Sydney’s best new restaurants of the year so far (and 12 more to come)

Goodbye, Quay. Farewell, Oncore. Soon, Bentley Group will end its current CBD chapter. But while Sydney has experienced a significant number of fine-dining closures in 2026, plenty of operators are still confident in the city’s appetite for restaurants at all price points. These are five of the Good Food team’s favourite openings of the year so far, plus the pick of what’s to come.

Hamsi Taverna

Sydney Fish Market crowds haven’t quite maintained the level of frenzy witnessed when the $836 million redevelopment opened in January, and evening trade seemed particularly down when Good Food visited last week. Shame, because there’s bloody great seafood in winter and some solid new fish market restaurants such as Tam Jiak (gravitate towards the crab) and Lua by Luke Nyugen (try the “world’s best rice”). Meanwhile, the best all-rounder for Anzac Bridge views, ace wine and charcoal-grilled lobster with lemon-butter orzo is Hamsi Taverna, co-run by Turkish chef Somer Sivrioglu.

1 Bridge Road, Glebe, hamsitaverna.com.au

Ananas

It’s French for pineapple, you know. If you were into things like foie gras toasties around 2012, you might remember Ananas opening in The Rocks and causing a stir for its French cooking and red-lipped urinals. Now it’s back at its original Argyle Street address with the same high level of steaks, frites, salad and mashed potato (and sans tacky loo design). The large sandstone-framed dining room is best suited for long group lunches and hunkering down with a cassoulet. Pineapple doesn’t appear until the rum baba cart rolls around.

18A Argyle Street, The Rocks, ananas.com.au

Kim’s Bop

Good Food writer Lee Tran Lam’s first encounter at Kim’s Bop was during its March launch, she says, when you could easily glide into a counter seat or grab a table. Word about the restorative Korean cooking has since gotten out, and booking in advance is strongly recommended for chef Byungjae Kim’s delicate noodle-soup broths, bibimbap and gochujang-marinated chicken.

1/325 Glebe Point Road, Glebe, kimsbop.com.au

Palermo Dining

Enough sugo, we surrender! The Italian restaurants just keep on coming in the CBD, from the blow-the-corporate-card dining of Grappa and Grill Americano, to “neighbourhood osteria” Bar Bruno. Then there’s all the pizza joints that have opened in the past six months, including Neil Perry’s Pizzeria Sotto, Pizza’Mare, Studio Tamaki, and Pocket Pizza in Neutral Bay. The cosiest new Italian restaurant Good Food has visited, however, is Palermo in Penrith, where chef Ross Dobson sends out home-style pork and fennel lasagne, Sicilian meatballs and grilled provolone with lemon honey. A place of lace tablecloths, soft lighting and generous sangiovese pours.

542 High Street, Penrith (enter via Union Lane), palermodining.com.au

Claret Club

Harry Hunter and Bridget Raffal bring experience from Sixpenny, Where’s Nick and Bentley to Claret Club, a labour of love that feels a little like the caves a vin of Paris, says Good Food Guide co-editor David Matthews. “Those wine bars where you can walk in, slide into a rickety chair opposite the bar or out front, have someone charming hand you a bracing martini or a pastis, then ferry out snacks: a pair of ruffle-edged gnocco fritto with anchovies and fried sage leaves laid down their length, maybe, or a pig’s head croquette.” Book upstairs for a full meal, he says, defined by cooking that extols simplicity and nourishment over flashy technique or contrived plating. Sweetbreads au poivre forever.

77 Stanley Street, Darlinghurst, claretclub.com.au

For the diary

Well, what do you know? More Italian restaurants are opening in 2026. There are some terrific-sounding fresh ideas, too, particularly from Bentley Restaurant Group, which has two arrivals touching down this month. Ashe, which will take its flavour cues from Vietnam, Thailand and Malaysia, is part of two-pronged venue launch in the basement sites where Mercado and Indu previously traded at 350 George Street, on the doorstep of Merivale’s Ivy precinct.

Ashe’s sibling Vespertine (there’s a secret passageway for guests between the spaces) is a different beast for the Bentley team. The first bar the group has opened during its 20-year run, Vespertine will serve cocktails (including a Chartreuse slushie) late into the night alongside prawn toast, fried chicken sandwiches and live music.

Ripples will open this weekend at the former home of The Boathouse Rose Bay in what is shaping up as a busy few months for its owner, SRG Hospitality. In early August, Riva, an Italian restaurant will open upstairs at the site, and the original Ripples at Milsons Point will reopen in October following the redevelopment of North Sydney Olympic Pool. Aqua Dining, perched above the pool, will join the reopening action in November.

A relay of launches across the eastern suburbs is led by Da Orazio Trattoria opening mid-July at the former site of Marta Osteria in Rushcutter’s Bay, followed by La Buvette – from the talent behind Bar Copains and Vin-Cenzo’s – in the first or second week of August. In September, Double Bay locals can expect the unveiling of Ruby’s, a 50-seat modern European restaurant, and the latest venue from the owners of Bambini Trust.

The ambitious $8 million Vito’s will open its doors on Bridge Street in the CBD in late September or early October. Also in October, Cronulla’s Homer Rogue Taverna will open a 60-seat wine bar and ouzeri, Volta, and the team behind hatted Nour and Aalia will open Ame in Darlinghurst. The latter is a “Japanese restaurant with Peruvian flavours” on Oxford Street, and will be joined by a separate bar called Loa.