The best new restaurants in Sydney right now

Best wine and dine: King Clarence, CBD

Broad, bold and creative East Asian flavours served to basic wooden tabletops in an industrial CBD space along with a drinks list befitting the city’s best fine diners – King Clarence is a one-of-a-kind restaurant. Nothing less than you’d expect from hospitality names like Khanh Nguyen, a chef who won acclaim with Melbourne’s Southeast Asian eateries Aru and Sunda, and the Bentley Group (Brasserie 1930, Yellow and Bentley Restaurant and Bar) owners Brent Savage and Nick Hildebrandt. For diners, it can mean ordering anything from a $20 bowl of noodles with a single glass of wine to a full rock lobster with a plate of lemongrass XO pippies and a Bordeux wine worth several thousand dollars. 

King Clarence, Sydney CBD - Credit: KC Food Media

Best pub meal: The White Horse, Surry Hills 

When The White Horse opened after a multi-million-dollar renovation it came with a brand-new restaurant. The new menu is so explorative but approachable it saw head chef Jun Hwang awarded with Gourmet Traveller’s Best New Talent in NSW. He and lauded executive chef Jed Gerrard run a menu with the philosophy of affordable luxury – you might eat marbled kangaroo with black garlic, pork belly French toast with finger lime or an entire vegetarian banquet for under $80. That matched with wines from organic, biodynamic or regenerative producers, and a beautiful dining room simply designed and styled for comfort and natural light.  

The White Horse, Surry Hills - Credit: Steven Woodburn

Best street food: Mamak Street Food, Homebush 

A bustling open-air market feel, an array of bain-maries housing curries slow-cooked until they’re the colour of chocolate and prices fitting the experience, all make Mamak Street Food feel like you’re roadside in rural Malaysia. Just like you would in north Malaysia, you get a plate of rice (a particularly generous one here) and then choose from a selection of rich curries, stir fries, fried meats and condiments. If you’ve got room for more, check out the Malay-style wet char kuay teow or the assemble-you-own rojak (a textural, salad-like snack with a sour-sweet dressing).  

Mamak Street Food, Homebush

Best location: Morena Sydney, CBD 

Walking into Morena feels like walking back in time. First you approach the famous sandstone facade of Martin Place’s century-old GPO building, right in the heart of Sydney’s CBD. You’ll then walk underneath the archways, and between the ornate rock columns and you’ll find an aromatic, vibrant and bright dining room with beautiful, grand heritage windows. The kitchen at the centre is run by Alejandro Saravia and celebrates the flavours of Latin America, from Spain to Peru (Saravia’s homeland) while the bar stocks more than 200 Latin American wines, one of the biggest collections in the country.  

Morena Sydney, Martin Place - Credit: Arianna Leggerio/Renascence Gippsland

Best fine dining: Matkim, CBD 

This eight-seat Korean fine diner presents 18 courses inspired by the elements of the South Korean flag: air, water, earth and fire, and each course is arranged conceptually and artfully enough to belong in an art gallery. The experience is different every night but expect to taste Korean traditions reimagined with some of the most premium ingredients available across Australia and Korea. If you’re even considering going, try to get a seat as soon as possible. As only eight guests are seated per night, getting in can be like looking for tickets to a mega star’s concert: you must get in early.  

Matkim, Sydney CBD - Credit: Tim Cavanna

Best hotel dining: Sydney Common, CBD 

With Capella Sydney's Brasserie 1930, Hotel Morris Sydney's Bar Morris and now the Sheraton Grand Sydney Hyde Park's Sydney Common, Sydney is entering a new age for hotel dining. The common thread seems to be Australian-influenced dining, approachable menus, and grand, striking dining rooms, and Sydney Common hits it out of the park on all three points. The large dining room window looks out onto the iconic Hyde Park the menu lists simple dishes like pork chops and chocolate mousse, but each is underpinned with the technique, Japanese-influence and woodfire dominated flavours of Michelin-starred chef Jamie Robertson.  

Sydney Common Restaurant and Bar, Sydney CBD - Credit: Spruce Pty Ltd

Best neighourhood date night: Fior, Gymea 

This is what Tristan Rosier and Rebecca Fanning (Jane and Arthur co-owners) had in mind when they returned to their South Sydney homeland to open their Italian-Australian bistro in Gymea. Arrive at aperitivo hour for $2 oysters, $8 house wines, a few slices of mortadella and maybe an arancini or two. Ask for a pasta to share, made in-house and sauced for the season, then order a half chook or a ribeye with a cos salad and a margarita. Finish with a square of tiramisu or wait for the gelato cart pop by. It’s loud enough to bring a vibe but not drown you out, stylish but casual enough for a Monday night and with the same quality that ensured Jane and Arthur regular spots in the city’s restaurant guides.  

Fior, Gymea - Credit: Lily Austin

Best for a drink: Ennui, Haymarket 

At different times, the building now home to Ennui was a blacksmith, Thai grocer and the home of a Presbyterian minister. Now, the heritage sandstone building on Haymarket’s Pitt Street houses more than 300 different wines, a selection of premium whiskeys and a menu that sounds French but tastes like a round-the-world holiday. Thomas Bromwich, Samuel Woods and Peter Chan have put this restaurant together, a team with a combined work experience including Love, Tilly Devine, now-closed Hartsyard, Yellow and Tasmania’s Stillwater.  

Ennui, Haymarket - Credit: Lily Austin

Best mid-range dining: Comedor, Newtown 

You might see two completely different tables of diners next to each other at this Newtown newcomer: some wearing a suits and others with flats, caps and shorts. It’s not just the simple dining room that’s welcoming, it’s the $35 set lunch, the backstreet Newtown location and the fact there’s an option to get a tortilla with anything on the menu. But that shouldn’t betray the class of the cooking on offer. Alejandro Huerta (you may have seen him guest cheffing on TV series The Cook Up with Adam Liaw) has made an innovative cross-cultural menu that can only be loosely labelled as the cuisine of his homeland, Mexico.  

Comedor, Newtown - Credit: Buffet Digital

Best homey atmosphere: Tida Persian Food, Willoughby 

Once you’re inside, you’ll never remember the fact Tida is on a main road. If anything, you’ll wonder if you’re in the dining room of someone’s house, that someone being owners Parya Zaghand and Milad Amiri. Besides the welcoming hospitality, the tiny restaurant specialises in tahdig, Persian crispy rice. Other than that, expect the typical Persian kebabs, served extra juicy, and rich stews like the tart, herby ghormeh sabzi, all chased with a side of tea.  

Tida Persian Food, Willoughby - Credit: Tida Persian Food

Best white tablecloth bistro: Bistro Grenier, Newtown 

Odd Culture Group’s new French spot isn’t the kind of white tablecloth restaurant to lock you into a multi-course meal with matching wines. Instead, this venue offers the kind of dining experience where food is recognisable, rich but hard for non-French speakers to pronounce; and wines decorate the walls, the meal and your evening. As you’d expect from a restaurant group with a late-night dance parlour called Pleasure Club, it’s also fun, unpretentious and, at times, a little loose.  

Bistro Grenier, Newtown - Credit: Phillip Huynh