24 Best Restaurants in New South Wales, Australia

Dining at Arajilla Retreat at least once during a stay on Lord Howe Island is a must. The cuisine, which changes daily, uses fish straight from the ocean and lovely homegrown vegetables. Begin with a drink at the cozy bar, decked out just a little like a gentlemen's club with leather armchairs, and then take a seat at the restaurant with its white walls and one dramatic burgundy-color feature wall. The three-course menu changes weekly, based on what is fresh and in season. Desserts are irresistible and may include black sticky rice with lychee sorbet, toasted coconut, and kaffir lime.

In-house guests take precedent over those not staying at the resort, so bookings are essential.

With windows overlooking the Opera House and Harbour Bridge, Aria could easily rest on the laurels of its location. Instead, celebrity chef Matthew Moran creates a menu of extraordinary dishes that may be your best meal Down Under. It doesn't come cheap but fine fare rarely does, especially in Australia. This foodie favorite enjoyed a recent multimillion-dollar refurbishment, with the restaurant now being one of the most stylish in Sydney.

Balmoral Beach is blessed. Not only does it have an inviting sandy beach and great water views, but it also has one of the best eating strips north of the Harbour Bridge. Queen of the strip is Bathers' Pavilion, which includes a restaurant, café, and lavish private dining room. Here you'll find a menu packed with the best local ingredients no matter if you're dining for a casual breakfast, lunch, afternoon tea or dinner. There's a choice of fresh light salads, wood-fired pizzas, and seafood dishes for around A$30. No reservations taken for the café.

One of Australia's most renowned chefs, Peter Gilmore, oversees the kitchen at possibly the most superbly situated dining room in town. Tucked into the side of the Opera House, the restaurant affords views of Sydney Harbour Bridge and the city lights. Gilmore's creations are as special as the view and showcase the best of Australia's produce with a focus on terroir. Whatever you do, leave room for dessert, with the cherry jam lamington, a clever interpretation of an Australian classic, which has been a constant on the menu for almost a decade. It's that good. Pretheater dining is available if you are going to a performance in the Opera House.

Named after celebrity chef and cookbook author Bill Granger, this sunny corner café is so addictive it should come with a health warning. It's a favorite hangout of everyone from local nurses to semi-disguised rock stars, and you never know who you might be sitting next to at the newspaper-strewn communal table. If you're not interested in the creaminess of what must be Sydney's best scrambled eggs, try the ricotta hotcakes with fresh banana and honeycomb butter or the corn fritters. The coconut-poached chicken sandwich with cucumber and lime mayonnaise makes an ideal lunch. Dinner selections at the Surry Hills location (359 Crown Street) are similarly gourmet comfort food.

Local French-born celebrity chef Robert Molines, who used to run Roberts Restaurant, has a restaurant on the grounds of the lovely Tallavera vineyard, which has one of the best views in the valley. Make sure you nab a table on or near the veranda. Food isn't overly complicated or styled, which fits nicely with the relaxed (but professional) service. The twice-roasted Hunter duckling on braised cabbage is delicious, while seafood fans love the Jewfish with jamon consomme. It's a two-course minimum at A$85. Those who want a nap after a long lunch, or don't want to drive home, might want to book into the two-bedroom cottage (operated by Robert and his wife Sally) that's just a stroll from the restaurant.

This lively wine bar–style eatery has attracted quite a bit of hype, and the attention of Sydney-based foodies who have been arriving each weekend in droves, since its opening in early 2018. It’s so popular, in fact, the restaurant is now demanding a $48 minimum spend from each diner on the weekend. A truly unusual move for a Blue Mountains eatery but with dishes like the sizzling Jamaican spiced prawns for a main and the wild scallop tartare for a starter, worth it.

It's named after a cloud, but with its floor-to-ceiling-windows looking out on Cockle Bay, timber fencing (both on the floor and strung in different lengths from the ceiling) akin to what you might see in sand dunes, a suspended/flying vintage speedboat named Alvin, and perhaps the best and freshest seafood offerings in Sydney, Cirrus may as well be named for the sea it floats above. The five-course, degustation-style menu is very popular but the seafood platter of oysters, fat Skull Island prawns, strawberry clams, ocean bugs, and pipis (triangular clams) with seaweed mayo ponzu and red-wine vinaigrette is a must. The wine list is carefully curated and all about the white wines, with red limited to those light in body.

In this century-old farmhouse with distant views of Byron Bay the draw is upmarket Mod Oz cuisine blending Asian and Mediterranean flavors. Produce fresh from the owners' farm is featured on the lunch platter menu. Each platter is themed like "From The Hills," with a whole free range chicken "spatchcock" cooked in lemon and thyme, with a side of roasted potatoes and cauliflower. As the name suggests, the restaurant also has accommodations: the Dairy and the Sunrise House, two cottages with wonderful views, can both sleep up to eight people; prices are from A$600 a night in the holiday season of Christmas, January and Easter with a minimum stay of three nights. The restaurant and rooms are 5 km (3 miles) inland from Byron Bay at Ewingsdale.

There's a reason why there's always a queue snaking down the street. This is undoubtedly the best gelato in Sydney, with unique flavors that change all the time. There's now many Gelato Messina parlors across Sydney but this is the original. DIY sundaes available. No seating so grab and walk down the tree-lined Victoria Street.

Set in the remarkable Paperbark Camp glamping spot filled with high-end tree houses that are available for two-night minimum stays on the weekend, this restaurant is a romantic and warmly lit tree house for grown-ups. The menu is a set, three-course affair (A$80) featuring meats in the autumn months and light zesty fish and seafood in the summer. The desserts are light and packed full of flavor.

The fashionable and famous (including celebrities like Mick Jagger and Paris Hilton) just adore perching like seagulls over the swimming pool at the south end of Australia's most famous beach. It is one of the must-visit restaurants in Sydney, for both the sensational view and the exquisite food. Take a seat on a low-back suede chair, check your reflection in the frosted glass, and prepare to indulge in sophisticated Mediterranean creations like buffalo mozzarella air-freighted from Campania, wood-fried artichoke hearts, aged Sicilian salted anchovies, and ligurina olives served with bruschetta and an array of fresh seafood pasta dishes. The focus here is on sustainable fish so the menu is ever rotating in its offerings. Those who just want to drink in the view, and a cocktail or two, can enjoy delicious morsels—such as oysters and mini-ciabattas—in the bar.

This buzzy and award-winning eatery housed in an old garage opposite the railway station in Leura serves top-notch food in a delightfully informal setting. Dishes are designed to share and although they might sound simple in name, they are simply astounding. The menu changes seasonally but meat from local farms are always featured. Most of the produce is local and all of the wine is sourced from nearby Mudgee or Orange district. One of the few places in the mountains, other than traditional cafés, to have all-day dining.

This is a fine place to socialize with the locals and tourists and enjoy some honest, unpretentious food. The on-site Sunset Bar & Grill is open for dinner on Thursday, Friday, and Sunday, and the menu includes a variety of roasts (such as roast chicken or lamb), steak with garlic butter, schnitzel, fish, and salads, plus pizza on Sunday nights. Friday night is the "big night out" on the island, when almost everyone turns up for the sunset barbecue—try the barbecue kingfish and grab an ice-cold beer. Desserts include what appears to be the island staple—sticky-date pudding—and ice cream. It's best to come early to take in the view over the golf links and the lagoon beyond. 

Overlooking the harbor’s edge, here you'll find fresh produce and traditional Japanese fare. Serving up sashimi, sushi, and noodles, Nagisa is a popular weekend restaurant with a buzzy atmosphere. There's also a lively teppanyaki bar, where you'll be mesmerized by the talented chefs and incredible aromas of sizzling meats and fresh seafood.

Quay has been Sydney’s top restaurant for 30 years and it's still going strong with chef Peter Gilmore's experimental Mod Oz cuisine created with seasonal, local produce. The menu has carefully created seafood dishes, like greenlip abalone. But it’s the White Coral dessert, which is what Quay has become known. It's a white chocolate ganache shell filled with feijoa ice cream and coconut cream. Add in the sweeping vista of the Opera House and the sparkling harbor, and it's perhaps no surprise that prebooking is essential.

A meal at Rockpool is a crash course in what Mod Oz cooking is all about, conducted in a glamorous, long dining room with a catwalk-like ramp. Chefs Neil Perry and Corey Costelloe weave Thai, Chinese, Mediterranean, and Middle Eastern influences into their repertoire with effortless flair and originality. The menu is extensive, with caviar from around the world to start. The Wagyu beef is butchered on-site, with the premium oyster blade cut costing A$125; the spanner crab with semolina noodles is equally satisfying. Don't miss the date tart for dessert—it's been a Rockpool favorite since 1984.

Thanks to its Sydney-standard food, wine, and service, Silk's still rates as one of the finest Blue Mountains restaurants after more than 20 years. The restaurant is housed in a Federation-era building, and in colder months a log fire warms the century-old simple but elegant interior, where yellow ocher walls reach from black-and-white checkerboard floor to sky-high ceiling. The menu here changes seasonally, with a minimum three courses dinner that costs A$75 on a Friday and A$85 on a Saturday. Only open for lunch on a Sunday, with a three course minimum costing A$75.

A bright, intimate star in Newcastle's dining scene, Subo is one of the hottest spots in town and is often booked out weeks ahead. A stylish bistro in the central business district, Subo serves a A$100 five-course tasting plate that changes every six weeks and might include prawn carpaccio and foie gras, confit of chicken wings with blackened corn, Wagyu beef with smoked leeks, and chocolate-orange mousse with rum-and–orange syrup cake. There's also a vegetarian five-course meal available.

It's worth getting on the waiting list—there's always a waiting list—to sample the unique blend of Western and Japanese-French flavors crafted by Sydney's most applauded chef, Tetsuya Wakuda. The serene, expansive dining room's unobtrusive Japanese aesthetic leaves the food as the true highlight. Confit of ocean trout served with unpasteurized ocean-trout roe is a signature item on the set 11-course degustation menu, while other dishes may include New Zealand Scampi with chicken liver parfait, or roasted breast of quail with quail leg rillettes. Views of a Japanese garden—complete with bonsai and a waterfall—make this place feel miles from the city center. It's open for dinner from Tuesday to Saturday, and lunch on Saturday only.

For almost 60 years, The Famous Berry Donut Van has been just that, a famous must-visit spot for those visiting Berry. The quality of their cinnamon doughnuts is unrivaled. They are made-to-order so are always piping hot. Collin and Shirley London toured the doughnut van around Australia in the 1960s but once they arrived in Berry, they decided it was home. Best bit? They're open every day from 9 am until 6 pm, come summer or winter.

Opposite Town Beach, Port Macquarie's best restaurant also has the best views, but don't let that distract you from the food. With so much sea in front of you it's only natural that the menu also features lots of seafood—all of it sustainably line caught or farmed. The menu rotates but generally, there's a seafood mixed with pasta option. And at least one meat option, like pork loin served with quince. The wine list is suitably impressive but limited vegetarian and vegan options.