When Harry Styles visited Melbourne’s Cibi for a green tea last year, the Japanese cafe and design store was inundated by his TikTok-obsessed fans. They kept coming months after Styles’ visit too, and Cibi eventually had to ban guests from shooting social media content on their phones. God help any Sydney restaurant, then, that Taylor Swift pops into this week.

Time magazine’s person of the year played three back-to-back shows in Melbourne, kicking off February 16, before a four-night stint in Sydney from Friday. Having arrived in Sydney on Monday afternoon, Swift has four nights free for dinner in town, not to mention plenty of opportunities for lunch and cocktails. And if there’s one thing the Good Food team knows all too well about Taylor Swift, it’s that she really, really likes going out for lunch. And cocktails.

The internet is thick with lists detailing all the bars and restaurants Swift has visited in New York City over the past few years, but especially the past 12 months. We’ve studied these lists, and – through a comprehensive systematic review – have identified the key trends of Swift’s eating habits in Manhattan. Using this research, we believe we can predict where she will make an impromptu dining appearance while in Australia. This is highly scientific stuff.

Notably, Swift isn’t concerned with eating at any of the super-hip new places New York food critics are raving about. White-hot restaurants such as Sailor, Tatiana and Torrisi don’t get a look in. There are very few omakase and tasting menus; even fewer steakhouses, yum cha sessions and burger joints (though she is partial to the occasional cheeseburger, and local chain Betty’s fits the bill, given it’s a Folklore character and tune).

But there is plenty of seafood, Italian, and a la carte sushi. Reliable celebrity-loved institutions such as Minetta Tavern, Waverly Inn and Emilio’s Ballato get a fair crack too. (Restaurateur Keith McNally even posted Swift and Phoebe Bridgers’ Minetta Tavern order on Instagram – oysters, scallops, Dover sole and lobster vol-au-vents, if you’re wondering.)

As for bars, darker is better, preferably with martinis, a chic fit-out and semi-private rooms.

So with all that in mind, here are our predictions of where Swift could (and should) eat in Sydney.

The bar

“I knew from the first Old Fashioned we were cursed,” sings Swift in Getaway Car. If she is indeed into Old Fashioneds, CBD whisky bar The Baxter Inn stirs a cracking version of the classic, and the lighting is appropriately low. Most of Baxter’s tables and booths are exposed to prying phone cameras, so if a getaway car and a swift exit is required, Crown’s “invite only” members’ lounge Neat Peat seems like a safer bet for Swift and her entourage. (We strongly suspect they’ll all be staying at Crown Towers.)

For a martini, Maybe Sammy near The Rocks is a destination for many global visitors, given its number 15 spot on The World’s 50 Best Bars list. But this seems too obvious. We’re putting our money on Swift taking over the semi-hidden La Prima bar inside Paddington’s El Primo Sanchez, opened by the Maybe Sammy team last year and specialising in tacos and tequila-fuelled dancing.

The Italian

If we were card sharks, playing games, it’s equal odds for a’Mare – Crown’s two-hatted fine diner helmed by Lombardian chef Alessandro Pavoni – or Woolloomooloo stalwart Otto Ristorante. Both are by the water and have a strong focus on seafood, plus private dining options and accommodating staff.

For Italian food with a more contemporary, edgier edge, it’s hard to go past Alberto’s Lounge and Pellegrino 2000 in Surry Hills (update: she did!), although nearby Bastardo is another strong option. We wouldn’t be too shocked to see Swift visit Beppi’s either. The old-school Darlinghurst charmer has been catering to A-listers from Keith Richards to Kerry Packer since 1956, and it never goes out of style.

The icon

Bondi’s Icebergs Dining Room and Bar is one of Nigella Lawson’s “favourite places in the world”, the ocean views are incredible, and restaurateur Maurice Terzini knows how to show visiting celebrities a discreet and highly delicious time (Pharrell is also a fan.) We would be more surprised if Swift doesn’t eat at Icebergs while she’s here. She’s partial to a citrusy French Blonde cocktail, so the tableside sgroppino with lemon sorbet would be soothing between back-to-back shows.

The sushi spot

Swift and boyfriend Travis Kelce were spotted at a Nobu in New York in December, and – at the risk of this predictions list sounding like advertorial for Crown – there’s also an outpost of the glitzy Japanese restaurant chain at the Sydney casino. A Nobu visit seems likely, but if Swift is keen for raw fish and rice at one of our homegrown establishments, Kuro Bar and Dining, Sushi e and Cho Cho San all provide the kind of slick, modern Japanese menu she seems to go for.

The seafood restaurant

Sydney’s many omakase counters aside, there are no better places to eat Australian seafood than Neil Perry’s Margaret (a name very similar to Swift’s late grandmother Marjorie, who has a song named in her honour) in Double Bay and Saint Peter, Paddington. But the gun-barrel dining room of Josh and Julie Niland’s Saint Peter is exposed to the street, and Margaret feels too high profile. (An under-the-radar visit to Intercontinental Double Bay’s plush cocktail bar seems more likely.) Cirrus at Barangaroo is the smarter idea to avoid paparazzi and get stuck into oysters, scallops and lobster, and we’re not dismissing a whole restaurant takeover at Catalina in Rose Bay.

The Wildest Dreams wildcard

There’s every chance Swift will get out of this town, drive out of the city, away from the crowds, and shack up in a Whale Beach mansion with a private chef and helipad, just like Leo in Saint-Tropez. If so, it would be a shame not to book at least one lunch at Bert’s Bar and Brasserie in Newport – the old-world hotel dining room and whole flounder seem right up Swift’s alley.

Back in the city, if we had another Blank Space, we’re going to take a punt on The Gidley. A New York-inspired steakhouse, yes, but the no-phones policy and private rooms make it a popular choice for people who would prefer not to be seen.