Sydney’s Best New Restaurants of 2026 (So Far)

Midway through 2026, our restaurant scene is in flux. Quieter suburbs are shifting gears, larger hospitality players are pivoting non-stop, and some of our most-adored venues called final service. But there’s also been some welcome change, and we’re very happy to welcome the following 12 dining rooms to Sydney. Each makes a great case, in its own way, for a meal out – perhaps for a bowl of pasta from a carb-loving trio, waterside plates that’ve been kissed by the grill, or maybe saucy noodles

from a one-man kitchen in the inner west. Whatever you’re into, you’ll find a shiny new gem in this list. Let’s get into it. Kim’s Bop, Glebe I’m into everything about Kim’s Bop. The casual energy and the simple tastiness of the menu. The skinny space’s high-ceilinged charm, the laid-back theatre of the one-man kitchen, and the very fact that it’s an independent spot from a hospo couple (chef Byungjae Kim and Emily Tarran) who’ve been dreaming of this for years. But if I had

to pick the one thing I loved most, it would be the tangle of thick and chewy udong noodles, slick with a tangy sauce of blitzed kimchi and perilla seeds. Add a side of the braised tofu, kept fresh by a hat of grated radish, and a $3 serve of clarified seafood broth, and you’re laughing. – Grace MacKenzie, Sydney food & drink editor Watermans, Barangaroo Brent Savage and Nick Hildebrandt call themselves industry “lifetimers”. And the Bentley boys know better than anyone that life

isn’t straightforward. They’ve opened as many restaurants as they’ve closed in the last five years, with their eponymous fine diner about to enter hibernation after two decades. But the quality has never waned, and Watermans is the hard proof. How the pair can go seamlessly from a New York-style grill to the cuisines of the Middle East and eastern Mediterranean – with menu highlights like Turkish woodfired chook and one hell of a hummus – and still land the plane is beyond me. Then again,

I haven’t been around for nearly as long as they have. And still, with their Khan Nguyen-led Southeast Asian grill about to open, somehow it feels like the best is yet to come. – Dan Cunningham, features editor (food & drink) Tam Jiak, Glebe Remember January? It was hot, it was fun and we all lost our minds at the opening of the new fish markets. The hype was warranted. The whole reno had taken eight years and $836 million (very Grand Designs) but the

things we were most into were the new restaurants moving in. Junda Khoo’s Tam Jiak was one such restaurant. The 120-seater is the spot that reversed my position on surf’n’turf. Previously – jadedly – I was of the opinion that it was gimmicky and hard to do well. I was fine with my steak never crossing paths with a lobster. So when Khoo announced that every dish at Tam Jiak would contain elements from land and sea, I was nervous. I shouldn’t have been. The

chef’s prowess with Malaysian flavours means he never pushes the boat out too far. Instead of reef’n’beef, he’ll serve tom yum “bombs”, silky scallop cheong fun with a foie gras sauce and grilled squid stuffed with lamb. Not to mention his famous char kway teow, here served with Alaskan king crab. – Lucy Bell Bird, national assistant editor Piqu, Newtown The light-on fit-out at this King Street newcomer makes sense. If there was too much going on, the punch of the flavours could be overwhelming.

The electric kingfish larb with flashes of chilli heat, or the green mango and watermelon salad dressed in lime with the crunch of roasted rice. Or the simply excellent, slightly charred omelette topped generously with mussels sauced up in a fiery riff on pad kra pao. A Thai-ish thread runs through a menu that’s perfectly supported by carbs like buttermilk roti, a golden, crispy ferry for the flashy, piquant flavours the 35-seater’s named after. Giddy-up! – Grace MacKenzie, Sydney food & drink editor Sugo, Bexley

North We’ve been following the Self Raised story for a few years. In 2023, when Broadsheet first spoke to the trio slowly conquering South Sydney, their ethos was the same as it is now: to “give something back to the area we grew up in”. This year, Sal Sennan and siblings Amani and Hussein Rachid gave Bexley North one of the year’s hottest openings in Sugo, a diminutive pasta bar with conchiglie and cotoletta out the wazoo. They’ve nailed the recipe for a place that’s

casual, cool, retro and modern all at once. Call it their signature special sauce. “Come in your flip-flops,” Hussein told us, “we’re still gonna serve you.” – Dan Cunningham, features editor (food & drink) Lua, Glebe Luke Nguyen’s Instagram account might be my favourite on the whole platform. The chef and SBS icon goes on early morning runs through the streets of Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City, ploughing through banh xeo, bun bo hue and everything in between. He knows Vietnamese cuisine inside out,

and he’s having fun with it at Lua. The restaurant’s woodfired hearth evokes streetside grills, while the fish market location acts as a fancy facsimile of those in Southeast Asia. Then there’s the really fun stuff: beef tartare seasoned with the flavours of pho (cinnamon, star anise, cloves and black cardamom) served with a pho gel and puffed rice paper crackers. Let’s not forget the flambadou (“flam-be-doo”) clams. Fun to say, more fun to eat. – Dan Cunningham, features editor (food & drink) Flaminia, Circular

Quay Look, it’s safe to say Circular Quay isn’t a hotbed of destination diners. Which is strange, given its vista over our city’s icons and the option to arrive on our chicest public transport (the ferry, duh). But the harbourside tides are a-changing – thanks to Giovanni Pilu and Marilyn Annecchini moving in. They’re known for their Sardinian institution in Freshwater, and that same considered Italian hospitality is in play at Flaminia – with a casual edge. Chef Pilu’s lengthy menu travels between Italian port

cities, in a glassy-walled dining room that nods to its nautical home without overdoing it. A spritz with local yellowfin crudo dressed in top-notch olive oil at the raw bar? Si. A Campania-style fried mozzarella sandwich? Si. Fat tubes of paccheri slick with a classic alla scoglio sauce? Per favore, amore. – Grace MacKenzie, Sydney food & drink editor Tera Bar, Surry Hills This swish Japanese spot lives in the wine-bar-or-restaurant space. And while it is the accompaniment to the more-involved chef’s table experience, the

menu is definitively restaurant. Yes, there are bar-style plates – little rye toasts swiped with chicken liver parfait, “mountain caviar” riding cylinders of potato mochi – but you can (and should) go big. With two dry agers in-house, mains lean meaty: a multi-cut steak program or the buttery, saucy serve of koji-marinated spatchcock fricassee. Of course, you’re welcome to stick to the wine bar end of the menu, but Michelin-credentialled chef-owner Takahiro Teramoto will make a strong case for you to stay longer. – Grace

MacKenzie, Sydney food & drink editor Besa, Bondi There can be early signs you’re in for a good meal. One such sign is a Gilda as pretty as the one at Besa, the Aalia team’s beachy new Spanish spot. There’s a lime-green guindillos pepper first, followed by the tang of a little cornichon. Then, an anchovy wrapped tight, in a full 360, around a sliced green olive, before a cherry-red bico pepper full stop. Seeing that combo so carefully, so photogenically spiked on a silver

skewer lets you know the details matter here. That same approach does indeed continue at Besa, through a snacky meal of pan con tomate and skinny slices of toast topped with citrus-cured mackerel, in the exceptionally silky potato tortilla and a smoky serve of charred occy. The all-out fit-out – with its warm shaggy ceiling and arching booths – and the tres leches flan seal it with a kiss. – Grace MacKenzie, Sydney food & drink editor Dinner With Tinsae, Springwood Cook Tinsae Elsdon stands

at the head of a long dinner table, in a dedicated dining space in her Blue Mountains home. Behind her in the kitchen, plates are lined up like any professional operation, while pots bubble away on the enormous stove. There are 16 of us here, excited for a mix of fine dining-esque plating and large dishes to share. Elsdon’s house-made ayib cheese and a rich, slow-cooked doro wat; a bright timatim salata and the prettily plated rendition of shiro, a silky chickpea stew served between

discs of injera (a spongy, fermented flatbread that’s a staple in Ethiopia). News of the monthly dinner pop-up travelled largely by word of mouth: did you hear that some of the best Ethiopian food is being served in a Blue Mountains lounge room? – Pilar Mitchell, freelance contributor Bar Bruno, CBD Restaurants tend to assume a clear identity: the polished fine diner, the laid-back joint masquerading as a living room, and so on. Bar Bruno refuses to pick a box. There’s a sense of occasion

– waitstaff are quick to fold a napkin or refill a glass – but also an unhurried ease rare for new restaurants. It’s the sort of place that will bring you a shot of limoncello even if you’re the last table there. While it’s open all day, the menu shines brightest at night. A trio of pastas spans spaghettini spiralling out of a Balmain bug, osso bucco ragu, and a bright casarecce in pistachio, zucchini and mint. The pork cotoletta, with its golden parmesan crumb

and umami-rich black garlic aioli, is Bruno at its best. And don’t sleep on dessert. Afterwards, you have two options: roll home with your jeans unbuttoned, or down to sister venue Razz Room for a Dirty Daiquiri. – Lucy Bell Bird, national assistant editor Hamsi, Glebe As chef Somer Sivrioglu told us ahead of opening Hamsi, “When you have such a fresh fish off the boat, why would you want to play around with it?” That motto is why the dishes at the new Turkish

taverna are so special. The day’s catch arrives at a dock you can see just a few steps from the large al fresco dining area, on the new Sydney Fish Market’s wraparound terrace. Then it’s transported to the market indoors, before making its way to Sivrioglu’s kitchen. Sardines are skewered then charcoaled, served simply with lemon and a herby salad. King prawns are wrapped tight in threads of kataifi then fried. Scallops get a scoop of sujuk butter then hit the grill. Hamsi is a

hit, whether you go all in or dock for a drink and a dozen oysters as the sky turns pink over Blackwattle Bay. – Grace MacKenzie, Sydney food & drink editor

Sydney restaurants 2026, Kim’s Bop, Watermans, Tam Jiak, Piqu, Sugo, Lua, Flaminia, Tera Bar, Besa, Dinner With Tinsae, Bar Bruno, Hamsi