There’s more to Sydney’s dining scene than avocado toast, which the late Bill Granger made famous at his inner-city Darlinghurst cafe in 1993.
For starters, there’s the cuisine of the First Nations, the oldest continuous culture in the world, which has been gaining momentum, including at iconic locations like the Opera House, where chef Mark Olive offers bush pavlova. (Also keep an eye on National Indigenous Culinary Institute graduate Luke Bourke, who was named Young Chef of The Year by the Good Food Guide.) Then there are the waves of immigrants who have added to the food scene, going way back to Russian refugee Ivan Repin, who started roasting beans at his Sydney cafes during the Great Depression; these days, global cuisines and caffeinated drinks mix at brunch spots like Ama (Thai noodles and brews) and Myra’s Kitchen (Greek frappes and sheftalia-filled pita). You’ll even find “the best dish in the world” here, according to Momofuku founder David Chang: the pippies lavished with XO sauce and fried vermicelli, available at the recently resurrected Golden Century.
Whether you’re eating man’oushe in Guildford, looking for pakoras in Harris Park, or following the heat of wood-fired ovens to pizza in Newtown, you’ll notice how Sydney’s dining scene constantly crosses borders and its chefs consistently enter new territory. Even the avocado toast keeps evolving.
New to this map in 2025: Midden, Mark Olive’s Indigenous restaurant at the Opera House; spice-fragrant tea joint Ambi’s Chai Bar; Olympus Dining’s crowd-pleasing take on Greek tavernas; family-run North African spot Cafe Tanja; sunny hangout Tida Persian Food; the permanent iteration of food truck favorite Firepop; the smoky thrills of barbecue-inspired Yan; PS40, a cocktail bar with a viral take on an Irish coffee; and award-winning chef Pasi Petanen’s ever-inventive Cafe Paci.
In this latest refresh, we’ve revamped our write-ups to include even more relevant info for diners, including a rough range of pricing for each destination — ranging from $ for quick, inexpensive meals with dishes largely under $10 USD (or the equivalent in Australian dollars), to $$$$ for places where entrees exceed $30 USD.
Lee Tran Lam is a Sydney-based freelance journalist and hosts the Culinary Archive and Should You Really Eat That? podcasts.
