The Best New Restaurants in Sydney 2026

If 2025 proved anything, it’s that Sydney’s dining scene isn’t done surprising us. 2026 is already shaping up to be just as exciting, with every month seemingly bringing a new opening and giving us even more reasons to book that table, order that dessert and stay out a little longer.

From intimate neighbourhood spots to big, splashy arrivals worth planning a night around, these are the restaurants setting the tone for the year ahead. 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.

Best New Restaurants: August

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: July

Ashe

If there’s one new CBD booking to make this season, it’s Ashe. Helmed by chef Khanh Nguyen, this contemporary Southeast Asian grill blends the bold flavours of Vietnam, Thailand and Malaysia with native Australian ingredients, all brought to life over a clay oven and wood-fire grill.

The menu leans into bold, punchy flavours, from a bánh mì-inspired pâté en croûte and charcoal-grilled king prawns swimming in fragrant red curry to a caramelised lamb Barnsley chop that’s destined to become a signature. With the action centred around the open kitchen and plenty of plates worth passing around the table, we’d recommend rounding up a few friends for your visit.

Sydney CBD

Tom Yum From Hell

Tom Yum From Hell has been one of Sydney’s most talked-about cult food spots since it first popped up in a hidden CBD laneway, and has now expanded to Barangaroo. The concept is gloriously simple: one dish, done obsessively well. A rich, fiery tom yum noodle soup served with springy freshly made ramen-style noodles and your choice of topping ( from crispy pork belly to wagyu beef or seafood) across three spice levels (1, 3 and 7, for the brave). Portions are generous, the broth is seriously good and the walk-in only laneway vibes of the original have built a loyal following that clearly warranted more space. Barangaroo, you’re in luck.

Sydney CBD

Aenza

Joy Liu, the woman behind Amuro’s cult saké counter experience, has opened her second Darlinghurst venue, and it’s as good as you’d expect from someone with her credentials. Aenza has landed on Oxford Street, taking the same connection-driven format of Amuro and scaling it up into something bigger, with a longer bar, heftier wine list and a central open kitchen where guests can watch and chat to the chefs mid-service. The kitchen turns out Japanese food read through an Australian lens, umeshu tomato with miso cream cheese and white anchovy, twice-cooked sweet and sour lamb ribs, MB9+ Kiwama wagyu with daikon and wasabi. Dishes are designed to be shared across the 9-metre American walnut bar or one of the tables scattered through the heritage-listed room, where rendered walls, ornate ceilings and textured granite give the space a really authentic and intimate feel. On the drinks side, Paul Beaton (ex Tetsuya’s) has built a list of 120 bottles leaning heavily into Japan, France and Australia, plus Japanese whisky, shochu and a sake selection that rotates weekly.

Darlinghurst

Arthur

Arthur is back on Bourke Street, and it’s basically a brand new restaurant. The Surry Hills favourite has reopened with a rebuilt room, new team, and a menu that’s 100% Australian, and we mean that literally. Every single ingredient, from the Olssons sea salt to the Daintree chocolate, comes from home soil, with zero exceptions. Chef-owner Tristan Rosier has gone all-in on the menu and the food is seriously good. There’s braised kangaroo tail with warrigal greens, an Aussiefeller oyster loaded with cheddar and beer, and a wattleseed custard tart that’s already got our editor planning a return visit. The drinks are all-Australian too, with cocktails reworked from the classics (a Negroni with Okar amaro, a Gimlet with snap pea and chilli) and a wine list of fifty bottles, forty available by the glass. Walk-ins are welcome alongside bookings, and tables of eight or more can ask for the “let us feed you” menu.

Sitchu Tip: Don’t skip Australiano Hour, $3 cold peeled prawns, $10 cocktails and snacks under $8. We’ve missed Arthur’s happy hour!

Surry Hills

Trattoria Da Orazio

Orazio D’Elia is going back to where it all began. His new venue, Trattoria Da Orazio, has taken over the Rushcutters Bay spot that once housed Popolo, the same site where he first made a name for himself as head chef. This time around, there’s no pizza in sight, but there’s plenty of regional Italian cooking done the trattoria way, from the cured meats and antipasti through to pastas, mains and dolci.

A 1.5 metre charcoal grill handles the smoky stuff, like brandy-flamed king prawns and octopus pie, and the house-made salumi made with mortadella and ‘nduja sounds especially delicious. Naturally, the drinks list is heavy on vermouth and Italian wine by the glass, and there’s a daily aperitivo hour with free snacks between 4pm and 5:30pm. This one feels special for many reason.

Rushcutters Bay

Duan Noodle House

Just in time for the cold snap, Chef Lucas Doan has opened Duan Noodle House; a 35-seat spot built around the theatre of hand-stretched noodles. After cutting his teeth at Mr Wong and Luna Lu, Doan blends Chinese noodle-making tradition with Vietnamese warmth, pulling dough into delicate strands for the signature Oil Spill Biang Biang Noodles with braised beef rib, alongside rich Northern-style Pho Ga and Pho Bo. It’s another layer added to Marrickville’s already thriving multicultural food scene.

Marrickville

Ripples Rose Bay

Sydney’s waterfront dining scene has a beautiful new addition and we’re chuffed to say the least. Ripples Rose Bay has officially opened at Rose Bay Marina, bringing harbour views, deliciously fresh seafood and relaxed all-day dining to one of the city’s most picturesque pockets. We’d start with oysters and prawns before moving onto the whole fish to share, finishing with something sweet and another glass of wine because, frankly, there’s no rush to leave. It’s been brought to life by SRG Hospitality, so you just know every tiny aesthetic detail is on point. Oh, and did we mention that every table enjoying a front-row seat to the harbour? You can’t go wrong!

Rose Bay

Best New Restaurants: June

Krung

Haymarket’s Thai Town just got a new late-night addition. Krung is an 85-seat restaurant and bar from the team behind Abb Air Thai Cuisine 1982, and it’s built around one of our favourite dishes – Pad Thai. Four regional versions anchor the menu, from a rich northern Sukhothai with BBQ pork and pork crackling to an eastern Chanthaburi take which celebrates the birthplace of Sen Chan noodles. If you’re looking for more beyond noodles there’s charcoal-grilled chicken, wok-fried favourites, curries and a cocktail list riffing on Thai classics (like betel leaf coladas and lychee and lotus daiquiris).

Sitchu Tip: On weekends the kitchen runs until 4am, making it perfect for a late night pit-stop if you’re out in the city!

Haymarket

Fishnets

Bronte’s dinner scene has a very chic, new anchor. From the team behind Table Manners, Fishnets is a neighbourhood Japanese spot with serious kitchen credentials. Former Sokyo omakase chef Sanghyeop Kim is running the kitchen, taking the precision of high-end Japanese dining and making it look effortless. Order the nigiri that’ll ruin supermarket sushi for you permanently, order the bug and prawn spring rolls, and absolutely order the Kitanai Martini, made with Four Pillars yuzu gin, dry sake, pickled ginger brine. Couple all this with the gorgeous new space fitted out with leather booths and warm sconces and this just became our new favourite date spot.

Bronte

The Hideaway

Bondi Junction has scored an underground late-night spot and it’s very vibey. The Hideaway is a subterranean restaurant and cocktail bar channeling the energy of New York’s basement steakhouses, and is designed to shift from dinner to drinks to late-night entertainment as the evening rolls on. The menu from Chef James Tai (ex two-hatted Automata) is built around quality produce and exceptional meat, from a dry-aged pork chop crumbed in its own crackling to buttermilk fried chicken with Oscietra caviar. There’s also a banana split with fried fritters and buttermilk ice cream for dessert that sounds truly unmissable. This feels like Eastern Suburbs residents no longer need to head into the CBD for a proper night out.

Bondi Junction

Coming Soon:

Stanley

Louis Tikaram, the chef behind Longrain, Bentley Restaurant + Bar and Tetsuya’s, is returning to the city that shaped him with Stanley, landing at Manly Wharf this September. Inspired by Hong Kong’s Stanley Bay, the 212-seat harbourfront venue will have indoor and outdoor dining, a private room and a dedicated bar, complete with live seafood tanks, a custom-built duck oven and even tableside Peking duck service. The menu will bring the best of both worlds, showcasing Cantonese tradition through Australian seafood, meat and seasonal produce. To bring it all to life, Tikaram is drawing on both his Chinese heritage and a childhood spent surfing and fishing on the NSW North Coast. This sounds like a goodie!

Slated to open September 2026

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 August 2026

Spezia

Florence Guild, the team behind hatted Melbourne restaurant Freyja, is bringing its first Sydney venue to The Lands by Capella. Spezia will be an open-air Italian concept with a hidden courtyard, 130 seats and a piazza-inspired energy.

Michelin-starred chef Jae Bang, alongside head chef Aaron Caccia, will serve up classic Italian dishes with subtle Silk Road spice twists (think cavatelli with zucchini and pink peppercorn, tiramisu with allspice and an elegant saffron martini). The space will be open for breakfast, lunch and dinner, offering a heady dose of Italian city charm right within the heart of Sydney.

Coming July 2026

Sydney CBD