What’s the best new restaurant in Sydney? Despite the fact that we’re not a city-living rag, it’s a question that we’re often asked at Boss Hunting.
In that spirit, we’ve compiled a rolling list of all the best new Sydney restaurants (all opened within a year) below. Some we’ve tried; some we wish we had.
Stanley, Manly
Louis Tikaram (the former Good Food Guide Young Chef of the Year who made his name at Longrain before decamping to LA and Brisbane) has finally come home with a 248-seat Sydney outpost of his acclaimed Cantonese restaurant on Manly Wharf.
Inspired by the seaside dining rooms of Hong Kong’s Stanley Bay, the room is kitted out with live seafood tanks, a long dim sum list, and a custom-built, tiled wood-fired oven designed specifically for roasting duck – a dish that takes at least five days to reach the hearth, brined in star anise, Sichuan pepper, and cassia, blanched, bathed in red vinegar, and hung to dry before roasting.
Order it “imperial” style and the bird arrives two ways – carved tableside with pancakes, and as san choy bow.
Opened: August 2026
Address: Manly Wharf, East Esplanade, Manly NSW 2095
Opening Hours: Wednesday – Friday (12 PM – late); Saturday – Sunday (11 AM – late)
Ashe, Sydney CBD
The Bentley Group’s Brent Savage and Nick Hildebrandt may have shuttered their eponymous fine diner this year, but their new Southeast Asian grill on the corner of Angel Place and Ash Street suggests the Sydney pair are already looking onto pastures new.
Executive chef Khanh Nguyen (Melbourne’s Sunda and Aru fame; more recently King Clarence in Sydney’s CBD) calls Ashe the most personal expression of his cooking to date, with a clay oven and grill doing the heavy lifting across flavours from Vietnam, Thailand, and Malaysia.
The highlight is Nguyen’s three-bite take on pho: beef tendon simmered overnight, shaved wafer-thin, puffed, and draped with torched Stone Axe Wagyu. It’s as decadently morish as it sounds. $12. Order three.
Opened: July 2026
Address: 4 Ash St, Sydney NSW 2000
Opening Hours: Monday – Friday (Lunch & Dinner), Saturday – Sunday (Dinner only)
bentleyrestaurantgroup.com.au/ashe
Tera Bar, Surry Hills
Michelin-credentialled chef Takahiro Teramoto and his wife Wanaka have opened a dual-concept venue on Devonshire Street, with Tera Bar operating as a sake-led neighbourhood wine bar and Teramoto as an intimate chef’s table out the back.
The bar menu could easily pass as a well-considered a la carte for a full dining room, where you can keep things light with rye toasts swiped with chicken liver parfait or “mountain caviar” perched on cylinders of potato mochi, or indulge in braised wagyu cheeks, or even a 1kg wagyu sirloin still on the bone.
With two dry agers in-house, mains lean meaty with a multi-cut steak program featuring wagyu from Suzuki Farm near Bathurst, or a buttery koji-marinated spatchcock fricassee. Perfect for an after-work feed, this casual French-Japanese haunt should be top of the list.
Opened: May 2026
Address: 255 Devonshire St, Surry Hills NSW 2010
Opening Hours: Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday, Monday (5 PM – late), Sunday (12 PM – late)
Piqu, Newtown
Chef-owners Jihwan Choi (ex-Momofuku Seiobo, Callao) and Nicola D’Angela (ex-Osteria di Russo & Russo, Callao) bonded over a shared obsession with Thai food, and their 35-seat diner on King Street channels it into one of the most exciting menus in the inner west.
The name riffs on “piquant”, and the cooking lives up to it with electric raw tuna Thai larb (pictured), a green mango and watermelon salad crunchy with roasted rice, and a slightly charred omelette topped with mussels.
The unassuming fit-out is easy to walk past, but you’ll regret it if you do.
Opened: April 2026
Address: 194 King St, Newtown NSW 2042
Opening Hours: Monday – Friday (5 PM – 10 PM), Saturday 12 PM – 3 PM, 5 – 11 PM)
Grappa, The Rocks
The former Rockpool site at 107–109 George Street sat vacant from 2022 until Leichhardt institution Grappa took it over this year, bringing with it almost 30 years of Norton Street red-sauce credentials to the CBD for the first time.
Founder Charlie Colosi (who opened the original with his late father Antonio in 1999) and his wife Virginie have turned the 1860s sandstone bakehouse into a 300-seat stunner.
The classics that built the brand also travel into the CBD – spaghetti alle vongole, ruby-red tuna carpaccio, and house-made pasta and pizza – backed by a serious wine and grappa collection at fair prices.
Upstairs, the Art Deco-styled Charlie’s Bar is a strong option for a pre-dinner drink or a private function, with harbour glimpses thrown in.
Opened: April 2026
Address: 107–109 George St, The Rocks NSW 2000
Opening Hours: TBC
Infinity by Mark Best
After nearly a decade away from the restaurant kitchen, acclaimed Australian chef Mark Best has returned to one of Sydney’s most recognisable dining rooms, taking over the revolving restaurant atop Sydney Tower.
Reopened in August 2025 as Infinity by Mark Best, the 81st-floor venue showcases local Australian produce and contemporary Australian cooking against a panorama that slowly sweeps across the city and harbour. The playlist is also exclusively Australian artists; just don’t ask the chef to put it on in the kitchen.
Opened: August 2025
Address: Westfield Sydney, Level 4/108 Market St, Sydney NSW 2000
Opening Hours: Tuesday – Saturday (12 PM – 2 PM, 5 – 11 PM), Sunday (5 – 10 PM), Monday 5 – 11 PM)
Besa, Bondi Beach
ESCA Hospitality Group (the team behind Nour and Aalia) has brought Spain’s late-night tapas culture to Hall Street with Besa, a 65-seat basement bar with a hatted chef in the kitchen and DJs on weekends.
Start with the gilda de la día, beef tartare, and Spanish tortilla. Move on to the charred octopus and wagyu. Delicioso.
Weekend service takes things up a notch, too. Across Saturday and Sunday, diners can enjoy a Bottomless Lunch (90 minutes) with all the restaurant’s best-sellers and bottomless Spanish drinks.
Opened: March 2026
Address: LG.01, 75–79 Hall St, Bondi Beach NSW 2026
Phone: (02) 8353 9757
Opening Hours: Tuesday – Friday (5 PM – 11 PM); Saturday – Sunday (12 PM – 11 PM)
Flaminia, Circular Quay
After more than two decades of coastal Sardinian cooking at Pilu at Freshwater, Giovanni Pilu and Marilyn Annecchini have finally given Circular Quay a destination diner worth crossing the harbour for.
Named after the ship that carried Annecchini’s mother and grandmother to Australia in 1959, Flaminia sits inside the Pullman Quay Grand, with a glassy dining room that nods to its nautical setting.
Pilu’s lengthy menu moves between Italy’s port cities, from Venice down to Palermo, so expect all your favourites from last year’s Euro summer. Start at the bar with a spritz and some local yellowfin crudo before moving onto a Campania-style fried mozzarella sandwich and fat tubes of paccheri in a classic alla scoglio sauce. Opera House views come at no extra cost.
Opened: December 2025
Address: Pullman Quay Grand, 61 Macquarie St, Sydney NSW 2000
Phone: (02) 9256 4000
Opening Hours: Lunch Tuesday – Sunday; Dinner Monday – Saturday
Watermans, Barangaroo
The second Bentley Group venue on this list marks Savage and Hildebrandt’s return to Barangaroo, a year after they closed Cirrus following an incredibly popular eight-year run.
This time they’ve brought eastern Mediterranean cooking to the base of One Sydney Harbour through Darryl Martin (formerly of Marrickville’s much-missed Barzaari) and his wood-fired grill that flavours almost everything that leaves the pass.
The hummus already has a cult following, and the halva ice-cream sundae is non-negotiable. Polished Bentley service makes this one of the city’s best bets for a power lunch.
Opened: December 2025
Address: R1/88 Barangaroo Ave, Barangaroo NSW 2000
Phone: (02) 8080 9144
Opening Hours: (Tuesday – Saturday 12 PM – 9:30 PM, Sunday 12 PM – 3 PM)
bentleyrestaurantgroup.com.au/watermanssydney