Hyun Sik's Trip #3: 5 Restaurants that you should visit in Sydney

Even if you had an ‘almost fantastic’ visit to a certain place, you cannot say that it was perfect when you were not satisfied with the food that you had!

Here are Travel Squad’s top 5 restaurants in Sydney area so you can make your visit to Sydney more memorable.

1. Bar Reggio

This Italian based restaurant is located at Darlinghurst, just few minutes away from Hyde Park. It is a relatively small restaurant however the history of it is over 20 years.

To say about good things first, every choice from the menu will be satisfying to the most of the customers. They are affordable, great in both quantity and quality. Also the staffs are nice and friendly. It will cost about $50 for two people dining.

The only issue here is almost every time we visit, the number of customers is exceeding the maximum number of people that the restaurant can handle. In other words, you will have to wait every time you visit without a booking.

Bar Reggio is famous for their traditional Italian style pizza. We strongly recommend you to sacrifice few bucks to get a large pizza over small ones because the size difference is just huge.

2. Grounds of Alexandria

Similar to Bar Reggio, a problem of the place will be the waiting time. According to personal experience, the average waiting time is close to 30 minutes during weekdays, and an hour in weekends. 

However, this place provides very different experience to Bar Reggio. If Bar Reggio is like a comfortable place to have some loud chat with your mates, The grounds of Alexandria has antique, gourmet and traditional atmosphere coming from their lovely interior layout and a variety of activities (The Grounds Market every weekends, cuddling with farm animals, Garden, Coffee Academy etc).

Average cost for two people is about $75. It is definitely costly compared to what you actually eat, but for the majority, it won’t feel like ‘rip off’ thinking about the activities, atmosphere that you can experience.

3. Sepia

Unlike the other two, Sepia is one of the Sydney’s prestigious restaurants with reputation of its extremely high quality food. It was awarded ‘The World’s Top 50 Restaurants’ in 2015. When we talk about this place, we have to mention about the famous star chef ‘Martin Benn’ who is awarded ‘Chef of the Year’ in 2015. From his experience of French and Japanese cuisine throughout his career, we can experience the unusual harmony of the two distinct cuisines in a single meal.

 As you might have expected, you will have to spend lots of money to experience those finest quality food. Usually 5 course menu costs $160 per person and 9 course tasting menu costs $190 per person. With some drinks menu, you will have to pay about $500 for two people dining. However you will easily find out that the price is reasonable when you have tasted the creative, unique, but still faultless and superb quality dishes.

4. Mappen Noodle Bar

This Japanese retro style restaurant will easily catch your eyes with distinct interior layout. This place is popular among workers in Sydney CBD since the price of every menu will never hurt you. There are few Japanese noodle options such as Udon, Soba and Ramen with a variety of choices of sauce/soup. Our recommendation is to have any Bukkake noodles because it is quite rare and obviously very delicious.

After you choose your noodle, it is time to pick some self served Japanese Tempura or Gyoza along side of the noodle section. Noodles, few Tempuras and a drink will definitely cost lower than $20 per person. If you want grab a quick but nice lunch, this place should be one of the best options in Sydney.

5. Embers Mezze Bar 

Australia is famous for its multicultural society. Therefore, it is a great privilege to experience many different cuisines in Sydney. We recommend you to take all the benefits of this great opportunity in Sydney. The last restaurant ‘Embers Mezze Bar’ provides middle-eastern, especially Lebanese style food. When you first see the menu, the unfamiliar names on the menu for the people who have never experienced middle-eastern cuisine may be confusing. However the restaurant provides great quality Lebanese food with modern twist so it will suit most people’s taste.

If Sepia was high-end quality restaurant and Mappen Noodle Bar was low-cost everyone’s favorite, Embers Mezze Bar is just ordinary mid-range restaurant which will suit to most people for every purpose. It will cost about $60 per two people dining.