The most exciting Sydney restaurant openings coming in hot this summer and beyond

The Sydney Morning Herald Good Food Guide has finally landed, but Sydney’s seemingly insatiable appetite for new restaurant openings hasn’t dried up. And there’s more to look forward to.

On Friday, December 1, the Bentley crew (Brasserie 1930, Monopole, Bentley) will unveil King Clarence, which will have a contemporary Asian food pitch. Located on the corner of King and Clarence streets in the Sydney CBD, the restaurant will have some serious food pedigree in its kitchen, with Vietnamese-Australian chef Khanh Nguyen its newly appointed executive chef. Nguyen’s last gig was running the kitchen at Aru in Melbourne, which took home Restaurant of the Year at The Age Good Food Guide awards last November.

Down at Double Bay, chef Neil Perry has been slowly building a fiefdom of venues, spanning his upmarket Margaret restaurant, the more modest spin-off eatery Next Door, and Baker Bleu bakery. The veteran chef will add to the suburb’s growing Rodeo Drive vibes with a couple more openings. Perry hopes to land his new Asian eatery, Song Bird, in June 2024. Located on the corner of Bay and Cooper streets, it’ll sit above Bobbie’s jazz bar, which Perry will open in May 2024 with Linden Pride, the Australian-born bar-tsar behind New York’s award-winning Dante.

There’s plenty of incoming action around Martin Place in the Sydney CBD. In February 2024, Alejandro Saravia – the chef responsbile for hit Melbourne restaurant Farmer’s Daughters – will open Morena in the former site of Intermezzo, the Italian restaurant that closed during the pandemic. Morena will lean on the Peruvian chef’s Latin American roots, sweeping everywhere from Cuba to Brazil and, of course, Peru for inspiration. Swillhouse’s next adventure, Caterpillar Club, is also edging close to launch, with the food and live music venue opening in a site on the edge of Martin Place.

The Balmain-Rozelle area is about to receive a flood of incoming food action. On Thursday, November 16, Chez Blue, a neighbourhood bistro with chef Mark Williamson (ex-Bistro Moncur) in the kitchen, will open next door to the Sackville Hotel, the Darling Street pub where Damien Pignolet’s Bistro Deux once traded. Diners will have to wait a little longer to try the Dry Dock Hotel, which is in the midst of a fastidious restoration. The pub has nabbed former Felix co-head chef Ben Sitton, and they hope to open in late November. And in late January 2024, restaurateur Michael Fegent expects to throw open the doors at new Argentinian restaurant Casa Esquina. The owner of Tequila Mockingbird in Paddington and Esteban in the CBD bought the Balmain building where Efendy traded.

The Sydney Morning Herald Good Food Guide 2024 is on sale for $14.95 from newsagents, supermarkets and at thestore.com.au. It features more than 450 NSW and ACT venues, from three-hatted fine-diners to suburban wine bars, regional chicken shops and food-court icons. Venues listed in the Guide are visited anonymously by professional restaurant critics, who review independently. Venues are chosen at our discretion.