Restaurant Reviews

REVIEW You’re guaranteed to pause at least once during your meal to identify the instrumental song being piped through the restaurant. (It was Clint Mansell’s “Requiem for a Dream” that caught us.) But there will be little confusion over the quality of Peter Sheppard’s food. This fine-dining, French-leaning restaurant is Wollongong’s most awarded, and it’s […]

REVIEW There are the restaurants in Australia that replicate ideas of what things were like in Italy, and then there are restaurants that feel like they might have sprung new from the ground in Rome or Milan today. Small of size but big on verve and casually hip to its core, Vini is of the […]

REVIEW As with every good marathon, preparation is key. Sushi E has a phone book of a menu that rewards homework. Even then, it pays to seek advice from the glamazons who attend this white marble jewel box, tucked behind the Hemmesphere cocktail lounge. Order a Windsor Knot and watch the four chefs do amazing […]

REVIEW Fratelli Fresh has come a long way since the Danks Street warehouse, now defunct, and the first Café Sopra on the top floor. There are now multiple locations, all serving authentic Italian fare: fresh ingredients cooked well from primi to dolci. Salads have serious game. Burrata, roasted pumpkin, spinach and pistachio displays a range […]

REVIEW At Prime, the cavernous steakhouse set within the GPO, things are done on a grand scale. As you step through the colossal arched entrance and follow the red carpet to your linen-draped table, it’s clear size is the key player here (the height of the menu is just the start) and prices follow suit. […]

REVIEW Suburban standout Cinco keeps its loyal clientele returning for more by offering generous portions and familiar-sounding dishes, albeit often with an adventurous twist. A deftly balanced entrée of prawn gnocchi with brown butter and goat’s curd arrives studded with raisins, adding an unexpected yet welcome sweetness. Pork belly braised in master stock shares a […]

REVIEW Here’s a spot for sun-drenched lunches fuelled by white-peach Bellinis and bright antipasti. The glow of Otto’s egg lamps has long drawn Sydney’s glitterati, who flock here for the cashed-up marina vibe, snappy service and sensuous riffs on traditional Italian fare. There’s polish in Richard Ptacnik’s pasta offerings, as in twists of strozzapreti with […]

REVIEW Double-clothed tables. Framed Matisse drawings. Thirty-five-dollar glasses of Bordeaux. Fellow diners who begin their sentences with the phrase, “So I get a call from the ambassador…” Yes, Guillaume is every inchthatrestaurant. The sommelier will have a European accent, the other staff will be quietly competent if not exactly engaging. The same could be said […]

REVIEW If we’re brutally honest, Glebe Point Road’s status as an eat street rests more on the quantity of its outlets rather than the quality. But Glebe Point Diner stands tall among the handful of exceptions to the rule, a bistro with the sort of local charm that has near-universal appeal. The mild eccentricity of […]

REVIEW The cavernous glass and steel-framed space bustles with business folk hepped up on one of Sydney’s most voluminous and finely wrought wine lists, dipping into the broad menu that skitters from raw to grilled while touching on tapas and leaning heavily on seafood. For an entrée, try grilled sardines, crunchy and lightly charred, finished […]

REVIEW One could assume that a restaurant so well located might rely on its good looks to get by. Not so. The views of Rose Bay may be seductive, but the food is equally commanding. Seafood is the star, as an entrée of seared scallops with a tiger prawn and snapper brandade, leek purée, seaweed […]

REVIEW Bodega in one word? Swingin’. The tunes. The skirts. The tapas and share plates making their way from the open kitchen, carried by some of the friendliest waitstaff in town. The energy is infectious. Slide into a baby-blue leather banquette and peruse the strictly Latin wine list while well-coiffed chefs build queso fresco towers […]

REVIEW There are plenty of Japanese restaurants in Sydney, but not many truly evoke the feeling of dining in Tokyo in the same way as Azuma. The corporate location, sophisticated, dark-tinted interior, Japanese artworks on the walls and perhaps Sydney’s best tempura more than set the scene. There’s a tasting omakase menu, but it’s not […]

This is an inner-city dining room with a difference; a part-time restaurant with full-bore home cooking. Pull up a stool at Journal Canteen.

Look no further. The Holy Grail – a genuinely good plate of homemade fresh pasta – is here in this simple eating house.

The team at Catalina proves that there’s much more to this Sydney dining icon than its harbourside location.

Neil Perry’s foray into the Melbourne market with Rockpool Bar & Grill is a powerhouse.

Two blokes with an impressive pedigree open a Glebe diner that’s a bastion of simple and honest regional cooking.

In an area short on fine dining, a defiant restaurant is bucking the trend. Soulful cooking, chic room... Is Delizia the best in the west?

After stellar stints in various Sydney venues, chef Darrell Felstead brings his confident, assured style to his own venture, Foveaux Restaurant & Bar, in Surry Hills. It deserves your attention.

There’s a timeless appeal in the honest and generous food of France-Soir, the unpretentious, bustling French bistro which has become a bona fide Melbourne institution.

If three stars weren’t enough, Peter Gilmore’s food at Quay has risen higher yet with a new degustation menu – and the views still rock.

Teage Ezard’s funky and fun Asian spin-off, Gingerboy, goes beyond the usual wok-mongers – it’s Thai, Malaysian and Chinese street fare with a style all its own.

George Calombaris’ The Press Club is not only turning heads, his modern Greek cuisine is turning upside down what we know about feta, olives, oregano and all other things Hellenic, too.

With its modern Turkish flavours and glam harbourside setting, the Sydney sibling of Canberra’s Ottoman Cuisine shows potential.

A St Kilda stalwart re-opens with a fresh face and a nostalgic ‘Continental’ menu. It’s Mirka at Tolarno Hotel and its custodian is leading Melbourne restaurateur Guy Grossi.

A bastion of Italian restaurant culture and more Melbourne than Sydney in style, Fratelli Paradiso is a place where locals come for the ever-charming waiters as much as the gutsy food.

Yarra Valley’s newest addition, the Giant Steps/Innocent Bystander Winery, is more than the sum of its café, pizzeria and cellar door parts, thanks to a passionate and savvy wine entrepreneur.

We raise a glass to chef John Evans, who has crossed the Harbour Bridge to take over the kitchen at Rozelle’s Three Weeds, cooking the kind of assured food the city’s better pub bistros are built on.

Having won the hearts of South Australian diners, chef Virat Suandokmai brings a Nu taste of Thai to the North Shore.

Bistro Vue is the third act in Shannon Bennett’s CBD trilogy. He’s reworking the classics in a shamelessly faux Parisian setting.

Oscillate Wildly in Newtown is pushing the envelope, but that thankfully doesn’t apply to the bill – so go wild.

Nobu Melbourne has arrived at Crown and it’s rollicking good times whether on a budget or a blow-out.