We are always happy to host a food enthusiast’s article every now and then! So this time our blogger friend Roxana will share with us, and all of you, her tips for all foodies visiting Sydney! ENJOY!
For some of us, eating is just about sustenance. Some people would rather pop a pill in the morning than spend their time carefully chewing food and enjoying the taste of it. Those people would probably not have much fun in Sydney.
Everyone you meet who has visited Sydney always talks about how charming and fun it is, but most of those people forget to point out one important thing – the Australians love food, and that’s incredibly noticeable, even if you’re not a foodie. Unlike in some other countries, in Sydney, even two-star chefs take their time to greet their customers and ask them about the food. In short, Sydney is the best place to eat in the world right now.
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Sydney as one of the foodie capitals
In recent years, Sydney has emerged as a food capital of sorts. It has captured the eye of gourmands, and for a good reason – the restaurants and coffee shops in this city can only be described as incredible! Now, let’s take a look at why Sydney is listed in Booking.com’s list of the best cities for food, ahead of the traditionally great cities for it – Florence and Rome.
What’s quickly noticeable in Sydney is the egalitarianism of the food culture. In Sydney, breakfast is just as important as dinner, and great food is for everybody, at all times. If you want to turn up in shorts and order a 10-course degustation menu, you can do it in this charming city; no one will bat an eye. That’s what makes Sydney stand out among the other foodie capitals.
World-renowned restaurants
According to the tourists, the center of the culinary universe is in Melbourne, but, what do regular tourists know about food? Most of them like visiting popular restaurants just so they can say they’ve eaten there. If you want real food that tastes amazing, Sydney’s restaurants are the bomb!
Firedoor is an interesting place, and any foodie worth his salt must visit it. Anything that’s not been served raw is cooked over burning logs. That’s the method of cooking the chef Lennox Hastie (who’s English by the way) learned by living in the Basque Country. The interior of this restaurant might seem raw, almost medieval, but the food is prepared with such finesse that your taste buds will go crazy just by looking at it.
Fred’s is the second most exciting restaurant in Sydney. Its dining room is big, and the centerpiece of it is an open kitchen; it looks like something straight out of Gordon Ramsay’s cooking show. The chef of this restaurant is American, but her style of cooking is an excellent fit for Sydney.
If you want to have a memorable dinner with extraordinary wines, then Automata is the perfect place for you. The chef of this restaurant, Clayton Wells, is an Australian who spent several years in London, and it definitely shows. He incorporates a modernist technique into his cooking so gracefully that it’s almost unnoticeable. The flavors he’s able to construct echo and multiply by each bite, and that’s not something that just any chef knows how to do.
Coffee culture
For the Australians, coffee is not just fuel to get you through the day – it’s a way of life! This might come as a surprise since the early British settlers drank tea, and the first commercial espresso machine was installed in Melbourne in 1928. But, slowly, espresso machines and coffee infiltrated Sydney, and now the residents cannot imagine their day without a cup of coffee.
If you want to put some caffeine in you, avoid the main tourist areas and take a walk to Surrey Hills. In Taste on Feveaux Street, you’ll be able to get the best Campos long black coffee in the world. If you want to introduce a little anarchy to your senses, then visit The Reformatory Caffeine Lab. The Panama filtered coffee will leave you breathless.
Artisan approach to food and drinks
Sydney is well known for its artisan food markets and festivals such as Rootstock Sydney, and it comes as no surprise, because the locals love food, wine, beer, and conversation. When it comes to meat, and you’ll certainly hear about that at the markets, unlike some other nations, the Australians prefer a free-range method of farming husbandry, and possibly the best butcher in Sydney, Butcher Direct, is the prime example of that.
Maybe that’s the reason meat seemingly tastes better in the Land Down Under?
Two other things the Australians love are beer and wine. You’ll find many artisan wineries less than an hour’s drive from the city, so make sure to take The Sydney Wine Trail and taste the local nectar. When it comes to beer, the craft beer craze has caught the residents of Sydney too. There are so many microbreweries with excellent beer that even the snobbiest beer drinkers will be able to find something for themselves.
Roxana is a travel enthusiast and lifestyle consultant from Sydney and she loves to write about her adventures. She is all about the healthy lifestyle, loves to run with her husband and dogs and has fun cooking exotic meals for her family. Being a typical Aussie, she often hits the waves and loves beaches and sunshine! You can find out more about her writing following her on