Sydney’s Best New Restaurants 2014

Acme

Mitch Orr’s border-crossing cuisine combines with front-of-house charm to make not-an-Italian-restaurant Acme dangerously easy to like.

LP’S Quality Meats

The LP is ex-Tetsuya’s head chef Luke Powell; the meats are smoked in style, the quality is unquestionable.

Da Orazio

Maurice Terzini’s Da Orazio Pizza + Porchetta celebrates pizza, porchetta, and all things southern Italian in singular beachy, buzzy Bondi style.

Cho Cho San

As befits its party-vibe and Potts Point location Cho Cho San, the latest from the Longrain/Apollo crew, is modern Japanese dining, but on very much its own terms.

Guillaume

Guillaume Brahimi’s move from the Opera House hasn’t taken the wind out of his sails; the rooms may be smaller in scale but his flavours are as finely tuned as ever, and his clientele have much to sing about.

LuMi

Modern Italian is a slippery beast but at LuMi, former Ormeggio chef Federico Zanellato has it more than in hand as he fashions an Asian-inflected tasting menu that barely drops a stitch.

Papi Chulo

Sitting pretty on the Manly Wharf, Papi Chulo is a welcome sight for the ferry commuter, its copper-and-tile-detailed design conjuring the Americas just as surely as the siren song of the sweet musk of smoking meats.

Pei Modern

Big-hotel restaurants aren’t something the harbour city does particularly well, but the ante has just been upped with the boomerang-arrival of Mark Best’s Pei Modern Sydney.

Chaco Bar

And just like that, Sydney suddenly had a credible yakitori bar. The chicken-skewer essentials at pocket-rocket Chaco include the likes of crunchy gristle, pink-centred liver, juicy hearts and gizzards, aorta, golden skin and deftly cooked thigh meat

Assámm

The latest venture from Amy Chanta of Chat Thai fame, Assámm puts new spins on the Thai canon by playing up (and in some cases making up) Chinese, Vietnamese and even Japanese influences.