The Best New Sydney Restaurants of 2021

La Salut is the latest showstopping venue from the team behind Love Tilly Devine and Ragazzi. Hidden inside Redfern’s overhauled Norfolk House & Hotel, the buzzy 40-seat venue boasts a sleek renovated bar space lined with imported Spanish wines. At the helm of La Salut is Love Tilly’s Matt Swieboda and Nate Hatwell, alongside Executive Chef and co-owner Scott McComas-Williams, who have crafted an exceptional drinks list and delectable bar food.

You can begin the night a selection of jamon, sliced fresh to order and served up with sourdough before you make a choice. Do you get several rounds of bites for the table or opt for a large plates with even larger flavours? That is the question. Drinks-wise, the wine list is broad and dynamic, largely focusing on different regions of Spain and a good selection of quality Australian drops. And while the vino options are exciting, the price range is by no means oppressive.

Image: Nikki To.

Started as a family-run food stall at the Summer Hill Flour Mill Markets by brother and sister Juan Carlos Negrete and Marissa Negrete, Maiz is an all-day Mexican brunch spot that specialises in tortas. These addictive fresh-baked bread rolls come piled high with chorizo, scrambled eggs and pulled pork, and will have you returning time and time again.

Set in a beautiful openair courtyard of a historic 1830s building, Maiz sets itself apart with big, bold flavours, hefty serving sizes and a unique take on Mexican cuisine Sydney hasn’t seen enough of. The menu is inspired by Negrete’s time living in the central region of Mexico. The neat selection of brunch options purposefully steers away from tacos and highlights other mainstays of Mexico’s cuisine instead. Topping off the whole experience are cuppas from small-batch Sydney coffee roaster Madding Crowd Coffee, plus an array of mezcal, tequila, Mexican beers and boozy agua frescas.

Underground CBD favourite Burrow Bar moved from its original home in De Mestre Place to 96 Clarence Street with big plans to expand into two levels and open a restaurant above the bar. Those plans are now a reality with the opening of Cash Only Diner, a Vietnamese eatery serving up dishes with roots in owner Chau Tran’s family heritage — and the cuisine of Hue, Vietnam.

Tran has taken dishes she learned from her mother — a classically trained chef who studied at a French finishing school in Hue — and, with the help of co-owner Bryce McDonough and the Burrow Bar team, has put together a menu that bursts with flavour and showcases the cuisine of the coastal Vietnamese city. Highlights include the cá kho tộ, caramelised and braised salmon served in a clay pot and dripping in marinade; the giò thủ, a pork and mushroom terrine; and C.O. spring rolls filled with prawn and minced pork.

What happens when you combine two of the city’s hottest chefs, an award-winning young-gun sommelier and a suburb on the brink of a revival? Bistrot 916. Run by Restaurant Hubert colleagues chef Dan Pepperell (Alberto Lounge, 10 William Street and Frankie’s) and sommelier Andy Tyson (Alberto Lounge), together with long-time Rockpool Dining Group chef Michael Clift, the Potts Point restaurant is now welcoming in Sydney Francophiles through its folding glass doors.

French classics are on hand — such as chicken liver parfait and pork rillette — or you can follow Pepperell down the path towards the more unusual. Boudin noir spring rolls, fried lamb’s brains with smoked eel mayonnaise and snail pasta await you here, before a quick veer left leads you back to French bistro staples for the Plats Principaux: duck, steak or lobster served, of course, with frites. Taking over the space next to Fratelli Paradiso, Bistrot 916 is the latest exciting addition to Potts Point, and the exclamation mark on what has been a meteoric return for a suburb burnt so harshly by lockdowns.

Image: Cassandra Hannagan.

My Mother’s Cousin is a classic pizza and wing joint that nails the simple things. The dough for each of the pizzas is fermented for 48 hours and topped with high-quality ingredients that stray from the mundane while staying true to flavours Sydneysiders love to see on their slices.

Simple classics such as fennel Italian sausage with roasted capsicum and white cheese, garlic confit and caramelised onion are on the menu here, alongside a spicy nduja, sopressa salumi and ricotta pizza that’s calling out for a drizzle of hot honey. While the pizza can be a certified show-stealer, the wings hold their own on the menu. You can order your chicken pieces smothered in your choice of hot honey, Phil’s in-house hot sauce, lime and pepper, or original recipe. Accompanying the chook is an array of sauces including truffle mayo and some good ol’ gravy, all created in-house.

“This is an actual restaurant in a warehouse. Where else is that happening is Sydney?” Baba’s Place co-owner Alexander Kelly queries. Following a series of pop-ups that started in Newtown’s Rolling Penny, Baba’s Place has found a permanent home in a red brick warehouse on Sloane Street in Marrickville. The menu and the space pull from Kelly and fellow founder Jean-Paul El Tom’s southwest Sydney childhood.

You’ll find a Lebanese version of the Fillet-o-Fish based on El Tom’s dad’s favourite homemade fish burger, crispy roast chicken, and a bouillabaisse bolognese that combines the generational spag bol and the hand-pulled noodles of restaurants like Shang Lamb Soup. The interior looks to demonstrate the beauty of the suburban home with family photos, white frilly table cloths and 80s tableware. “Aspects of Sydney and Sydney’s culture, like pillars and red bricks and doilies, they’re all fucking beautiful,” Kelly says. With some of Sydney’s most exciting DJs on hand and plenty of rakia, Baba’s Place is fun, forward-thinking and has something to say.

Image: Cordelia Williamson

Lola’s is an expansive new space overlooking Bondi beach. The 94-seat bar and restaurant from Marco Ambrosino (Fratelli Paradiso) and Manny Spinola specialises in Mediterranean plates and seafood. The oysters are the obvious place to start here, with three different types on the menu, all shucked at the bar. From there, you can choose your own adventure between shareable snack plates and larger meals such as spiced lamb skewers and peri-peri chicken.

A tightly edited wine list crafted by sommeliers Louis West (Bentley Restaurant Group) and Mon Ditbunjong (Dear Sainte Eloise and Ragazzi) mixes artisanal producers from warmer European climates with local Australian drops. And, those looking for something stronger can hit the cocktail list, which features two type of martinis and twists on the bloody mary and rosita. Come for a drink with ocean views and you’ll be tempted by the enticing eats, or book a dinner reservation and you’ll end up getting lost in the drinks menu.

Casa Mia Osteria, a passion project from two Italian chefs, is all about Pinsa. Pinsa romana is a contemporary reinvention of ancient Roman pizza that is growing in popularity across Italy — the fluffy oval-shaped pizzas have a distinctly different appearance from their circular Naples-style cousins, but that’s not the most important distinguishing factor. That would be the dough, which combines three different types of flour, including rice and soy flour, and uses a ratio of 900 millilitres of water per one kilogram of flour. It results in the pinsa romana’s signature light and crunchy bases.

Toppings here balance the traditional and the inventive, from simple partnerships such as pork sausage and mushrooms, or a classic margherita, through to a truffle-heavy ham, brie and honey combo. Head over on a Wednesday to be treated to a whole pizza and a glass of wine for $20, or swing by on a weekend to discover Andrea Nazzari and Valerio Boncompagni cooking up Italian lunch treats.