Six Places to Host Your Next Long Lunch When You Want to Feel Extra Fancy This Summer

Ever wanted to host your own garden party but don’t quite have the real estate to do so? Chiswick is the ultimate shortcut for hosting the elegant afternoon soiree of your dreams. Situated in the ever leafy and lovely Woollahra, Matt Moran’s original kitchen-garden restaurant places an emphasis on using produce from the veggie and herb patches that surround the light and bright dining room. Dine on small plates of beetroot salad, or stuffed zucchini flowers and mains of whole woodfired rainbow trout, or crumbed Berkshire pork cutlet. They also harvest the rosemary from the garden, which provides a beautiful herbaceous note to the seasonal bellini, replete with Grey Goose vodka, pear and prosecco.

Image: Rachel Kara.

This spectacular seafood restaurant is known for its gorgeous verandah bar, beautiful views and beautiful cocktails. Located right next to Rose Bay wharf (so you can arrive by boat, or depart by seaplane), Catalina focuses on showcasing seafood from across Australia. Book in for a long table lunch and work your way through crispy-skin Cone Bay barramundi, poached West Australian marron and Maloolabar king prawns. Order one of the most baller cocktails on the menu — the Au Pear — with Grey Goose vodka, Hennessy Vsop, Poire William, sugar and lemon, and soak up the views from the verandah bar. Now that’s fancy.

Don’t have cash flow to float your own boat? You can feel like you do by booking in for a long lunch at Regatta, Rose Bay’s absolute waterfront restaurant. Dine in the pier-situated restaurant surrounded by the ocean, watching boats motor in and out of the jetty. Knock back freshly shucked oysters, yellowfin tuna tartare, seared Atlantic scallops and grilled Fremantle octopus, all while sipping on a Lychee Cosmo 21 that’s made with Grey Goose vodka, Amaro Montenegro, lychee, cranberry, and lime. It’s a little Sex and the City, but by the sea in Sydney.

You wouldn’t expect to find a cocktail bar and dining haven hidden away between a supermarket and a library, but that’s exactly where you’ll find Little Jean. From the elegant, ever-changing fresh flower arrangements on entry to the denim-overall-apron sporting waitstaff, this Double Bay hot spot excels in both design and service. Book in for leisurely lunch and dine on wagyu skirt steak with smoked truffle butter; or snapper belly with bacon dashi, pearl barley and a soft egg. Afterwards, order a chocolate fondant, or go for a peppy liquid dessert, and order a Little Jean Salted Caramel Espresso Martini. Just be sure to ask for Grey Goose vodka.

Dining in one of the city’s most architecturally interesting buildings is always going to make you feel like a baller, and it’s even better when you time it for a sunny day overlooking a glittering harbour. Each level of Barangaroo House has its own personality, and it’s overseen by celebrated chef Matt Moran. Book in for a lingering long lunch at Bea on the first level and let chef Tom Haynes cook up charred tiger prawns with finger lime, or a grass-fed T-bone steak, as the bar whips you up a classic Grey Goose vodka martini. Save room for one of the signature wattleseed caramel koalas.

Photo: Kitti Gould.

Chase Kojima and Victor Liong’s elaborate new waterfront restaurant marries Chinese flavours with Japanese cooking techniques to deliver a dining experience worth rounding the troops for. The bar will shake you up any classic cocktail with Grey Goose vodka, and there’s a dedicated caviar service. This includes house marinated trout roe and Siberian Osetra caviar, each of which come served with cashew cream, shallots, chives, tea eggs and potato rice crackers, making for what is probably the fanciest build-your-own-snack you’ll ever have.