For a moment there, things were looking grim for NSW dining.
asserted
things → look → dining
The closure of two three-hatted restaurants – Quay and Oncore by Clare Smyth – in February was followed by two-hatted Bentley calling it a day in the CBD, and much-loved Ursula’s pulling up stumps in Paddington.
asserted
Ursula → follow → Paddington
There were a couple of excellent openings at the end of 2025, but it was looking unlikely we would have 10 cracking spots to nominate as the Good Food Guide’s New Restaurant of the Year.
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we → be → Year
A volley of new bars, cafes and restaurants opened in June, some led by veteran operators pouring decades of experience into passion projects, others – such as Lo Presti’s in Redfern – led by young guns making sure NSW will be the best Australian state for eating and drinking for generations to come.
asserted
be → open → generations
Melbourne might have more three-hatted restaurants at the time of writing, but Sydney has South End’s chocolate tart and dim sum platters by the water.
uncertain
Sydney → have → water
The winner of New Restaurant of the Year, presented by Aurum Poultry Co., will be announced at The Sydney Morning Herald Good Food Guide Awards on Monday, October 26.
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winner → present → Monday
The St Peters end of King Street has long been a destination for pubs and takeaway, but surely there’s also a market for hyper-seasonal European dishes executed with beautiful technique?
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end → ’ → technique
Yes, says the team at South End.
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team → say → End
Hussein Sarhan and Alex Tong lead the kitchen, while hospitality gun Paul Guiney works the floor, taking guests through his small-producer-led wine list.
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Guiney → lead → list
Tablecloths are ironed and flatware is gold rimmed, but good-humoured staff keep the vibe easy-going, and there’s usually a few stools free for walk-in guests.
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staff → iron → guests
Salads are a highlight, such as tomatoes from Living Earth Farm in Young, purple basil, and white peaches of exact ripeness, and fish and meat courses are cooked with precision (cross your fingers for an appearance of the pasture-raised lamb rump, marinated in rosemary and thyme, and roasted to deep, consistent pink).
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courses → cook → pink
What’s the upper limit for salt and acid and fat and fire?
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limit → ’ → salt
Eat at Ashe and there’s an ever-present threat it’ll crash through the ceiling, but more likely is that you’ll leave with your head spinning from some of the city’s most inspired cooking.
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head → eat → cooking
Melbournians may recognise threads from Nguyen’s previous restaurants, Sunda and Aru, but Ashe – backed by Brent Savage and Nick Hildebrandt – is the chef advancing the plot.
uncertain
Ashe → recognise → plot
Once you make it through Dubudang’s queue, you may never reach for mass-produced tofu again.
uncertain
you → make → tofu
Founded by Hyunjoon “Leo” Joo, who grew up in his parents’ tofu shop in Busan, Dubudang’s specialty is freshly pressed, hand-crafted bean curd.
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specialty → found → Busan
It’s revelatory on its own, but the real highlights are in how co-owner Jiwon “Ellie” Kim (Joo’s wife) transforms the finished slabs, into jumbo tofu slices pan-fried in understated perilla oil, say, or ultra-crisp sweet and sour tofu.
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Kim → ’ → oil
The curd is the word, but pork headlines many dishes, including the platter of slow-cooked pork jowl, the slices fanned out with plain tofu, and plated with tangy grilled spring onions, raw garlic, green chilli and radish kimchi.
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slices → headline → onions
Shop 27/74 Rawson Street, Epping, instagram.com/dubudang_sydney/
Flaminia, Circular Quay
Giovanni Pilu and Marilyn Annecchini walk into the Pullman Quay Grand hotel with a brief.
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Pilu → walk → brief
What if, they said, we looked at the harbour, then took the ebb and flow of Italy’s port cities as inspiration?
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we → say → inspiration
For some, it might be a straitjacket, but for the Sardinian chef at Flaminia, it’s liberating.
uncertain
it → ’ → Flaminia
What’s more, it’s more everyday than the flagship.
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it → ’ → flagship
61 Macquarie Street, Sydney, flaminia.com.au
Stanley, Manly
After several years cooking in Los Angeles and Queensland, former Good Food Guide young chef of the year Louis Tikaram has returned to Sydney to open this 210-seat Manly Wharf version of the Cantonese restaurant he runs in Brisbane.
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he → cook → Brisbane
The look is grand Hong Kong, mixing plush late-’70s styling and chinoiserie with beachy approachability.
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look → mix → approachability
Sit outside on the deck and watch the ferries come in while splitting a dim sum platter over cold beer; book a table indoors for the sounds of people keen for a good time, and the aroma of toasted cumin wafting off lamb ribs.
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ferries → sit → ribs
E Esplanade, Manly, stanleyrestaurant.com.au/manly-wharf
Sara Dining, Berry
The bees have stopped swarming, says Alex Prichard, as he leads you around the garden at Sara Dining.
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he → stop → Dining
The chef probably anticipated a few problems when he quit Bondi for Berry and started planting out Moraea Farm with marigolds, nasturtiums, puntarelle and fennel, but bees weren’t one of them.
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bees → anticipate → them
Still, since moving from leading the kitchen at Iceberg’s, Prichard has become an expert at putting out fires.
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Prichard → move → fires
One fire he’s stoking, though, is the wood oven.
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he → stoke → ?
It’s here that Shoalhaven sand whiting is crisped in Cafe de Paris butter; that a duck-fat potato galette flavoured with elephant garlic is given a final flash; that potato ciabatta rises and sets.
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ciabatta → ’ → flash
The Goodies Hospitality group has made a habit of opening restaurants that are all too easy to play on repeat, from Bar Copains to Bessie’s to Vin-Cenzo’s.
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that → make → Cenzo
La Buvette has that same knack.
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Buvette → have → knack
35 Challis Avenue, Potts Point, labuvettesydney.com.au
Lo Presti’s, Redfern
In partnership with front-of-house gun Rachael Trewin, former Baba’s Place head chef Michael Lo Presti was influenced by the warm community-focused vibes he experienced growing up in his family’s Darlinghurst espresso bar to open his first restaurant, except the food here goes well beyond red sauce and lasagne.
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food → influence → sauce
Roasted capsicum is dehydrated (just slightly, to fortify the flavour) and dressed with a reviving Pedro Ximenez vinegar; vine leaf-wrapped mulloway on roast fennel and onion tastes like a weekend in Hydra; grilled pork chop is liberally covered in white wine, coriander and pipis.
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chop → roast → wine
A side of toasted rice with garlic and spinach soaks up all the delicious juices left on plates, and then it’s time for bay-leaf creme caramel.
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it → toast → caramel
What happens when someone whose family has run Vietnamese restaurants for decades combines their talents with someone who’s had a hand in some of the city’s seminal openings, including ACME?
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who → happen → ACME
A snack-led, drink-led cafe and bar where the broth in your bowl has as much depth and complexity as what’s in your glass.
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what → lead → glass
That drink might be Single O coffee sweetened with condensed milk underneath a salted-cream float.
uncertain
drink → sweeten → float
The paint-thick laksa rules lunch.
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laksa → rule → lunch
A ceramic cup of clarified chicken broth sets the tone for a highly comforting three hours in the hands of invested staff at the Ducks’ Burradoo Park restaurant inside a beautifully restored Southern Highlands farmhouse.
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cup → clarify → farmhouse
…and 4 more, not listed.
The Aporia
