From fine diners to top takeaways these are the best new restaurants in NSW
From high-end fine diners to a top-shelf takeaway with a cult following – these are the hottest new restaurants in NSW as revealed in the The Australian Weekend Magazine Hot 50 Restaurants issue.
Welcome to our list of the ‘hottest’ dining destinations in New South Wales, as featured in the Hot 50 Restaurants issue of The Weekend Australian Magazine.
We’ve selected ten diverse culinary experiences across the state, from the opulent settings of Sydney’s new fine dining establishments to charming and innovative eateries nestled in regional towns – and we’ve also taken the liberty to add an 11th entry from the nation’s capital.
Each restaurant on this list has been chosen for its exceptional cuisine, unique atmosphere, and the talent of its kitchens; and each represents something altogether new to the state’s food scene. You’ll find restaurants that offer a taste of the world, from Italian-inspired dishes to Greek classics; and others which operate from a sincere place of nostalgia.
Go, eat and enjoy our picks of 2025.
TOP NSW RESTAURANTS
Neptune’s Grotto, Sydney
Everything touched by the team behind Pellegrino 2000, Clam Bar and the upcoming Grandfather’s turns to gold. When it comes to Neptune’s Grotto, that’s almost literal. The subterranean walls at this Sydney CBD restaurant are a fiery orange and yellow and the eponymous Neptune rises from the centre of the room, glowing like a lanternfish from deep beneath the waves. The food is solid gold too, taking many of its culinary cues from Italy’s northern regions, such as a gramigna con salsiccia (a sausage pasta), or a truffled-filled pasta that looks to Piedmont for inspiration.
The Grill at The International, Sydney
Even for the jaded diner, some venues still have the power to surprise and even thrill. Take a trip to The International, for instance. You enter via a nondescript lift on a dour stretch of Martin Place in Sydney CBD, and wonder if you are heading in the right direction. But when the lift doors open on level seven you find that indeed you have arrived, in all senses of the word. It feels quite surreal to sit in this dark and glossy room with its aspect over the city’s high-rises, alongside a clientele who seem to live like the good times keep on rolling. You’ll need that attitude with a menu where you can eat a 1.2kg piece of Kidman bistecca florentina for $310 or Moreton Bay bug linguine with dried tomato and sea greens for $65. (There’s also Oscietra caviar at $310 for 50g). The cooking of chef Joel Bickford is solid and the place has a dazzle that few can rival. So, go for broke: sip on cocktails, drink decanted French wines and finish with a chestnut and quince trifle like it’s the last days of Rome.
Corner 75, Randwick, Sydney
What do you get when you bring together the owners of Marrickville culture-hoppers Baba’s Place and Stanmore fine diner Sixpenny, then add a head chef (Carley Scheidegger) famous for her desserts at Fred’s, and a restaurant manager trained in Attica’s upscale finesse (Alice Tremayne), and combine their skills behind the lace curtains of one of Sydney’s most beloved Hungarian restaurants? You get the new Corner 75, the most delightful and heartfelt Sydney opening of 2025. The schnitzel crumb is crisp and airy, the fresh-baked esterházy torte has love in every layer, and it’s all served in a room decked with decades of Hungarian memorabilia beneath the warm flicker of candlelight.
Olympic Meats, Dulwich Hill, Sydney
One day the area around Dulwich Hill station is largely empty, save for a few coffee shops and a neighbourhood pizza place. The next, there are queues stretching down Dudley Street that rival a line-up for Taylor Swift tickets. Welcome to Olympic Meats, a grooving Greek joint dishing up a generous menu of Hellenic classics like stuffed pitogyro and spanakopita plus all sorts of roasted, pickled, smoked and barbecued meats, along with a dazzling array of salads and dips, to eat in or takeaway. It all works beautifully with their range of fruity Greek sodas, or you can BYO wine for a very reasonable $5 corkage.
Eleven Barrack, Sydney
The duo behind The Bentley Group of restaurants – chef Brent Savage and sommelier-with-the-mostest Nick Hildebrandt – keep rolling out hits, and Eleven Barrack is no exception. This CBD fine diner has dishes like a potato tart with blue cheese sauce and piccalilli, spanner crab and fish pie with shellfish bisque, and a range of steaks from the grill. Savage’s touch as a chef is brilliant; the room, with its chandeliers and red carpets, feels decidedly old-world glamour, and the atmosphere is lively. Go for lunch, when the power diners are wheeling and dealing across the table, and be sure to stay for the ginger-glazed key lime pie with coconut curd and finger lime; you’ll leave on the sugar high you needed.
bentleyrestaurantgroup.com.au/ elevenbarrack
The Malaya, Sydney
After 60 years, one of Sydney’s culinary institutions has a new home. Now occupying a first-floor location on George Street with a glassy CBD aspect, The Malaya is experiencing a new lease of life, albeit with a bounty of classic dishes that never seem to go out of fashion. Taste what people ate in the 1960s courtesy of dishes that stick to the restaurant’s original recipes. There’s a laksa from 1963 as well as an original Malaya curry with either beef or duck. But all the dishes retain a certain retro specialness: try a rich and delicious coconut beef rendang or a Singapore fish curry with coral trout. The $75 banquet menu is a great deal. Some places never go out of style, and for a reason – because they’re really good.
Mullumbimby Continental, Mullumbimby
Acting as something of a portal from the bongo beats and herbal scents of Mullumbimby’s high street to a wine bar in Europe, Mullumbimby Continental seems like a dimensional anomaly. Although the Byron Shire town is swiftly gentrifying, this bistro is still a standout. Narrow and dimly lit, a huge wooden bar dominates the space, behind which cocktails are shaken and natural wines poured. Around the small terrazzo tabletops, glasses are shifted to accommodate dishes like perfectly seared minute steak, shimmering carpaccio and golden-crusted pork cotoletta. Sometimes, somehow, a DJ is squeezed in for vinyl sets too.
Pipit at The Brooklet, Byron Bay
The collaboration between the much-praised Northern Rivers restaurant and a luxury hinterland retreat provides the final compulsion to book that Byron mini-break. Pipit x The Brooklet will see chef Ben Devlin bring his culinary precision to the boutique accommodation for a series of intimate dining sessions through June and July, at a cost of $220 for a set menu and drinks. pipitrestaurant.com
Saint Peter, Paddington (plus Catseye Pool Club, Hamilton Island, Queensland)
The accolades keep rolling in for chef Josh Niland. Most recently, his fish venue in Sydney’s Paddington was listed among the best new restaurants in the world in Condé Nast’s influential annual guide. And late last year, it hit a new level with the opening of the boutique hotel component of the project after many long years of development. The complex – which fills one of Sydney’s oldest heritage pubs, The Grand National Hotel – has 14 rooms, some with views over charming Paddington with its rows of historic terrace houses. Stay for the night, eat in the restaurant with its $275 tasting menu full of quirky treats (think salt and vinegar line-caught blue mackerel, or coral trout bone noodles) and wake up in the morning for a second sumptuous feast, this time featuring marron with scrambled eggs (and plenty more). Breakfast is included in the price of the stay, making the night a luxe, fully immersive experience. And that’s not all for Niland, who has signed to open a new restaurant next month on Hamilton Island in Queensland. Set inside a new luxury hotel called The Sundays and overlooking Catseye Beach, the restaurant is called Catseye Pool Club and will be a “family friendly” place featuring all-day dining.
hamiltonisland.com.au/ accommodation/the-sundays
The Eve Hotel, Redfern, Sydney
It’s no longer quite enough to have a very good restaurant onsite at a new and happening hotel. Rather, these days, guests need options. Enter The Eve, a luxurious new property that opened in Sydney’s Redfern in February. With 102 rooms and suites, a rooftop pool that jumps on warmer days and a sumptuous design and fit-out by leading creatives including Adam Haddow (SJB), Daniel Baffsky (360 Degrees), George Livissianis and Henry Wilson, this is the new hotel Sydney needed. And there’s eating and drinking to match. The star is Olympus Dining, the 200-seat Greek taverna based around a 50-year-old bougainvillea that occupies the centre of the property. Sit in this circular dining space with its alfresco feel, courtesy of a glass roof, and it’s like you’re on summer holidays in Crete or Mykonos. The menu of Jonathan Barthelmess (who’s well known to Sydneysiders for his Potts Point venue, Apollo) is vintage taverna: run through classics like taramasalata, dolmades, saganaki and spanakopita until you get to the heavier dishes that feel like they could be served on some Aegean beach.
There’s grilled calamari, octopus, sardines and prawns, whole roasted fish and chicken with sesame yoghurt, pork souvlaki, lamb meatballs and cutlets, or a roasted lamb shoulder. It’s like a Greek family party, except you don’t have to bring gifts. Sip Greek wine and fantasise about your next holiday. Guests on a two-night stay should also try the rooftop venue Lottie, with its sunset views and contemporary Mexican dishes that include Murray cod pibil and pork jowl with cola mole. The cocktails are excellent and the vibe is effervescent. Then head to the ground level to find Bar Julius, a beautiful lobby bar with a sophisticated Mediterranean-inspired menu (ricotta gnudi with burn butter, prawns and sea herbs; pork neck with pomme purée, charred hispi, pickled apple and Calvados jus). Or just call in for a drink – the cocktails take their inspiration from the neighbourhood (try a Paddington Iced Tea with Bulleit bourbon, Poorman’s Orange marmalade, Brickfield’s sourdough, Pierre Ferrand Orange Curacao, citrus and fizz).
But there’s more! Just outside the hotel you’ll find Island Radio, a vibey, goodtime venue that hums with youthful pan-Asian flavours. Chef Andy Wirya’s dishes offer flashes of Chinese, Malaysian, Japanese and Indonesian flavours (and more). We’re partial to the ginger shallot egg noodles with sambal and turmeric crumbs, and the pork and prawn wonton laksa with puffed tofu and crispy chilli. That said, the menu is long, so it might pay to visit more than once. The Eve sets the benchmark for what travellers should expect from a new hotel. The location – on the edge of Surry Hills – may challenge some who prefer a city or beach location, but the excellence of the experience should silence any knockers.
And one from the ACT …
Lunetta, Red Hill, Canberra
Move over Parliament House, Canberra’s spotlight is trained on a much more architecturally exciting building, the futuristic 1960s UFO-like edifice that sits on top of Red Hill and now houses one of the capital’s most interesting new openings: Lunetta. The restaurant is a labour of love from veteran restaurateur Tracy Keeley, with Saint Peter alumnus Tristan Rebbettes in the kitchen, serving a crowd-pleasing Italian menu guided by fire and flame. The ravioli with tomato, fermented chilli and potato has proven itself to be an early favourite, as has the crescent-shaped tiramisu – and the restaurant’s hillside location means it has a strong claim on the best views in the city.
View the Hot 50 FULL LIST here.
To discover the best new restaurants in Queensland click here
To discover the best new restaurants in Victoria click here
To discover the best new restaurants in South Australia click here
To discover the best new restaurants in Tasmania click here
To discover the best new restaurants in Western Australia click here
Australia’s Hot 50 Restaurants has been compiled for The Australian Weekend Magazine by Elizabeth Meryment, with additional submissions from Alexandra Carlton, Lara Picone, Nick Ryan and Max Brearly.
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