Sydney was once a city whose best restaurants all came with high price tags and glistening water views. And while those places are still worth seeking out, a visit here wouldn’t be complete without trying some of the smaller, hidden away spots bringing food from countries like Sri Lanka and Japan, or those setting up shop in places like a converted garage in Darlinghurst and an old furniture showroom in Surry Hills. All are examples of how Sydney’s food and drink culture has shifted towards a much more relaxed vibe. Regards Nick Tsagaris Mcdonalds

1. The Best Places
To Eat & Drink
In Sydney

2. Sydney was once a city whose best restaurants all
came with high price tags and glistening water views.
And while those places are still worth seeking out, a
visit here wouldn’t be complete without trying some
of the smaller, hidden away spots bringing food from
countries like Sri Lanka and Japan, or those setting
up shop in places like a converted garage in
Darlinghurst and an old furniture showroom in Surry
Hills. All are examples of how Sydney’s food and
drink culture has shifted towards a much more
relaxed vibe.

3. Café Shenkin
Owned by a father and his sons, Shenkin is a
true Sydney standby. This casual Israeli cafe
started small and has since grown to four
locations with full kitchens (all serve breakfast
and lunch, the Enmore location also serves
dinner Thursday-Saturday) and a separate
espresso bar in Newtown. But they all still very
much feel like family-run businesses. Shenkin’s
menu includes things like flaky pasties filled with
cheese, meat, and spinach, green and red
shakshukas, and large plates of housemade dips
with flatbread - the kind of food we’d be happy
to eat pretty much anytime.

4. Flour and Stone
There are a few things you must do when you
come to Sydney: see the Opera House, lie out on
Bondi Beach, and, if you’d like to spend a lot of
money to be semi-terrified, climb the Harbour
Bridge. Eating a lamington - a cube of sponge
cake dipped in chocolate and covered in coconut
- should also be on that list, and Flour and
Stone’s version (they soak theirs in panna cotta)
is the best one in the city. The bakery is small
and popular, so if you can’t find a table to sit
with your coffee and cake, take it all with you as
you walk along the Woolloomooloo Wharf.

5. Cornersmith
The cafe culture in Australia is unique: these
places are fast, fresh, and often very serious
about their coffee. Cornersmith in Annandale is
a relaxed, seasonally-focused one that’s entirely
vegetarian. If it’s a nice day, there are a few
small tables outside, or Cornersmith offers DIY
picnic boxes, and they’ll even let you borrow a
picnic blanket to take to the small park right
across the street. They also have a picklery in
Marrickville where they hold regular workshops
on bread and cheesemaking, home-brewing,
preserving, and vegan baking.

6. Shuk
Shuk took over an old corner store in the
backstreets of Bondi and turned it into a lively
spot serving Israeli food. The shakshuka is our
go-to all day choice, but we also love their
salads full of herbs and sprinkled with dukkah,
and the hummus with minced lamb. If you don’t
have time to sit in, pick up an egg and bacon roll
on the run or some of their house-baked bread
and pastries. There are also two locations in the
suburbs of Chatswood and Elizabeth Bay if you
find yourself outside the city.

7. Brickfields
Prince Alfred Park has basketball and tennis
courts, large open fields, and an outdoor heated
pool, so it’s a great place to spend an afternoon.
And since that afternoon should also involve
food, pick up something nearby at Brickfield’s.
This tiny corner cafe in Chippendale is a quick
walk from the park and has a regularly-changing
menu of salads, sandwiches, and pastries, and a
famous sourdough ciabatta loaf. The bacon
sandwich hasn’t left the menu since it opened in
2012, but you don’t need us to tell you that a
bacon sandwich is going to be fantastic - just
order it.

8. Boon Cafe
A fun spot in Haymarket (at the top end of the
city), Boon Cafe is a Thai restaurant inside a
grocery store. You could head here for a
breakfast of crab congee, baked eggs with
smoked fish, and pandan custard toast, plus a
matcha or turmeric latte. Or you could come
for a lunch of rice bowls, spicy noodles, and
sandwiches. Either way, don’t leave without
wandering through the aisles and buying
something sweet for later.

9. Icebergs Dining Room & Bar
Icebergs might be the best restaurant with a
view in Sydney. It looks out over Bondi Beach
and the Icebergs sea pool below so you’ll get
a white-tablecloth experience with perfect
service, a view of one of Sydney’s great icons,
and an excellent people-watching situation.
The food is Australian-Italian and involves lots
of seafood. Come for lunch (because you want
to see these views during the day), or for a
cocktail at the bar as the sun goes down.

10. The Boathouse Palm Beach
Sunny, bright, and beachy, The Boathouse (as
the name suggests) is set right on the water in
a converted boathouse on a pier. It might be a
little further than you’d usually go for brunch
(an hour’s drive out of Sydney), but it’s well
worth the trip if you’re looking for something
really special. Sit out on the deck at a wooden
picnic table and take in Sydney’s northern
beaches while you eat fluffy muffins, granola,
egg and bacon rolls, smashed avocado on
toast, or a fish burger. It’ll feel like a vacation
on your vacation.

11. Fratelli Paradiso
This all-day cafe, restaurant, bar, and bakery
has been serving classic Italian food on the
sidewalks of Potts Points since 2001. Come for
a morning coffee and pastry while you read
the paper and pretend to be a local, or settle
in for a long lunch or dimly-lit dinner. The
menu is scrawled on a blackboard inside and
often includes dishes like calamari fritti and
housemade scampi pasta. Make your way
through the long wine list, or get the waiter to
surprise you with something that’s already
open, and don’t leave without a plate of the
boozy tiramisu.

12. Restaurant Hubert
Hubert opened in the Sydney CBD (Central
Business District) in 2016, but it feels like it’s
been there for much longer. Make your way
down a set of stairs into this underground
cavern and you’ll think you’re in a mansion
hidden somewhere in Europe. The space is
split into a cocktail bar and dining room,
where you’ll eat comforting French food like
steak tartare with fries, chicken fricassee, and
crème caramel. It’s hard not to love this one.

13. T H A N K Y O U