When you’re an editor of The Sydney Morning Herald Good Food Guide , there are two questions you receive more than most people. “Can you get me a window table at Quay?” and “what’s your favourite restaurant?” Firstly, most tables are by the window at Quay after its $4 million renovation five years ago. Secondly, no.
The Good Food Guide ’s first editor, Leo Schofield, said it best in a Good Weekend feature published in 1985. “I don’t have a favourite restaurant. Restaurants are like clothes.
You wear what feels right on the day.” More and more, this notion has informed the venues we choose to feature in the guide, which this year includes more than 500 reviews, from fine diners in the CBD to a Tenterfield wine bar and a Penrith pub. It also permeates our list of Good Food Guide 2025 finalists for the three biggest awards – a restaurant in a Marrickville warehouse is just as vital to Sydney as a three-hatter on the harbour.
You can also consider the following list as a cheat-sheet to the most exciting places to eat in Sydney and NSW right now. There are modern classic restaurants at the top of their game, the most creative, precise and innovative chefs, and newcomers bringing fresh and thrilling ideas to the table. Vittoria Coffee restaurant of the year finalists Baba’s Place, Marrickville Behind a garage door, nestled between breweries and poultry wholesalers, is this cosy converted-warehouse restaurant that delivers a mash-up of cuisines.
Fringed lamps.
