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The Best New Restaurants in Sydney 2026
A new year brings a fresh wave of restaurants raising the bar across Sydney’s dining scene. From polished dining rooms to laidback locals, these openings are already earning a place on our must-visit list for 2026.
If 2026 is proving anything, it’s that Sydney’s dining scene isn’t done surprising us. Some of the best new restaurants in Sydney right now include Spezia, an open-air Italian piazza at The Lands by Capella in the CBD; Stanley, Louis Tikaram’s waterfront Cantonese at Manly Wharf; and NOA, Nelly Robinson’s oceanfront restaurant in Cronulla.
Every month there’s a new opening and even more reasons to book that table, order that dessert and stay out a little longer. Whether you’re chasing a new date-night favourite or your next group-dining go-to, this edit of Sydney’s best new restaurants for 2026 is the place to kick things off.
In This Guide:
Best New Restaurants: October
Amé
Japan and Peru have met on Oxford Street. Amé is the newest venture from ESCA Hospitality Group, putting Japanese-Peruvian cuisine in the spotlight. Executive chef Erik Ortolani, (who currently leads the kitchens at Itō and Jōji), is bringing his Japanese cooking background together with the bold flavours and traditions of Peru’s Nikkei cuisine. Set inside a gorgeous 1927 heritage building, the interiors are vibrant, modern and moody. As for the menu, expect punchy flavours, interesting textures and some of the most flavoursome seafood we’ve had in Sydney. The drinks program is also not to be underestimated, having been carefully designed and curated by Jerom Morris, expect cocktails with a kick and unique wines that seamlessly compliment the menu.
Sitchu Tip: Step out of your comfort zone and order from the Nikkei Nigiri list. The yellowfin tuna melts in your mouth, and combined with the Peruvian spices it’s prepared with, it was a definite standout on the menu. We haven’t been able to stop thinking about it since…
Darlinghurst
Best New Restaurants: September
NOA
Chef Nelly Robinson, the creative force behind Surry Hills’ NEL, has brought his signature sense of theatre to the coast with NOA; a new oceanfront restaurant overlooking Cronulla Beach. While the experience is more flexible than a traditional degustation, there’s still plenty of Robinson’s trademark theatrics, from Champagne and caviar trolleys and tableside finishes to liquid nitrogen fairy bread. The menu spans premium rib-eye, whole fish and Robinson’s signature Banoffee Trifle, while next door, Little NOA offers burgers, snacks and cocktails just steps from the sand. This is a little slice of deliciousness that’ll really bring something special to the Shire!
Cronulla
Spezia
Florence Guild, (the team behind hatted Melbourne restaurant Freyja), has just opened its first Sydney venue at The Lands by Capella. Spezia brings a lively open-air piazza to life within the heritage sandstone courtyards, offering 130 seats spread across two greenery-filled courtyards and a Tangier red bar at its centre.
Three Michelin-star chef Jae Bang leads the kitchen, with a menu built on Italian technique and a thread of Silk Road spice running through it. Standouts include the ravioli del plin, pecorino-filled pasta sitting in an egg yolk and dukkah oil emulsion with beef jus and asparagus, and a spaghetti chitarra loaded with blue swimmer crab bisque, anise, fresh chili and prawn tartare. The wine list runs deep too, with more than 500 bottles and 36 available by the glass. Spezia is open for lunch and dinner Tuesday to Saturday for now, with breakfast service planned down the track.
Sydney CBD
Stanley
Award-winning chef Louis Tikaram has opened the doors to Stanley, his new 248-seat Cantonese restaurant at Manly Wharf and it looks very good. Inspired by Hong Kong’s seaside Stanley Bay and Tikaram’s own childhood on the NSW North Coast, the waterfront spot pairs Cantonese cooking with some seriously good Australian produce, from Moreton Bay bugs and Southern Rock lobster to live coral trout and mud crab selected from the restaurant’s three seafood tanks. There’s also a custom-built duck oven dedicated to Peking duck, served either with pancakes or carved tableside ‘imperial style’ before the leftovers return as san choy bao. We’d round things out with baskets of dim sum, a Tom Yum Margarita from the bar and a table facing the harbour!
Sitchu Tip: The scallops are a must-try. Not only are they beautifully presented on the plate, but the Abrolhos Island scallops are so incredibly fresh and come served with yuzu and nasturtium. The flavours all work so well together and it’s the perfect way to kick things off.
Best New Restaurants: August
Zanobia
Zanobia is bringing its much-loved Middle Eastern feast to Barangaroo, opening a new restaurant and bar on the waterfront. From hot and cold mezze to charcoal-grilled meats (including Halal certified beef, chicken and lamb) marinated in the family’s house spice blend, the menu is built for sharing, with dishes spanning Jordanian lamb mansaf, chicken fesenjan and baked halloumi. On the drinks side, there’s Lebanon’s national spirit arak, plus cocktails inspired by flavours from the region from classic through to contemporary. After making its name in Leichhardt and North Strathfield, this is the family-owned restaurant’s next big chapter and it’s a very exciting one!
Opening August 28th
Barangaroo
Riva
SRG Hospitality’s latest opening might just be its most romantic yet. Sitting above Ripples Rose Bay, Riva is channelling the golden age of the Italian Riviera, with washed blues, terracotta, brushed nickel and boat-like stitched banquettes that’ll have you feeling like you’ve wandered onto a very glamorous Riva yacht.
Tuscan chef Manuel Bellanti, who spent nearly two decades cooking in some of Europe’s best kitchens, is behind the pasta, and the menu is giving us plenty to get excited about. Think ravioli del plin swimming in mortadella and prosciutto broth, lobster spaghetti with basil and chilli, and squid-ink risotto topped with ama ebi prawns. The cocktails keep the Riviera fantasy going, from aperitivo hour through to dolce, with a Ligurian martini finished with house-distilled hydrosol for those who like something a little different.
This feels like our own little slice of Portofino right in Rose Bay!
Lucky You Darling
Lucky Venues, the team behind Baja Cantina and Angelica, has landed its first Chinese concept in Darlinghurs called Lucky You Darling. The wine list alone makes it worth the trip, with more than half the producers being female winemakers, and a rare collection of Chinese wines from regions like Ningxia and Hebei, alongside Australian and international labels. Chef Fendi, whose decade at Lotus Dining shaped the menu, brings a Chinese-Indonesian lens to nostalgic favourites. There’s Prawn Toast with wild-caught banana prawns, Wagyu San Choi Bao with four-type dry chilli seasoning, XO Scallops, and Crispy Duck Breast Pancakes. Don’t leave without trying the deep-fried Lucky Gaytime either, we know you’ve got room for it! Every meal wraps with a fortune cookie on the way out, which is a little detail we love and feels exactly like those neighbourhood Chinese restaurants you dined in growing up.
Darlinghurst
Best New Restaurants: Coming Soon
Chotto Matte
Bondi is getting a new 250-seat restaurant this November, and it’s a big one. Global Japanese-Peruvian restaurant Chotto Matte is opening its first Australian outpost on November 22, bringing its signature Nikkei dishes, sushi, sashimi and ceviche to the beach. Adding to the overall vibe is a two-metre robata grill, plenty of flowing cocktails and DJs who will set the tone throughout. There’ll also be three Bondi-only dishes making the menu which we already know will be goodies. We’re excited for this one!
Bondi
Bobby Chan’s
The Sydney CBD is getting a little less corporate next month, as Bobby Chan’s plans to bring major beach-club energy to Martin Place. The new 120-seat restaurant is designed to feel more like a tropical escape than a city dining room, with bamboo, rattan, timber and coastal textures setting the scene in a very fun way. The food is set to take a playful journey through Southeast Asia, spanning Malaysia, Vietnam, Thailand and Singapore, with share-style dishes including prawn dumplings, sesame prawn toast bao, Babi Guling-inspired pork and king crab fried rice. Add in cocktails like the Ube Colada and Szechuan Margarita, and suddenly leaving the office on a Friday feels fairly urgent!
Martin Place
Baptiste
Redfern is getting a new all-day French hangout, and it’s one you could theoretically spend the entire day in. Opening at 7am and running until late, Baptiste is a new 80-seat bistro that will move effortlessly from morning coffee to afternoon oysters and late-night drinks with steak frites. Sounds dreamy, right? There’s also going to be plenty of wine by the glass and two (yes, two) daily happy hours thrown in for good measure. Guests can expect all the French classics like rotisserie chicken and plenty of thin fries, and there’s even going to be a dedicated oyster station. Brought to us by the same team behind The Apollo, Olympus and Cho Cho San, you just know it’s going to be all kinds of good.
Slated to open in November
Redfern
Tenjo
The team behind The Apollo, Cho Cho San and Olympus are opening a new rooftop izakaya at The EVE Hotel this November. Tenjo will seat 100 beneath a retractable glass roof, with Head Chef Fredy Lim serving sushi, sashimi, yakitori, tempura and donabe claypot rice alongside Japanese-inspired cocktails, sake and wine. Designed by George Livissianis, the leafy rooftop will shift from sunlit lunches and afternoon drinks to long dinners under the stars. Slated to open just in time for summer, we have no doubt this will become a fast favourite in the Sydney dining scene.
Redfern
Vito’s
Big Apple energy is heading to the CBD with the arrival of Vito’s inside the heritage-listed Burns Philp Building. The sprawling venue channels old-school Italian-American dining with 80 metres of banquette seating, custom chandeliers, high ceilings and a mezzanine overlooking the dining floor.
From the team behind Morrison’s and Whalebridge and the former Carbone Hong Kong chef Michael Fox at the helm, it’s promising to deliver elevated classics and a buzzy, all-day-to-late atmosphere that we can definitely get behind. A few standouts include the prawn and scallop agnolotti and the Black Onyx porterhouse steaks cooked to perfection over a custom grill. This is sure to become a Sydney mainstay in no time… so watch this space!
Sydney CBD
Opening October 2026
Chin Chin, Manly
Manly, your dinner plans are about to get a whole lot more exciting. Chin Chin is heading north, with Chris Lucas bringing the much-loved restaurant to Raglan Street in mid-2027. The 100-seat spot will have the open kitchen, buzzing bar and big, bold Thai-inspired flavours that fans already know, from kingfish sashimi and crispy barramundi to that legendary Massaman curry. There’ll be some new dishes in the mix too, (created especially for Manly), so expect this one to become a pretty hot ticket once the doors finally open. We can’t wait!
Manly
Frequently Asked Questions about the Best New Restaurants in Sydney
The best new restaurants in Sydney right now include Spezia at The Lands by Capella in the CBD, where three Michelin-star chef Jae Bang pairs Italian technique with Silk Road spice. On the water, Louis Tikaram’s Stanley brings Cantonese cooking and live seafood tanks to Manly Wharf, while Nelly Robinson’s NOA overlooks Cronulla Beach. Riva in Rose Bay channels the Italian Riviera, Zanobia has brought its Middle Eastern feast to Barangaroo, and Lucky You Darling in Darlinghurst serves Chinese-Indonesian favourites alongside a wine list led by female winemakers.
Several big openings are landing in Sydney in November 2026. Global Japanese-Peruvian restaurant Chotto Matte opens its first Australian outpost in Bondi on 22 November, with 250 seats, a two-metre robata grill and DJs. In Redfern, the team behind The Apollo, Cho Cho San and Olympus has two venues on the way: Baptiste, an 80-seat all-day French bistro with a dedicated oyster station, and Tenjo, a 100-seat rooftop izakaya under a retractable glass roof at The EVE Hotel. Bobby Chan’s is also set to bring Southeast Asian share plates to Martin Place.
Sydney’s newest waterfront restaurants span the harbour, the beaches and the south. Stanley, Louis Tikaram’s 248-seat Cantonese restaurant at Manly Wharf, pairs harbour views with Peking duck from a custom-built oven and seafood from three live tanks. In Rose Bay, Ripples Rose Bay offers relaxed all-day seafood dining at the marina, while Riva sits upstairs with a Riviera-inspired room and pasta from Tuscan chef Manuel Bellanti. Down south, NOA brings Nelly Robinson’s theatrical cooking to Cronulla Beach, and Zanobia’s new Barangaroo restaurant serves Middle Eastern mezze and charcoal-grilled meats on the water.
Spezia at The Lands by Capella in the CBD leads Sydney’s new Italian openings. Three Michelin-star chef Jae Bang threads Silk Road spice through dishes like ravioli del plin and spaghetti chitarra with prawn tartare, backed by a wine list of more than 500 bottles. In Rose Bay, Riva channels the Italian Riviera with lobster spaghetti and squid-ink risotto. Orazio D’Elia’s Trattoria Da Orazio in Rushcutters Bay focuses on regional trattoria cooking over a charcoal grill, with a daily aperitivo hour. Vito’s, an Italian-American venue in the CBD’s Burns Philp Building, is also on the way.
Chotto Matte opens in Bondi on 22 November 2026, marking the global Japanese-Peruvian restaurant’s first Australian outpost. The 250-seat venue will serve its signature Nikkei dishes alongside sushi, sashimi and ceviche, with a two-metre robata grill. Three dishes will be exclusive to the Bondi menu, and the drinks focus is on cocktails, with DJs setting the tone throughout service. For Sydney diners already curious about Nikkei cooking, Amé on Oxford Street in Darlinghurst is another new Japanese-Peruvian opening from ESCA Hospitality Group.
