28 Best Restaurants in Inner City and the Eastern Suburbs, Sydney

Named after celebrity chef and cookbook author Bill Granger, this sunny corner café is so addictive it should come with a health warning. It's a favorite hangout of everyone from local nurses to semi-disguised rock stars, and you never know who you might be sitting next to at the newspaper-strewn communal table. If you're not interested in the creaminess of what must be Sydney's best scrambled eggs, try the ricotta hotcakes with fresh banana and honeycomb butter or the corn fritters. The coconut-poached chicken sandwich with cucumber and lime mayonnaise makes an ideal lunch. Dinner selections at the Surry Hills location (359 Crown Street) are similarly gourmet comfort food.

There's a reason why there's always a queue snaking down the street. This is undoubtedly the best gelato in Sydney, with unique flavors that change all the time. There's now many Gelato Messina parlors across Sydney but this is the original. DIY sundaes available. No seating so grab and walk down the tree-lined Victoria Street.

The fashionable and famous (including celebrities like Mick Jagger and Paris Hilton) just adore perching like seagulls over the swimming pool at the south end of Australia's most famous beach. It is one of the must-visit restaurants in Sydney, for both the sensational view and the exquisite food. Take a seat on a low-back suede chair, check your reflection in the frosted glass, and prepare to indulge in sophisticated Mediterranean creations like buffalo mozzarella air-freighted from Campania, wood-fried artichoke hearts, aged Sicilian salted anchovies, and ligurina olives served with bruschetta and an array of fresh seafood pasta dishes. The focus here is on sustainable fish so the menu is ever rotating in its offerings. Those who just want to drink in the view, and a cocktail or two, can enjoy delicious morsels—such as oysters and mini-ciabattas—in the bar.

The creation of three Italian brothers, this trendy Paddington eatery is a winner at both breakfast or at lunch. The menu has truly unique creations, like the breakfast burger with poached eggs, truffled mushrooms, and crushed peas. There's substantial mains for lunch like lasagne or risotto, including light salads. But for a takeaway option, go for the Italian baked treats, which are baked on-site daily and a coffee.

Bondi is known for being the health epicenter of Sydney and, unsurprisingly, the cafés are all about packing as much healthy food into a dish as possible. Breakfast bowls packed with eggs, vegetables, toasted seeds, and gluten-free toast is a popular option here. There's also fresh juices, smoothies and kombucha, which most grab-to-go and take to the nearby grass bank opposite the beach.

This bistro in the Woollahra Hotel spills over with happy-go-lucky patrons—mostly locals from around the leafy suburb of Woollahra—who have been coming back for more than 20 years now. The best dishes are inspired takes on Parisian fare, like the grilled Sirloin Café de Paris, French onion soufflé gratin, and port sausages with potato puree and Lyonnaise onions, although the signature dish you must try is the much-loved, twice-cooked soufflé. The casual café and bar, Moncur Terrace, serves mains such as wagyu beef burgers and gourmet pizzas.

Incredibly chic, this is where the hippest of the city come for early dinner during the week or a late-night nibble with cocktails on the weekend. The feel is Parisian bistro, with a lively atmosphere and traditional French cuisine like steak frites.

One of eight or nine eateries in the buzzy café strip opposite Bronte Beach, this is a great place to refuel after the Bondi-to-Bronte cliff-top walk. All share the same postcard-perfect view, but Belo is worth seeking out for its consistently good coffee and spicy sticky chai. It has a little more elbow space between tables than some of its neighbors. The menu has all the standard breakfast and brunch selections, many with a slight Brazilian twist, like the poached eggs served with a spicy tomato ragù.

You have to seek out this Bondi Beach restaurant, as it's situated several hundred feet back from the beach. You'll quickly find out, however, why locals love this place: organic, seasonal, handcrafted food. This daytime café and evening bistro is small, hip, and always buzzing. Weekend breakfasts, brunches, and lunches are popular, especially if you like Moroccan eggs (slow-cooked with English spinach, chorizo, spiced peppers, and tomatoes) and sweet treats such as mouthwatering buttermilk pancakes. It's a popular place for dinner, too, so book ahead. Main course favorites include fish pie with leek and truffle oil, while the hazelnut chocolate fondant with honey malt ice cream has to be experienced.

Walking into this happy, bubbly place is like turning up at a private party in the backstreets of Naples. Host, chef, and surrogate uncle Armando Percuoco invests classic Neapolitan and Tuscan techniques with inventive personal touches to produce such dishes as the thinly sliced kingfish with gin and orange and truffled egg pasta. Everything comes with Italian-style touches that you can see, feel, smell, and taste. Leaving the restaurant feels like leaving home, especially if you've partaken of the wonderful six-course degustation menu.

This harbor-front restaurant occupies the site of the old "airport" (back in the days when the fastest way to get to England was by flying boat), and has ringside views of the harbor and Shark Island. Patrons can watch modern seaplanes take off and land just meters away while dining on fine seafood. Perched on piers over the water, with a distinctive white profile, Catalina has been one of Sydney's standout fine-dining establishments since it opened in 1994. A unique concept for Sydney, the restaurant kitchen is open from midday to midnight (except on Sunday), allowing diners to turn up at any time; patrons can also pop in for a drink and graze on a casual bar menu. Seafood lovers relish the oysters, sushi, and sashimi created by the sushi master chef, while the signature dish of oven roasted junee lamb rack with pickled cauliflower is sensational. The views from the floor-to-ceiling windows, the open deck, and the cozy fire in winter make this a restaurant for all seasons.

For a long time, those wanting to experience Chin Chin had to head to Melbourne. But in 2016, a sister restaurant finally opened its doors in Surry Hills, and it has since elbowed its way to epicurean cult status among foodies. The South-East Asian fare here is truly standout and so are the funky interiors, resulting in weekend tables being booked-out a month in advance. Most weekends, the team roll through 600 customers per day. There are several "must" dishes on the 50-plus menu, including the Massaman brisket and the chili salt chicken wings. There’s also an on-site cocktail bar open until late, serving weird and wonderful concoctions.

Few central Sydney restaurants have access to their own homegrown produce, but here in trendy and leafy Woollahra—just a few kilometers east of the city—is an all-white and refreshingly bright restaurant surrounded by formal gardens and a large kitchen garden. Chiswick is all about stylish casual dining using the freshest of produce and a wonderful place to linger over a long lunch on a sunny day. There are small plates for sharing, such as the grilled octopus; large plates for sharing with a group of four (try the lamb from celebrity chef Matt Moran's own farm); and main courses such as the spanner crab casarecci.

This buzzy little café serves some of the best breakfasts in Surry Hills, which is really saying something as there is plenty of stiff competition in this part of town. Come here for the house-made muesli and organic yogurt or fuel up with the 485—egg, hummus, feta, pilpelchuma chili paste, Israeli pickles, and red cabbage salad on a bagel or pretzel—and wash it down with some ginger turmeric kombucha. Or if you like to start your day with a sugar hit try the French toast stuffed with banana, dulce de leche, and mascrapone. They also do great sandwiches and a wicked double espresso coffee frappé.

At this cute, popular little pub in Paddington, chef Colin Fassnidge (an Irishman who emerged as the most controversial guest judge on Australian TV cooking show My Kitchen Rules ) has been wowing patrons for years with his shared dish for two of slow-braised lamb shoulder with kipfler potatoes, baby carrots, and salsa verde. His whole suckling pig is also a popular Sunday long-lunch treat. Starters and mains change monthly, and the restaurant's popularity has seen it open for lunch and dinner six days a week.

Once a bit of a run-down pub known as Hotel William, in 2018 it reopened with a new name after a A$5 million refurbishment, and it's since became one of the classiest restaurants in Sydney. There are four levels in total: the ground offers traditional Australian pub fare, the second is a private dining area that can seat up to 250 people, and then there's a swanky cocktail bar but the real jewel here is the rooftop bar and restaurant offering trendy cocktails and a modern Japanese menu of sushi, sashimi, and sizzling plates.

A lot of care goes into the creations in this popular Southeast Asian spot: the pork hock is braised for four hours each night before being pressed and then tossed with homemade chili jam, while coconut milk is smoked overnight and then churned into ice cream in the morning. As delicious and affordable as the sandwiches and dumplings are, be sure to save space for this true star of the show, which is served enveloped in smoke under a glass dome and topped with tender young coconut shavings and a simple pinch of salt.

Celeb-chef Matt Moran’s much-celebrated beachfront fish-and-chips offering is so much more than just standard fish-and-chips. The ocean views enhance a small and select seafood menu that includes fresh Sydney rock oysters, charcoal-grilled snapper, prawns, salmon, and whole fish of the day. The fancy fish fingers, fish burgers, and classic beer-battered fillets are musts.

Few restaurants have the magnetic pull of Otto, a place where radio shock jocks sit side by side with fashion-magazine editors and confirmed foodies. Yes, it's a scene, but fortunately one with good Italian food prepared by chef Richard Ptacnik. The homemade pastas are menu standouts; try the strozzapreti pasta with prawns or the saffron fettucine with rabbit ragout. The pepper-crusted swordfish with romesco sauce is also delicious. The selection of Italian wines is expensive but rarely matched this far from Milan.

You'll probably have to wait to get one of the tiny tables in this rustic hole-in-the-wall café and wine bar on the northern end of Bondi Beach, but it's worth waiting for as it's one of the best (and healthiest) breakfasts in Bondi. Once you've got a seat and a cup of the fabulous coffee, the service is fast and efficient. Breakfasts range from porridge with flaxseed, amaranth, and quinoa to bowls of kale, spinach, coriander, mint, and avocado, with a couple of eggs thrown in for good measure. After sundown, the café morphs into a hip little wine bar on weekends.

This South American--inspired restaurant offers a wide range of flame-grilled and charcoal-roasted meats that come with a variety of fresh sides, like chargrilled vegetables or light salads. But it's the wine list that is the star of the show here, with over 300 wines from South America, Italy, and Australia to choose from.

Owned by Vietnamese TV chef Luke Nguyen, this restaurant is popular with his legions of TV fans. Diners should always start with the country's great export, rice paper rolls. Here you can have them filled with roast duck, enoki mushrooms, and herbs; or prawns and pork. Another tasty dish is ga chien don—crispy skinned chicken slowly poached in master stock with ginger, shallot, and oyster sauce. An unusual but yummy dessert is the black sesame seed dumplings with black sesame seed ice cream. For the full range of flavors, there's a tasting menu of nine dishes.

It might look like nothing more than a hole-in-the-wall but this modest café has been hailed by locals as serving the best coffee in the Potts Point and Kings Cross area. And the seating outside is always packed every morning of the week. To find it, you'll need to head down Llankelly Place, a back lane that runs behind Potts Point, that offers many unique cafés and restaurants. Easy grab'n'go eats and specialized coffee, with single origin option rotated weekly. More than a tiny opening crammed with tables that flow out onto Llankelly Place, this cozy café serves some of the best coffee in the Kings Cross area.

North Bondi Beach wouldn't be the same without Sean's Panaroma ("Sean's" to locals), perched on a slight rise a stone's throw from the famous beach. It's been there since the mid-1990s and owner Sean Moran loads his menu with fresh produce grown on his farm in the Blue Mountains, aptly named "Farm Panaroma." Dishes change regularly and are only featured on a blackboard: they may include baked blue-eye fish with roasted cauliflower, or a ravioli of zucchini, mozzarella, and lemons. The many fans in Sydney means it can be difficult to secure a table, and some the say the service is hit-and-miss (if not a bit arrogant), so be warned.

In 2019, this café opened Sydney's first self-serve batch-brew bar, with craft beer--style taps where you can drink as much single-origin coffee as your heart desires or can handle. But this is more than just an übertrendy spot for coffee: the menu is filled with quirky dishes, with many vegan offerings. The eggplant katsu roll is very popular.

Fast but fancy fare, that's what this Darlinghurst café has become known for since opening in 2020. The cheese toastie comes topped with black truffle, there are poached lobster rolls and caviar sandwiches. The service is slick, the interiors trendy and the coffee rich, but it comes at a price. This is one of the more expensive breakfast or lunch spots in Sydney, with breakfast costing around $30 a main.

Found a little farther up Bondi Road, away from the beach, this restaurant has been a bit of an unexpected hit since opening in 2018. Unexpected because it's housed above a run-down pub called The Royal. But once you're up the stairs, it's an incredibly classy restaurant serving Italian-inspired wood-fired mains. The chef Khan Danis has worked at some of the best restaurants in Sydney and is hailed as the king of wood fire in the city. Each dish is impressive, with pizza-size flatbreads arriving with house-made charcuterie, pickled fish, stracciatella and seasonal fruit. There's also alfresco dining available, and there's lunch and dinner served every day.