Eating Out - Sydney - New South Wales - Australia

You never have to go far to find food in Sydney. As a rough guide, cafes serving breakfast menus start opening at 6am and breakfast is usually served until 11am, or occasionally all day. Orders for lunch start at about noon and continue until about 3pm. Orders for dinner start from 5:30pm, and while there are a small number of exceptions (usually concentrated in areas with active nightlife), last orders for dinner are typically taken around 9pm.

Thanks to Sydney’s multicultural mix, the range of food available is huge and isn’t necessarily expensive. Almost every restaurant will have some staff members who speak english, but the one’s that don’t will usually have pictures of the dishes in their menu. If in doubt, just point.

• Eat at some of Sydney’s finest restaurants in the city.
• Yum cha in Chinatown in the city is very good - arguably even better now than Hong Kong since many of their best chefs moved to Sydney in the 1990s. Yum Cha is an entire meal comprising many small dishes. Dim Sum (actually Dian Xin) means small snacks e.g. spring rolls.
• Visit the Fish Markets in Darling Harbour.
• Eat Chinese in the city’s Haymarket area in the Sydney Chinatown, as well as in Chatswood on the North Shore, Eastwood to the north, Strathfield in the Inner West, and Hurstville in Sydney’s southern suburbs. Qing jin!.
• Eat Thai in one of the many low priced Thai outlets in Newtown’s King Street in the Inner West.
• Eat Italian in one of the restaurants in Leichhardt’s Norton Street in the Inner West. Benvenuto!. Or in Stanley St in East Sydney - a walk from the CBD.
• Eat Spanish in Liverpool Street in the city. ¡Hola!.
• Eat Portuguese in Petersham in the Inner West. Bom dia!.
• Eat Indian in one of the many restaurants in the Sydney/Outer West suburb of Parramatta with all types of Indian cuisine (North Indian, South Indian, Vegetarian, meat, etc.) Namaskar!.
• Eat Korean in Strathfield and Eastwood.
• Eat Japanese in Neutral Bay.
• Eat Nepalese in Glebe Point Road, Glebe, in the Inner West.
• Eat Turkish in Enmore Rd Enmore / South King St Newtown in the Inner West. Get your Sucuklu and Pastirmali here.
• Eat Lebanese in Cleveland Street in South Sydney. Baba Ghanouj, Lahem Begin and Baclawa here. Salam Alaikum.
• Eat Vietnamese in and around Cabramatta, or in Flemington ( opposite Flemington Markets). Both places are easily accessible by train, just bring a big appetite. Or in Marrickville in the Inner West.

Many of the areas mentioned above also sell produce related to the original nationality of the locals.

Sydney is also home to some of the world’s best restaurants (though none are Michelin rated). In the City itself, try Tetsuya’s in Kent Street (be warned, there are no walk-ins and bookings are taken only one month in advance, often filling up on the first day of bookings), Becasse in Clarence Street or Rockpool at The Rocks.

There are also several districts well known for having a large amount and variety of restaurants. In the north, try Chatswood, Crows Nest, Neutral Bay, Mosman and Lane Cove. In the west - Parramatta, Beverly Hills, Hurstville, Cabramatta. In the East - Bondi, Coogee, Surry Hills and Darlinghurst.