast menu if you’re more of a morning person.
Jane
Surry Hills
Continuing the retro-themed dining experience, Jane offers up Australiana cuisine by the platter against a backdrop dripping with '70s nostalgia. Devour a moreish starter of locally-sourced pickled mussels with a smooth sweetcorn purée, drizzled with saffron-infused chilli oil, or succulent Moreton Bay bug smothered in a rich lemon myrtle béarnaise sauce. The quaint seating arrangement at Jane is ideal for an intimate dinner and drinks, so booking ahead will have you seated and sipping a Cantaria Vermouth cocktail before you know it.
Arthur
Surry Hils
Arthur exudes effortless style and a big sense of community by chef/owner Tristan Rosier. Ingredients and producers across the set menus and wine list are exclusively Australian, and the culinary style is left broad to allow for influences from global food traditions. The five-course set menus start with the beloved house-made bread and butter, moving through elegant one-bite snacks, starters, a main and dessert—don’t skip the Bruny Island cheese tart.
Martinez
Sydney CBD
With plush leather seating and a prime view of the Sydney Harbour Bridge, you could spend hours at Martinez in the blink of an eye. This expansive rooftop restaurant and bar plays with French and Mediterranean themes throughout its entire menu, boasting dishes like gnocchi parisienne with pan-fried choux pastry, salty goat's curd and native herb pistou. For a lighter option fit for a balmy evening, the Ossau Iraty salad contains fresh bursts of heirloom tomatoes, refreshing peach slices and bittersweet tarragon.
Ogni Restaurant
Surry Hills
Spices and textures collide at Ogni, a dazzling gem of Devonshire Street dedicated to serving up modern Australian cuisine steeped in Southeast Asian heritage. There’s something both calming and cosy about Ogni’s mossy green interior, lined with dark wooden furniture and earthy tableware. It’ll be near-impossible to ignore the Ogni ceviche—cured kingfish swimming in an acid-green sauce of mint, chilli and green mango. To complement Ogni’s ultra fresh seafood selection, try a Gin Jeera and savour the combination of ginger, lemon, cumin, chilli, and lemongrass with a lemon myrtle rim.
Cafe Paci
Newtown
Every dish appears prettier than the last at Cafe Paci, where you’ll likely get a kick out of the daily specials haphazardly scrawled on the pristine mirror wall lining half of the restaurant. Sampling cuisines from all corners of the world, you’ll be treated to the likes of smoked ricotta ravioli with tangy tomato, guanciale and sharp pecorino, or for dessert, an indulgent banana pie with mead caramel and a parsley sorbet that just makes sense in your mouth.
Porkfat
Haymarket
You’ve unlikely tried Thai food quite like this. Found in the bustling Haymarket precinct, Porkfat utilises recipes passed down from generations to achieve that elusive, authentic dining experience. Dive headfirst into the spices and eat your way through the Moo Moo Kluay Kluay set menu, seven dishes ranging from a mouthwatering marinated beef brisket pha-naeng curry to deep-fried whole barramundi sprinkled with crispy garlic and shallots.
Toei
Surry Hills
In Toei’s short time (they opened in January 2024), this Asian-Australian fusion restaurant has made waves in Surry Hills. Their inventive and explorational menu is affordable, with their snack-heavy selection starting from only $6. But don’t stress, big flavour comes in small packages. The Korean beef tartare on puff pastry with black olive crumb and pine nut cream and the fried mantou with king prawns in marie rose sauce are the moorish bites you’ll be coming back for time and time again.
Are you a restaurant owner or manager? Head to Now Book It to set up the world's most powerful hospitality reservation platform for your venue.
Editor's note: this article was produced in partnership with Now Book It. Thank you for supporting the partners who make Urban List possible. To read our editorial policy, click here.
Image credit: Urban List, Supplied.