These are our top 7 best new restaurants in Sydney:
Barzaari Chippendale
Barzaari has taken the place of Kensington Street Social and the locals appear to be loving this hotspot, one of the best new restaurants in Sydney. As the sister eatery to the Marrickville local of the same name, this is not a secret squirrel location. In fact, it’s located in prime position on the Kensington high street that is so popular as an eating and dining district that it has its own website. Located on the westside of the precinct, there’s a real buzz about Barzaari, where the menu draws influences from Middle Eastern food from Cyprus, Lebanon, Egypt and Syria. Note: the beef short rib with chermoula, hummus, onion and sumac is a beautiful thing. barzaari-chippendale.com.au
Totti’s at The Royal in Bondi
If you like your restaurants to be casual and cheerful then Merivale’s new Italian concept will be right up your avenue. Catch the 380 Bus down Bondi Road and disembark on the corner of Denham to find this local Italian where culinary heavyweights Mike Eggert and Khan Danis run the entire shebang. Those with a penchant for pasta should try the prawn casarecce or rigatoni with milk-braised pork and chilli, which are both like a beautiful bear hug from a good friend. merivale.com/venues/tottis/tottis-menu
C.C. Babcoq
C.C. Babcoq is named after the secretary of Mr Sheffield in the US sitcom, The Nanny. While the name might have millennials scratching their heads, the trio behind the brand — Anthony Gentile (Jake Chalmers) and Harry and Mario Kapoulas (HAM café) think this throwback to their TV-watching childhood is hilarious. The fact CC Babcoq in Cronulla’s swanky new Banc building has coq — the French word for chicken — in the name is apt as it is in fact a fancy chicken shop with Josh Davidson (ex-Apollo) charged with cooking the chooks. Our pick: the ras el hanout chicken with a little something on the side: pumpkin flowers, lemon ricotta, sweet corn, yellow box honey. ccbabcoq.co
Employees Only
While Employees Only is more a bar than a restaurant, the food and drinks go hand in hand. French chefs Aurelien Girault and Leo Garnier are behind the New York bistro-style menu at the bar, which is open until 3 am. The bar is located in a Heritage-listed basement on Barrack St in the Sydney CBD and is the little sister of a speakeasy brand pioneered by EO in New York and then rolled out in Miami, Singapore and Hong Kong. Join the hospo crowds enjoying well-crafted cocktails and ”the staff meal and soup tradition’ while decrying Sydney’s lockout laws. employeesonlynyc.com
Mister Percy
Pyrmont’s latest Mediterranean-style wine bar and kitchen is located in Ovolo 1888 and is perfect for those who like a restaurant near their room for the night. Interior design outfit Luchetti Krelle is behind the award-winning modern-meets-vintage aesthetic in the restaurant, which reflects the heritage of the hotel. The Pyrmont hotel was a wool store in a previous life and the restaurant is named after a charismatic wool classer by the name of Mister Ewart Percy. Order plates of pinchos and chargrilled scotch fillet with blistered asparagus to share. ovolohotels.com.au
The Butcher’s Block
The owners of Wahroonga’s popular local, The Butcher’s Block, have cloned the concept and opened a second store in Barangaroo. Barangaroo is now scattered with beautiful restaurants and watering holes but The Butcher’s Block is the only one to open all day — from breakfast to dinner. The name of the restaurant is a nod to the Wahroonga store’s original incarnation as a butcher shop. And while there are meaty options on the menu, there are also veg-forward dishes such as the Green Lunch Bowl with BBQ broccolini, zucchini, asparagus, avocado, kale, rice and egg. butchersblockgroup.com.au
Bopp & Tone
Bopp & Tone is a tribute to the Applejack founders’ grandfathers, Keith ‘Bopp’ Evans and Anthony ‘Tone’ Adams. So yeah, you could say the place truly ‘pops’. Bopp & Tone’s opulent interior also nods to the optimism of post WW2 era in Australia. The menu was created by head chef Sa Va’afusuaga and group executive chef Jason Roberson and it centres around honest, rustic plates of Mediterranean-inflected food designed to share. The CBD is now a hive of intimate cafes and dinky bars and great restaurants and Bopp & Tone is among them. Order whole fish and wood-grilled spitchcock grilled over wood in the charcoal oven. boppandtone.com.au
Maybe not found at one of these new restaurants in Sydney, you may want to try one of our favourite plates of pasta in the city.
