The 28 Best BYO Restaurants in Sydney for When You're on a Budget (or Want to Bring Your Favourite Drop)

The mezze-heavy menu at this small Lebanese restaurant in Enmore is designed for a laidback nibble and a glass of wine. Start with the house-made hummus, a selection of pickles and the garlic dip — made with so much pure garlic it’ll have you tearing up a little. Then, make a proper feast of it by adding some larger dishes. We suggest the fried cauliflower and the arak and garlic prawns.

Emma’s Snack Bar — which also makes our best Sydney restaurants list — serves up beer, cider and wine, but you can also BYO vino. We recommend grabbing a couple of bottles from the nearby P&V or Famelia, both on Enmore Road.

When it opened in Melbourne in 2013, Lee Ho Fook quickly became known for Chef Victor Liong’s distinctive approach, blending classical European technique with the depth, diversity, and soul of Chinese cooking. The Sydney edition — which arrived in 2025 — carries that same spirit from its handsome setting in Castlereagh Street’s Porter House Precinct, with menu highlights like prawn toast topped with Tasmanian sea urchin, a standout crispy eggplant with spiced red vinegar, and Yunnan-style murray cod with chilli cumin spice, garlic and chilli oil.

And while there’s plenty to explore on sommelier Louella Mathews’ expansive wine list, which spans Australian and European varietals from both emerging and established growers, the venue lets you bring your own bottle on Mondays only, at no extra charge.

Image: Nikki To.

Sit down for a meal at Arthur and you’ll have some idea of how chef-owner Tristan Rosier best remembers his grandfather. The original Arthur, with his love of getting friends and family together over food, was the main inspiration behind Rosier’s 35-seat restaurant, which he opened with partner Rebecca Fanning in 2018 in an impressive Victorian terrace in Surry Hills.

To pair with its seasonal, produce-driven set menus — and complementing the all-Australian wine list — Arthur has introduced a premium BYO service for Saturday and Sunday lunch service. While the corkage fee is on the pricier side, the team handles everything once you hand over your bottle, from selecting the correct stemware to proper decanting, ensuring you enjoy your wine as intended.

By day, 141 Glenayr Avenue in Bondi is Tommy Panini, an FYP fave that’s slinging some of the best sandwiches in Sydney. After dark, it transforms into Pizza Laundry, a buzzy NYC-inspired pizza and wine bar, with indoor and outdoor seating for up to 25 people.

Pizza Laundry also offers free BYO, which means you can pair your handpicked pour with a thin, crispy, 14-inch pie like the miso mushroom, caramelised onion and confit garlic, or the homemade pork sausage and mozzarella with vodka sauce.

Despite its humble facade, Cairo has carved out a cult following over the past decade as one of the most beloved restaurants in the Inner West. One bite of the bronzed Egyptian-style falafels and you’ll likely know why — they’re the headline act on a menu that is an homage to the family kitchen of owner Hesham El Masry.

Whether you’re going all in on a hefty falafel pita pocket or adding them on as a side to the always excellent mixed plates, you can pair your meal with a bottle of your choosing. And with P&V Wine and Liquor just across the road, there’s no need to lug those bottles far.

Image: Destination NSW.

ATTENZIONE! Food and Wine is Redfern’s vibe-heavy, “Italian-ish” pseudo-osteria that pays a broad-brush homage to the dining cultures of continental Europe — with a few Asian riffs thrown in for good measure. While the menu shuffles regularly, a few tried-and-true staples have come to demand the repeated attention of diners, such as the pico XL — fat, juicy strands of pasta that serve as a vehicle for a range of sauces, including cacio e pepe and nduja crema with Kinkawooka mussels.

An impressive wine list features plenty of homegrown drops, but also an emphasis on the team’s favourite Italian varietal, nebbiolo. The venue also allows you to bring your own bottle, but with a few conditions: corkage is $50 per bottle for dinner or $30 if your table’s average food spend per diner reaches $120. It also offers free BYO for all lunch services in 2026, with one free 750ml bottle per couple and the regular BYO policy for any additional bottles.

Chinese Noodle House sits just across the way from Chinese Noodle Restaurant, yet another budget-friendly dumpling joint within the Prince Centre. Similar to its neighbour, it’s the sizzling plates and steaming baskets of dumplings that attract the crowds, and while some love the sticky braised eggplant at Noodle Restaurant, others prefer the crispier fried version here.

One of the best things about this always-buzzing spot is that it’s BYO, so head on over to one of the nearby Red Bottle outposts beforehand and grab a couple of long necks or a bottle of hearty red and give in to the excesses of Chinatown.

Image: Trent van der Jagt

Haymarket’s Porkfat stands out as an elegant alternative to Sydney’s often chaotic and dressed-down Thai dining scene. The food here is served in delicately hand-painted ceramics from Wiang Galon, an ancient city famous for its religious history and artistic legacy, while the flavours come from the owner’s hometown of Saraburi in central Thailand, with some surprising offerings hidden amongst the classics.

Tuck into dishes like MB7 wagyu striploin crying tiger, or a smoky, aromatic pork larb with your own bottle of vino — the venue is licensed for BYO wine for lunch and dinner.

Image: Leigh Griffiths

One of the great things about Japanese food is that it rarely leaves you feeling horrendously full, even after scoffing an insane amount of it. Which means that an unlimited feasting situation at somewhere like Okami packs a serious punch in the value department. For $42.80, you can go to town on as much sushi and sashimi, karaage chicken, agedashi tofu, chicken sausage skewers and takoyaki as you can handle, knowing you’ll probably even have room left over for brown sugar mochi for dessert.

The Illawarra Road spot also allows you to bring in your own wine (or champagne, if you’re that way inclined) for $10 a bottle — surely making this one of the best deals in town right now.

Glebe’s fan-favourite ramen shop turns out mighty impressive noodle soups. On top of your usual chasu, black garlic and pork varieties (for which you can choose a broth of soy, miso, shio or pork tonkotsu), there are specialties like the gyokai tonkotsu, featuring a seafood-spiked tonkotsu soy base, egg noodles, roasted pork and a homemade caramelised garlic oil, as well as the tsukemen, a cold, deconstructed bowl that comes with a punchy dipping sauce.

Best of all, Ramen Goku lets you BYO wine. We recommend picking a crisp white wine to cut through the rich ramen broth from the nearby Camperdown Cellars.

Images: Trent van der Jagt

Derrel’s is the nostalgic Indian diner in Camperdown from Brendan King (ex-Baba’s Place). This inviting eatery has a big naughties energy, drawing from Western Sydney takeout shops and your grandma’s house circa 2004.

The menu is kept simple. There are a few snacks and share plates like samosa chaat and tandoori wings, a trio of kathi rolls that pile tandoori chicken or hara bhara onto flaky paratha flatbread, and a selection of curries paired with rice, roti, lime, onion and chutney. Plus, the restaurant is BYO, so feel free to grab a few beers from Camperdown Cellars across the road or bring a bottle of your favourite natty wine to pair with your tandoori chicken plate.

One word: roti. Another three words: get the roti. Mamak is famous for a good reason, and that reason is flaky, buttery, delicious and dipped in curry. But don’t bypass the satay options here — they’re just as good.

For $4 per person, you can also bring a bottle with you. A slightly dry white, such as a riesling or chenin blanc, will pair brilliantly with your meal. Hot tip: get one member of your party to line up while the other heads off to the bottle shop — lines are a common occurence here.

When you can walk away from a dinner having shared a starter, enjoyed a delicious pasta or main, not been charged an exorbitant rate for corkage, and you’ve only had to fork out between $30 and $40 per head, it’s safe to say you’ll be paying the restaurant a second visit. And it’s exactly why Bar Reggio has amassed such a loyal crowd of regulars.

If you’re looking for somewhere chill and cosy, this ain’t it. It’s a frantic, non-stop experience from the moment you sit down till the moment you walk out the door. And don’t be surprised if, as soon as your plates are cleared, you’re handed the bill and informed that they need the table because there is a line out the door — an all-too-common sight at one of Sydney’s top Italian restaurants.

Image: Leticia Almeida

You might be surprised to hear it, but Sean’s is BYO-friendly. However, it also has one of the highest corkage fees on this list, at $35 per bottle and $60 for magnums.

Nonetheless, if you do desire to bring your own booze to Sean’s, you can. Sip on your favourite vino while dining on brilliant seafood and taking in the Bondi Beach views. And once you’ve finished, your bill is hand-written, and your leftovers are wrapped up in tinfoil, ready for you to relive your experience the next day. It’s easily one of the best BYO restaurants in Sydney, even if that BYO doesn’t come cheap.

The wise and experienced elder of Sydney’s Indian dining scene, North Strathfield institution Abhi’s has been delighting guests with sophisticated and artfully prepared dishes since before the Berlin Wall fell. Founder and head chef Kumar Mahadevan was trained at the prestigious Taj Hotel Group in Mumbai, and he’s dedicated his life to bringing the most authentic Indian recipes — including tandoori flavours of the north, seafood delicacies from Goa and classics from his native Chennai — to Sydney. 

Abhi’s also lets you bring your own wine to enjoy with signature dishes like palak patta chaat — a mix of spinach leaves with crispy lentil batter topped with yoghurt, dates and tamarind — or Goan fish curry of Humpty Doo barramundi cooked in a fragrant mix of coriander, cumin, turmeric and ground coconut.

Alphabet Street is where to go for some of the best Thai food in Sydney. Its bubblegum-pink walls also make it a bit of an Instagram fixture. Leaning more towards the upper end of the spectrum than your standard Thai establishment, this venue specialises in flavoursome small bites designed to share.

And for $8 per person, groups can bring their own wine or champagne along with them, either from home or one of the three nearby bottle shops. But do note that there is no BYO on Friday or Saturday evenings.

A Norton Street stalwart and true icon of Sydney’s Little Italy, Bar Italia has been a tried-and-true spot for a feast since 1952. Whether you sit within the trattoria’s nostalgia-laden dining room or in the courtyard out back, come on your lonesome or with a group of ten, the buzzing spot overflows with low-key, good-time vibes.

There’s a boundless menu, a $1 corkage fee and strict rules — “no skim, no soy, cash only” — accompanying efficient service, generous servings of pizza and pasta and a bright roll call of house-made gelatos. You’ll feel right at home in this Sydney BYO restaurant.

This Turkish delight in Enmore serves mezze fit for a king. Start with an assortment of dips in a rainbow of flavours, including parsley, jajik (garlic), chilli, beetroot, carrot, spinach, hummus, and baba ganoush, accompanied by a slab of oven-baked Turkish bread, then move on to sizzling kebabs grilled over charcoal and traditional wood-fired pide. 

It’s also BYO — and they don’t even charge corkage for the privilege. Finish with a strong, aromatic Turkish coffee and a slice of baklava or head next door for some of the city’s best gelato at Cow and the Moon.

Image: Cassandra Hannagan

And while it might feel a little cheeky to wander through a shopping mall with a bottle of wine in tow, the venue is licensed for BYO wine for a small per-person fee, so consider your next night out in Macquarie Park sorted.

Modern Australian restaurant Jensens is one of the Shire’s most stylish dining spaces. It’s also one of the best BYO restaurants in Sydney — if you come on the right day. Jensens lets you BYO wine Thursday to Sunday for lunch, and Wednesday, Thursday and Sunday for dinner.

That means you can bring your own bottle of sparkling to pair with some Sydney rock oysters, a gutsy red to have with one of the house-aged steaks and then some dessert wine to sample with your soufflé or rich banana pudding drenched in butterscotch sauce.

Image: Alexander Hoy

Two Chaps is one of the best things you’ll find behind a garage roller door in Sydney. The Chapel Street cafe has a strong following among vegetarians and pastry lovers, and for good reason — the entire menu is meat-free, and the kitchen bakes all its own bread and pastries. It’s home to one of the best breakfasts in the city and is one of the top cafes in Sydney.

Friday and Saturday evenings feature a monthly rotating pasta menu that highlights local ingredients and cheeses — and on these nights, you can BYO wine for $10 a pop.

Image: Alana Dimou