Of course no list of the best dishes, best restaurants or best chefs can ever be complete. So I suggest you take my list of some of the best dishes in Sydney in 2025 as inspiration for your own exploration.
We’ll start with snacks and soup (my favourite section of any menu); work through some pasta, seafood and meat; and finish with one of Australia’s most iconic desserts.
Buon Appetito!
Gildas Anchovy churros with piquillo, chive & creme fraîche
It wouldn’t be a list of my favourite dishes without something from Gildas, would it? And OMG, Lennox Hastie outdid himself with these crème fraîche-filled churros topped with a single Angelachu anchovy, strip of piquillo pepper and a chive. Wash them down with a glass of Manzanilla from the extensive Sherry list and count your blessings that we can count this Basque-inspired wine bar among the best places in Sydney to eat and drink..
Iftar Goat cheese ladies fingers with honey
There’s an explosion of great Middle Eastern food in Sydney. And why not? It’s delicious, fresh and healthy. In Merrylands, Jeremy Agha has them queueing down the street for his mod take on the Lebanese food of his childhood – like these crisp rolls made with yufka pastry, filled with stretchy akkawi cheese and served with a little pot of honey for dipping or drizzling.
Bondi Trattoria Tarama with bottarga & flatbread
I love casual neighbourhood bistros – and one of Sydney’s most established and favourite casual restaurants is ‘the Tratt’ overlooking Bondi Beach, which opened in 1987. Today chef Joe Pavlovich and front-of-house Alasdair France continue the tradition of delicious simple food in a comfortable setting with great service. Kick off any meal here with grilled flatbread dunked into taramasalata dusted with bottarga and fennel pollen.
Uncut Seafood Smoked trout toast
The menu description of ‘smoked trout toast’ doesn’t begin to do justice to this smoky, salty, creamy, addictive trout dip slathered on charred Organic Bread Bar sourdough. It’s made by the Mum of Kaitlin, Jack and Nic Lucas who own this hybrid fresh fish shop/take-away/casual diner. There’s much more to love on their menu too, so I recommend you get down to Sydney’s best seafood shop and check it out for yourself.
Three Blue Ducks Stracciatella with apple jam and chilli oil
The ‘Ducks’ have come a long way from their first beach-side café in Bronte, with five venues now from Byron Bay to Melbourne. While I had this in their Bellingen outpost, its fresh clean flavours and clever use of herbs and spices is typical of any Three Blue Ducks. It was a toss-up between this tasty combo and the excellent trout rillettes I had at the same meal for my best dishes list (this won because the photo was better).
Pilu Baretto Tuscan soup
Sydney’s a great place to enjoy a casual bite by the sea – and my favourite spot to do that is Giovanni Pilu’s kiosk right on Freshwater beach. In summer it’s often a plate of pasta or excellent panini (pictured above) that takes my fancy – but when the mercury dips a bowl of hearty ribollita is just the thing. Thick with borlotti beans, cavolo nero and other veg, with a little pancetta added for oomph, this was the best soup I had all year.
Cibaria Squid ink aglio e olio with crab
I love spaghetti aglio e olio. And I wouldn’t have thought the classic could be improved upon until I tasted Alessandro Pavoni’s version at one of this year’s most talked about restaurant openings. Fresh squid ink spaghetti tossed with oil and garlic is lifted with lemon, studded with crabmeat and made completely irresistible by a generous coating of chilli-laced toasted bread crumbs at one of Sydney’s best casual Italian restaurants.
Cicci Mafaldine with cavolo nero pesto
Naomi Lowry can cook and Peter Zuzza knows a thing or two about wine and hospitality. So I’m delighted they’ve put their heads together at this ‘neighbourhood wine bar and kitchen’ in Balmain. A daily special of thick, chewy ribbons of pasta tossed with cavolo nero pesto, roast hazelnuts and gorgonzola crema was superb, especially with Peter’s recommendation of a deeply orange skin-contact Greco from Cautiero in Campania.
Avia Octopus, avocado, aïoli
Octopus and avocado doesn’t seem like the most natural pairing at first glance. But Stefano Marano has a knack for making the unlikely work at his casual indoor/outdoor diner a stone’s throw from Taylor Square in Darlinghurst. And this tender poached Fremantle octopus sang with chunks of just-ripe avocado, creamy aioli and salty, umami-rich wakame powder. I loved the Jilly Lone Ranger pinot gris, co-owner Jack Reid served with it too.
Salmon & Bear King salmon crudo
I often find Pacific salmon (called ‘king salmon’ when farmed in NZ) too rich compared to Atlantic salmon from Tasmanian. Not so in this superb salmon crudo. It was the tiny dice of sweet mango and creamy avocado, tangy pickled ginger, a touch of chilli and spicy micro herbs – plus delicate house-made ponzu sauce – that sealed the deal and earned Salmon & Bear a place on my list of best value seafood spots in Sydney.
Firedoor Coral trout head and pipis with XO
Almost every meal at Firedoor includes XO pipis in some guise or other. Coral trout’s another favourite ingredient on Lennox Hastie’s fire-fuelled menu. So I was delighted but not surprised when they appeared together in this delicious off-menu dish of fish head with pipis, XO and foraged karkalla on smouldering paperbark. Also delighted that Firedoor Friday lunches are back with a great $145 3-course menu.
Red Lantern Crisp garlic chicken drumettes
You know how addictive Mark Jensen’s salt & pepper squid is at one of Sydney’s best Modern Asian diners – at least partly due to that lemon and white pepper dipping sauce. Turns out that sauce can make almost any deep-fried food addictive. Like these crisp, juicy, garlicky chicken drumettes that Mark served at a Be Inspired dinner this year – along with the salt & pepper squid which made the 2023 list of best dishes in Sydney of course!
Porkfat Grilled pork jowl
Born in Central Thailand and having worked with David Thompson at nahm and Long Chim, Narin ‘Jack’ Kulasai is well placed to create a short cohesive menu of Thai classics – like larb and som dtum – without becoming clichéd. He includes less common dishes too, such as this simple delicious plate of tender grilled pork cheek with a smoky, tamarind-laced nahm jim dipping sauce, roasted rice powder, deep-fried shallots and fresh herbs.
Carne e Cucina “Big Boy” pork and fennel sausages
In northern Italy there’s a Michelin-starred restaurant inside a butcher shop – and on the Central Coast just an hour north of Sydney there’s one too (minus stars)! At Carne e Cucina in Erina Heights, Nicola Coccia makes these superb sausages channelling the flavour he remembers from the ones his Nonno made. Seasoned simply with fennel, white and black pepper, garlic and salt, they’re excellent with baby carrots cooked over the coals.
Margaret Date tart
Let’s finish with Sydney’s most iconic dessert. Neil Perry may have morphed the ‘Rockpool Date Tart’ into ‘Memories of a Mirabelle Tart’ on his menu at one of the best seafood restaurants in Sydney, but it still looks the same as it did at Rockpool in 1989. Its beauty lies in its unadorned simplicity: thin, short, buttery pastry topped with sweet jammy dates then silken just-set vanilla custard. What a way to end a feast of Sydney’s best dishes in 2025!
Published 9 Jul 2025
