Subscribe
Subscribe
42 Sydney Venues Just Joined the Global 50 Best Map
The 2026 50 Best Discovery guide has arrived, and Sydney's dining scene has plenty to celebrate. Discover the restaurants, bars and hotels putting the Harbour City firmly on the global culinary map.
Sydney has landed an impressive number of listings in 50 Best Discovery’s Australian Guide for 2026. It’s a varied collection, ranging from a wood-fired room in Chippendale to a bar built around vinyl and sake in Newtown.
Aalia, Bennelong, ester, Firedoor, Fontana and Saint Peter and they each tell a story about the city. Bennelong sits inside the sails of the Opera House itself, with Peter Gilmore’s menu translating Australian produce into a room that could not be more Sydney if it tried. Saint Peter takes the opposite approach at the Grand National Hotel in Paddington, building an entire philosophy around sustainable, whole-animal seafood. Firedoor strips things back further still in Surry Hills, cooking every dish over open wood and embers rather than gas, while Fontana brings an effortlessly cool Italian sensibility to Redfern.
Sydney’s bar scene tells its own story after dark. Cantina OK! packs world-class cocktails (namely margaritas) into a tiny CBD laneway, while Apollonia has a whole subterranean Sicilian energy people really love. Bar Copains keeps things low-key in Surry Hills with small plates and natural wine, Bar Planet is all about the cosmic martinis, and Ante, also in Newtown, pairs sake tasting with a vinyl collection unlike anywhere else in the city. Dean & Nancy on 22 closes out the list with golden-era glamour on Hunter Street, making it popular with after-work goers and city slickers.
On the hotel side, Capella Sydney and Ace Hotel offer two very different sides to the same city, one a contemporary CBD landmark, the other a design-forward retreat in Surry Hills. Capella Sydney which is, housed in the city’s former Department of Education building, remains one of only two Australian properties to crack the World’s 50 Best Hotels list outright. Its sandstone bones are even home to a seven-metre living wall which is a vertical garden found in the Aperture courtyard. Featuring nearly 70 local species of flora, it’s like a mini oasis inside the hotel, flooded with natural light.
It’s a special moment for Sydney on the global stage, and 42 listings is an impressive feat when competition is fierce. Some of these names have been shaping Sydney’s reputation for years, others are still finding their feet, but together they make the same argument, that this city’s food and drink scene has genuinely earned its seat at the table.
Continue the itinerary with our guides to Sydney’s best new bars and best new restaurants, to discover the openings worth booking now.
