25 August 2024

SYDNEY RESTAURANTS

Too many choices, so much good food. Three days in Sydney was not enough but we sure did some mighty fine feasting. So here are very personal recommendations, but in every case, book ahead.

ONCORE BY CLARE SMYTH

The detail is everything here, a dining experience unequalled by any meal I've encountered in the past year or two. The room, perched on the 26th floor of the Crown Sydney, has amazing views of the city, the service is faultless, the wine list has everything and more you could wish for, and the food is stunning. It's fine dining at its best, even if you do take out a wee mortgage for the occasion. (Lunch Fridays is the bargain - $250 per head for a shorter menu that does include the signature "Potato and Roe," pic above.) Every bite of every dish was dreamy, perfectly sauced, like that seaweed beurre blanc to nap the herring above, and the Core apple is not to be missed. Can't rave enough about this.

SAINT PETER

A table nabbed here at 6pm when someone didn't show was the lucky turn of the trip. Owner Josh Niland is now winning international recognition for his masterful fish cookery and this experience did not disappoint. Seven magical courses including a stunning alphonso icecream that involved fish eyes was served in a bull kelp infused choux pastry case (yes you read that right, wow!) The restaurant relocated the week after we ate there to the beautifully restored Grand National Hotel, giving food lovers a better chance of scoring a table to eat exceptional fare from a chef who uses every single skerrick of the well chosen, ethically caught and sought fish he uses. Clever beyond words.

MARGARET (& NEXT DOOR)

Neil Perry is the darling of the Sydney scene and his restaurant Margaret in the heart of Double Bay is a testament to the sort of dining that makes everyone happy. It's modern Sydney dining, with cooks who use the very best of Australian ingredients (with some help from excellent NZ fish) for a pretty extensive menu that makes everyone, young and old, social and reclusive, very comfortable. The woodfired grilled fish dishes and juicy meats are top notch, with lovely starters that make it hard to choose. And for a much more casual, inexpensive meal, or lunch, dine at more casual Next Door which is next door and run by the same kitchen.

ICEBERGS

If Sydney has a quintessentially Sydney restaurant is this gem on the edge of Bondi Beach, poised on the cliff with a full length swimming pool below. The views of the ocean waves crashing doesn't get much better than this and the food and drinks are good. Very good. We actually perched on stools on the balcony in the hot sun so crisp battered fish and chips, and a prawn filled bun, washed down with icy cold beer was just the ticket while we watched all the action that is Bondi. But book for the dining room as it is always busy here.

FEI JAI

At the back of Rose Bay, in a local shopping strip near the corner of Plumer & O'Sullivan Roads, there's a delightfully simple bistro serving Chinese cuisine. This is not your usual casual but enormous menu of Cantonese fare. It's run by a French couple as an offshoot of their main bistro in Potts Point and they served up simple but delicious bao, noodle dishes and selected Chinese classics like "old school sweet and sour pork," XO prawns with crispy noodles and twice cooked duck with lychee and tamarind. exactly the food you want to save you overdoing it with rich and clever fare every night. I love that!