The 25 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 while you sip on a glass of wine that you can BYO. 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 mezze 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.

Despite its humble facade, Cairo has carved out a cult following as one of the best restaurants in the Inner West. The ingredients are super fresh, there’s plenty of space to dine in, the food is made to order, and the menu is a truly authentic one — thanks to owner Hesham El Masry. He has 12 years of experience in hospitality and brought it back home with this venture, which is an homage to his mum’s Egyptian cooking.

There’s heaps to love about the food here, but we are obsessed with the falafels, which you can pair with a bottle of your choosing. The spot stocks a rotating selection of craft beer and lets you bring your own wine. And with P&V Wine and Liquor just across the road, there’s no need to lug those bottles far.

Image: Destination NSW.

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 plates and baskets of dumplings that attract the crowds, and while some love the sticky special braised eggplant at Noodle Restaurant, others prefer the crispier fried version here.

One of the best things about the Sydney restaurant is that it’s BYO, so head on over to one pf 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

When in Glebe, don’t miss the chance to dine at Ramen Goku. This fan-favourite ramen shop turns out mighty impressive noodle soups. For the broth, you can choose soy, miso, shio or pork tonkotsu. On top of your usual chasu, black garlic and pork ramens, there are specialties like the Gyokai Tonkotsu miso, served in a tonkatsu soy base with seafood flavour and roasted pork, and the yokohama tonkotsu of roasted pork, bamboo shoots and ajitsuke tamago (marinated boiled egg).

Best of all, Ramen Goku lets you BYO wine. We recommend getting a white wine with a little sweetness (to cut through the rich ramen broth) from the nearby Camperdown Cellars.

Images: Trent van der Jagt

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. It has three Sydney branches, plus one in Melbourne, Brisbane and Seminyak in Bali. Obviously, you’ll hit up the roti menu when visiting this Sydney BYO restaurant, but don’t bypass the satay options — they’re just as good.

For $4 per person, you can also bring a few bottles of wine with you. A slightly dry white, such as a riesling or chenin blanc, will pair brilliantly with your roti and satay. Hot tip: get one member of your party to line up while the other heads off to the bottle shop. The earlier you can snap a spot, the better.

Derrel’s is his nostalgic Indian diner in Camperdown from Brendan King (The Lady Hampshire, ex-Baba’s Place). Located right next door to The Hampshire, 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.

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 such a loyal crowd of regulars.

But a chill and cosy restaurant, this is not. 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. And this isn’t just one of the best BYO restaurants in Sydney, it’s also one of the city’s top Italian restaurants.

Image: Leticia Almeida

You might be surprised to hear it, but Sean’s — one of the best restaurants in Sydney — is BYO-friendly. However, it also happens to have one of the biggest corkage fees of any other Sydney restaurant on this list, coming in at $35 per bottle and $60 for those bringing in magnums.

Nonetheless, if you so desire to bring your own booze to Sean’s, you can. Sip on your favourite vino while dining on brilliant seafood and gawking at 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.

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 along with them, either from home or one of the three nearby bottle shops (all within a short five-minute walk). But do note that there is no BYO on Friday or Saturday evenings.

The 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. Come for the delicious suckling lamb, sizzling adana kebab grilled over charcoal and authentic woodfired pide. Start the meal with an assortment of dips in a rainbow of flavours, which includes parsley, jajik (garlic), chilli, beetroot, carrot, spinach, hummus and baba ganoush, accompanied by a slab of oven-baked Turkish bread. 

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 to make things easy, this Sydney BYO restaurant is situated right next to Vintage Cellars and BWS. Consider your next cheap night out in Macquarie Park sorted.

Modern Australian restaurant Jensen’s is where The Shire residents go for a celebratory feed. It’s also one of the best BYO restaurants in Sydney — if you come on the right day. Jensen 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 souffle 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 — everything on the menu is vego and the kitchen bakes all its own bread and pastries. It’s home to some of the best breakfast in the city and is one of the top cafes in Sydney.

Then on Friday and Saturday evenings, the team serves up a special dinner menu, championing homemade pastas and local cheeses. During these nights, you can also BYO wine and beer. Either bring something from home or hit up the small local bottle shop on the corner of Chapel Street and Illawarra Road.

Set along Newtown’s Enmore Road, this joint is serving up some of Sydney’s best Korean fried chicken. Opened by sibling duo Julie and Jeff Oh back in 2017, the shop has become known around the city for its signature dish, served in four styles: original, sweet chilli, soy garlic and ‘spicy bomb’.

It’s best to pair your fried chicken with traditional bibimbap, which is an Oh family recipe. The rice bowl comes topped with a whole heap of veggies, including radish kimchi, bean sprouts, carrots and shiitake mushroom, and is a refreshing accompaniment to the deep-fried main attraction. House-made kimchi and other more Westernised sides like fries and slaw are available. And, if you’re dining in, you can bring your own wine.

This Haymarket stalwart specialises in its namesake dish: slow-cooked hot bowls of Lanzhou-style handmade noodles served with beef, chilli and veggies. Alongside bowls of hearty, meaty noodles, Mr Chen also does plenty of Chinese staples, including mapo tofu, sweet and sour pork and tom yum fried rice.

The show-stopping deal here, though, is the dumplings — visit during ‘dumpling happy hour’ for a serious steal, with super cheap dumplings available every single day from 5–10pm (a worthy excuse to shift the team lunch to dinner instead, we think you’ll agree). So round up your workmates, grab some drinks en route (it’s free BYO at this Sydney restaurant) and make a night of it.

This Taiwanese chain was founded way back in the 70s and opened on Aussie shores in 2008. With eight Sydney outposts — MLC Centre, World Square, Westfield Chatswood, Westfield Miranda, The Star, Greenwood Plaza, Broadway Sydney and Gateway Sydney — Din Tai Fung is probably the best-known dumpling haunt in town.

And although shopping centres may not create the best dining ambience, Din Tai Fung’s venues are often bustling thanks to their convenient locations. Thankfully, each of its Sydney restaurants lets you BYO wine and beer, so grab a six-pack from down the road and settle in for a huge feast, ordering up some of the best dumplings in Sydney.