Best romantic restaurants Sydney?
Let’s admit it, whenever we are travelling, the first question that comes to mind is — where to eat. Romantic restaurants Sydney are abundant; from local to international cuisine, everyone gets to fine dine just the way they want it. But, where to start? The city is huge and home to numerous ethnic groups (and equally numerous ethnic cuisines).
Book a romantic getaway at Harbour Rocks Hotel.
Guide to Sydney: Where to have a fine romantic dinner Sydney?
So, which romantic dinner Sydney venue to pay a visit to? We will try to answer that question for you, providing you with a range of options to suit all tastes. And all pockets! Not everyone can afford to spend a fortune on fine dining.
In this guide, we will share all attractions in Sydney. Browse around.
Hartsyard
Hartsyard (33 Enmore Rd., Newtown) is a curiously styled dining venue, complete with a feathered fake duck at the counter. Hartsyard serves American food, with crunchy fried chicken being one of the guests’ favourites. The venue also serves delicious brunches, occasionally, though. If you are lucky to visit during the brunch time, don’t miss the chance.
Scarlett Restaurant
Scarlett Restaurant at Hotel in the rocks Sydney (34 Harrington St.) is a top-ranked dining venue serving all kinds of delicacies from baked scallops to charcoal beef. A must visit for cheese lovers; Scarlet’s selection of cheeses is a byword. The venue has a heritage feel, as it is located on the site of Sydney’s first hospital.
The Dolphin Hotel Dining Room
The Dolphin Hotel (412 Crown St., Surry Hills) Dining Room serves standard fare and delicious Italian dishes. If you are a pizza lover, don’t miss this venue. Chef Maurice Terzini also runs Da Orazio (75-79 Hall St., Bondi Beach) and Icebergs (1 Notts Ave., Bondi Beach), both famed for their delicious pizzas.
The Dolphin Hotel Dining Room is a private venue, just perfect for enjoying fine wines and crunchy Italian courses.
HaNa Ju-Rin
HaNa Ju-Rin (300 Pacific Hwy., Crows Nest) is an affordable Japanese restaurant. To the locals, it’s better known as “Kuririn” (Dragon Ball character), which speaks volumes about the food (it does to Dragon Ball fans, anyway).
It is the owner’s second store, the first one being Ju-Rin, opened to help cope with the growing number of reservations. If you like sushi, make a booking in advance! The place is tremendously popular.
Sagra
Sagra (62 Stanley St., Darlinghurst) is a warmly lit modern Italian restaurant, and one of the most popular ones to boot. The menu is impressive, with fine wines and delicacies, such as tagliatelle with globe artichokes, pecorino and mint, chargrilled lamb, spring vingole and anchovy, and burrata, cavolo nero and almond pesto. One doesn’t go to Sagra for pizza! It’s all about fine dining there.
Mr Wong
Mr Wong (3 Bridge St.) is a stylish Chinese restaurant offering mouth-watering courses. Serving all kinds of delicacies from scallop and prawn shumai, pork xiao long bao, pan fried Szechuan Style lamb dumpling, to Chinese roasted duck, Mr Wong is not to be missed by any serious Chinese cuisine fan.
Their house-made XO sauce is a byword, and the dumplings served there are as high-end as dumplings can ever get.
The Paddington
The Paddington (384 Oxford St., Paddington) is a popular restaurant serving everything from octopus, green harissa, pumpkin seed vinaigrette to grain fed beef rump cap with grilled baby gem and horseradish. The quality of the food is best illustrated by the fact that there is always a waiting list here.
Moreover, the generous fare is more than affordable, which would make the venue even more popular, if that was even possible.
Monopole
Monopole (71A MacLeay St., Potts Point) is a curious breed of a restaurant and a bar. Nobody cares, though, as all dishes served there are of such a high quality that not having a bigger stomach seems like the world’s greatest problem. Monopole’s happy hour is every day from 5 to 6.30pm. Drop by for some fancy drinks (and we mean fancy!).
As for the menu, Monopole serves a broad selection of house cured meats, a majestic choice of cheeses (Tunworth, Petit Rouge, Bay of Fires are only some of the examples), and several vegetarian dishes (go for charred zucchini with yoghurt and fresh peas or eggplant with almond and black vinegar).
More romantic restaurant Sydney
It is nearly impossible to pinpoint a single romantic restaurant Sydney and tag it “the best”. The city is too vibrant for making it easy! On top of that, culinary tastes differ, and Sydney has no lack of options. Not by a long shot! Whether you are into local, Asian, Italian, French, American, African or European cuisine, you will find a good number of venues to enjoy romantic fine dining.
Fine dining venues are to be found literally around every corner. Private dining is not exclusive to CBD; nor do you have to pay a king’s ransom to spend a memorable night out with your significant other. Expanding from the list above, here are some additional top-rated romantic restaurants Sydney.
Sokyo
Sokyo (Level G, The Darling The Star/80 Pyrmont St., Pyrmont) is one of the best-loved sushi counters in Sydney. Popular among the locals and tourists alike, Sokyo offers the ultimate sushi experience. Chef Chase Kojima is well known in Sydney for his state-of-the-art delicacies. If undecided, consider this: salmon, spicy edamame and scallops are among the guests’ favourites.
Pino’s Vino e Cucina
Pino’s Vino e Cucina (199 Lawrence St., Alexandria) is an Italian trattoria located in the perfectly tranquil setting of Alexandria. That, in itself, would make it an ideal spot for romantic dining, but it is by no means its only quality.
The venue serves delicious Italian food and wines in a candlelit dining room you will wish to come back to every day. Fiorentina T-bone is, perhaps, one of Pino’s best loved dishes, with others including duck breast with celeriac puree, chicory, puffed black rice and fregola with prawns, mussels and asparagus.
Paper Bird
Paper Bird (46A MacLeay St.) is a modern Asian restaurant. It is the successor to Moon Park, one of the once most popular Korean restaurant in Sydney (now permanently closed). The team is the same — Ben Sears, Eun Hee An and Ned Brooks keep preparing some of the finest Asian dishes for numerous guests.
Paper Bird’s tteok-bokki (stir-fried rice cakes) is a must taste. Other popular dishes include yukhoebap (Korean beef tartare, rice, pear and nori), shrimp brined fried chicken, soy and syrup, and milk bingsu with hazelnut and yuzu curd.
Automata
Automata at the Old Clare boutique hotel Sydney (1 Kensington St., Chippendale) serves exquisite food and no less magnificent drinks. The man behind the counter — Clayton Wells — is formerly of Momofuku Sei?bo, which best illustrates the quality to be expected at Automata. If you don’t know what we are talking about, ask just any Sydneysider about the place.
Automata serves a five-course set menu (changes on a regular basis) as well as three-course menus on Fridays and Saturdays. An a la carte menu is offered on a daily basis. Most popular dishes include roasted grain parfait, bergamot curd, black sesame, blackberry and coral prawns, fennel and squid ink noodle with xo and red vinegar.
Fratelli Paradiso
As you might have guessed by its name, Fratelli Paradiso (12-16 Challis Ave., Potts Point) is an Italian restaurant. What makes it stand out from the great many others is its spaghetti with scampi, which is nearly a legendary dish in Sydney! Linguini with pesto, saltimbocca and various steaks (generous servings, mind you) are additional favourites.
Ester Restaurant
Ester Restaurant (46/52 Meagher St., Chippendale) has been voted Sydney’s Restaurant of the Year for 2017 and for a good reason. Chef Mat Lindsay is one of a kind; all of his dishes breathe luxury and the taste is no less spectacular. That being said, you cannot go wrong with any order.
Ester might be most famous for its king prawns with fermented shrimp butter and capers, but other dishes (such as calamari and lardo on a stick, raw beef in fermented hot sauce with crisps and blood sausage sanga) are equally delicious! It all comes down to taste!
Experiencing romantic restaurants Sydney
Romantic restaurants Sydney truly take fine dining to the next level. All of our picks are top-rated not only for the quality of their service, but also for a unique atmosphere they exude. If you wish to thoroughly experience Sydney at its finest, tasting the cuisines of the people who built it is the first thing to do.
Enjoy fine dining right next to Sydney Harbour at the Rocks Dining!
Learn more about Sydney in our guide:
