• Swillhouse’s Le Foote brings an audacious and alluring new wine bar and restaurant to The Rocks. The grand multi-level venue has a Mediterranean-inspired menu, a cracking wine list, massive mosaics shipped from Italy and views of the Harbour Bridge and MCA.
• First look: inside a heritage-listed former department store, The Sanderson is built for celebrating life’s big moments. This sumptuous diner is one of two newly minted venues by the Speakeasy Group inside the revamped Beneficial House in Sydney’s CBD. When it opens later this week, expect blazing tableside theatrics, premium Aussie steaks and complimentary cocktail amuse-bouches on arrival.
• The best of New York inspires the Pellegrino 2000 team’s knockout new steakhouse, Clam Bar. Like the group’s other restaurants, it’s all about irreverently executed classics: must-order scallops casino with butter and heaps of pangrattato; a memorable steak tartare with an unexpected twist; macaroni alla vodka that tastes like the best pasta bake you’ll ever eat; and cocktails that cross New York classics with the “daggy drinks” of the ’80s.
• Trailblazing Sydney cocktail bar Eau de Vie makes its return to the stage – and it’s got a few new tricks up its sleeve. After a hiatus of more than two years, the award-winning Darlinghurst speak-easy has resurfaced in the CBD. It’s a little older and wiser, but still just as much fun – there’s a serious food menu, 37 signature cocktails and more than 500 whiskies. Plus, all the bartending theatrics you remember.
• AP Bakery takes over the kitchen at Marrickville’s Wildflower Brewery (and has Jersey cheese-stuffed buns). Plus, a spectacular Basque cheesecake and pork rillettes on AP’s glorious baguettes. It’s more bistro than bakery, with dishes designed to complement the brewery’s wild-fermented beers, which are made using local ingredients.
• First look: pizza by the slice is having a moment at Oti, Merivale’s new takeaway joint in Sydney’s CBD. There’s no physical menu and no dine-in space – but the lines are already out the door for chunky slabs of Roman-style pizza, and thin-and-crispy schiacciata sandwiches laden with sliced-to-order cold-cuts.
• Now open: a handsome CBD sequel to Italian restaurant Bastardo, with aperitivo hour and handmade pasta. It’s perfect for weekday long lunches. Head in for a six-strong pasta menu, including conchiglie with zucchini – cooked until it collapses in a sweet and creamy sauce, and finished with a luxurious swirl of stracciatella – and a beef Milanese with Napoli sauce, Parmigiano-Reggiano, provolone and an optional fried egg on top.
• South Sydney sandwich king, Kosta’s Takeaway, just opened a second shop in Circular Quay (with an Ester chef on board). The team that turned heads for selling “classic, not basic” two-handers next to a Rockdale panelbeater is bringing its whopping chicken schnitzel and deli sangas to the city. Plus, exclusives including a fried-to-order fish number, taramasalata toast, and grab-and-go options including finger sandwiches and sausage and egg muffins.
• At Salumeria Norcino in Pyrmont get fresh pasta, “game-changing” gnocchi and world-famous mozzarella. Linger over gnocchi lathered in a slow-braised ragu of sausages and pork ribs sprinkled with pecorino, while sipping on small-batch Italian wine. Or swing by the new Italian eatery and deli for a take-home feast of house-made salami and premium mozzarella, and ready-to-eat lasagne and meatballs.
• Everything at new Marrickville eatery GFF is gluten-free – from its fried chicken sandwiches to its pink lamingtons. Those with coeliac disease can also tuck into bacon and egg rolls and Maccas-inspired sausage and egg muffins, followed by “birthday cake” cookies and an array of doughnuts – all without even having to ask about gluten. It’s by the team behind beloved doughnut joint Donut Papi.
• At Baharat, the new Turkish bar by Efendy, there are sumac Margaritas and crisp falafels. In a space that last housed the group’s kebab shop, Tombik, there’s a concise menu of pide, cured meats and dips complementing a spice-driven menu of cocktails made by bartenders who improvise as well as they mix by the book.
• Gelato Messina opens a huge new HQ – with a gelateria, chocolate counter and factory – in Marrickville. Choose from 40 flavours at the gelato counter, including pistachio praline with fior di latte gelato, Super Dulce de Leche, and a coconut and pandan sorbet. At the adjacent factory, 7000 litres of gelato are made each day.
• It’s a dumpling bonanza at Lotus Dining Group’s sun-soaked new two-level Sydney CBD diner. Try chicken dumplings fried crisp, XO scallops with chewy Chinese doughnuts to soak up the sauce, twice-cooked blackened char sui pork belly – made with a Vegemite-laced marinade – and a massive by-the-glass wine list.
• New Korean barbeque Soot, in Barangaroo, is all about communal dining, good times, and topnotch meat. Start with entrees like Sydney rock oysters with mandarin and Jeju Island balsamic mignonette, then fire up the smokeless tabletop grills to cook Wagyu.