The Top Nine Dining and Drinking Trends to Look Out For in Sydney in 2025

The new year is here and with it, a delectable 12 months of delicious innovations from chefs and bartenders across the Harbour City. Sydney has one of the most dynamic hospitality scenes in the country, with a reliable supply of new venues, dishes, cocktails and all manner of culinary delights vying to be the city's latest epicurean obsession.

But which of these fads are merely a flash in the pan and which will actually influence the way we eat and drink over the coming year? We've scoured the city for the fresh thinking currently popping on menus to name the emergent trends hungry Sydneysiders will be tucking into throughout 2025.

Mighty (and Mini) Martinis

Move over frozé, Aperol icy poles and boxtails — Sydney's most exciting drinks trend is ditching the gimmicks and getting back to basics. In recent months, some of Sydney's most exciting bar openings have been anchored to that most classic of classics, the martini, including Concrete Playground's current pick for Sydney's best bar, Bobbie's in Double Bay.

While conventional wisdom, especially when it comes to cocktails, might suggest more is more, martinis are now not only shaken and stirred — they've also shrunk. The mini martini, with a pour as small as 30ml, is being pitched as the aperitif of the moment, offering a swift strong sip before moving onto wine that also downsizes the often eye-watering price tag of larger cocktails.

Bread and Butter Gets a Glow-Up

Jason Loucas

The flavour and finesse some fine diners have already brought to the humble bread basket has lofted this once forgettable nibble to a scene-stealing event in its own right, but the elevation of the bread course is reaching ever more impressive heights in Sydney right now. Newcomers like ATTENZIONE! Food and Wine in Redfern, where you can enjoy a house-made fougasse flatbread spread with wildflower butter, are leaning into the culinary bells and whistles that are increasingly expected by Sydney diners but tilda, the 110-seat ground-floor restaurant at the recently refitted Sofitel Sydney Wentworth, has set the gold standard with its $39 bread service.

This theatrical affair features a roving trolly laden with accoutrements — chives, spring onions, smoked salt, honey and more — to be folded through a generous dollop of whipped cultured Pepe Saya. This pimped-up, made-to-order butter is then ready to be slathered on a saltbush focaccia from AP bakery — truly, the upper crust.

One-Stop Hospitality Precincts for a Nose-to-Tail Evening

Multi-venue hospitality hubs have been gaining momentum in recent months, with some of 2024's biggest openings — The Bristol, Walker Street, The International and Wunderlich Lane, to name only a few — falling into this ascendent category of dining destination. Delivering convenience and quality all under one roof, these one-stop shops allow patrons to enjoy all the variety of a venue hopping evening without having to pound the pavement or brave the weather.

A New Wave of Authentic Japanese Dining

Japanese cuisine is hardly difficult to come by in Sydney — throw a stone in any direction and you're likely to hit a steaming bowl of ramen, a freshly charred skewer from a robtata grill, a stack of sushi train plates or a tasty bento box. However, there's far more to Japanese dining than just this handful of familiar feeds. A influx omakases — the quintessential Japanese chef's table experience — made a notable impression on Sydney diners in 2021–22, and more casual Isakaya-style venues are also increasingly commonplace in the Harbour City. However, a handful of new openings in 2024 made the case for an even more immersive way to experience the flavours and culture of Japan.

Ramen Auru in Crows Nest has recreated a classic Tokyo noodle house in stunning detail, complete with shokken ordering machine, and a tatami dining space with low tables and fluorescent tube lighting. In the CBD, JOJI uses a more contemporary lens to conjure a sophisticated, modern Japanese bar, while Prefecture 48, a six-venue dining precinct on Sussex Street, is showcasing lesser-known dining styles including kaiseki — Japan's answer to the degustation.

Checking In for a Great Meal

Sydney hotels have a well-established pedigree of excellent dining, with recent openings such as Brasserie 1930, helmed by Nick Hildebrandt and Brent Savage of Bentley Group at Capella Sydney, and Mitch Orr's Kiln at Ace Hotel pushing the standard ever higher. The recently renovated Sofitel Sydney Wentworth features four new hospitality venues, including Vietnamese-French fusion fine diner Delta Rue and sprawling rooftop watering hole Wentworth Bar, while The Eve at the Surry Hills Village development, a surprisingly lush and tropical inner-city boutique stay by TFE Hotels, will feature multiple hospitality options by Liquid & Larder, the team behind celebrated Sydney venues including Bistecca and The Gidley, including Lottie, a leafy rooftop poolside Mexican mezcaleria.

Some restaurateurs are also trying their hands as hoteliers. Seafood savants Josh and Julie Niland are opening their first boutique hotel above the new digs of the pair's flagship fine diner Saint Peter in Paddington, while the Continental Deli's expansion on Australia Street in Newtown will feature a trio of two-bedroom suites in addition to the development's three new hospitality venues.

Comeback Kings

It has been a bruising few years for Sydney's hospitality sector. The lockdowns and restrictions of the pandemic years followed by a cost-of-living crisis that has shown little sign of slowing have left a litany of restaurant and bar closures in their wake. However, while these turbulent times have spelled disaster for some businesses, others have found a silver lining.

While established businesses have struggled to hold on to customers, new openings have remained enticing for Sydney diners. Seizing on this, some restaurateurs have relaunched or rebranded their businesses to ride this wave of enthusiasm for all things new. Raja, the much-lauded mod-Indian fine diner in Kings Cross by Nick and Kirk Mathews-Bowden, closed less than a year after it's launch, only to rise from the ashes as Teddy, an affordable retro neighbourhood eatery and bar far better tooled to meet the needs of fiscally fraught diners. Donut Papi, the popular Filipino bakery which closed in July 2024, relaunched in September as House of Papi, a meryenda concept showcasing a broader spectrum of Filipino eats. And legendary late night Chinese restaurant Golden Century, which closed in 2021, announced in November 2024 that it would be resurrected at Crown Towers, once again serving up dim sum and fresh seafood, including its famed pipis in XO sauce.

Happy Hours for Happy Wallets

While happy hours are nothing new, their scale and scope in Sydney has exploded as restaurants and bars have battled to coax back cash-strapped punters with cost-of-living-defying deals. More than just shaving a dollar or two off the cost of a house wine or schooner of beer, many of these discounts are impressively generous, such as Franca's $5 martinis, Teddy's all-day discounts on Sundays or Bobbie's Golden Hour, where customers can not only enjoy $10 cocktails but also free snacks.

Other venues, such as Arms Length in Kings Cross and Island Radio in Surry Hills, are helping their customers to save with bolt-on bottomless deals, with free-flowing alcoholic beverages for less than the cost of the average bottle of wine.

Breathing New Life Into Disused Spaces

Ben Hansen

Like any major city, Sydney is in a constant state of flux, with disused and dilapidated buildings demolished to make way for shiny new architectural wonders. However, the time between a property being sold and the beginning of its redevelopment can sometimes be months or even years. Seeing a ripe opportunity, hospitality maven Maurice Terzini of Bondi Icebergs Dining Room and Bar fame has pioneered a new model for hospitality businesses, transforming buildings awaiting demolition into pop-up eateries. This brainwave has resulted in two successful ventures to date: Snack Kitchen, a relaxed cucina-deli hybrid opened in partnership with Terzini's son Sylvester, and Mirage KX, an edgy queer-coded cabaret club collaboration with House Mince's Peter Shopovsky, both located in Potts Point.

The Maybe Sammy Crew have partnered with low-to-no waste mixologist Matt Whiley to launch a similar venture in Haymarket. Little Cooler is punky dive bar concept that used 100 per cent repurposed materials to create its grungy, uber-cool fitout in a basement location set to redeveloped in late 2026.

Top image: Jason Loucas