Sydney and New South Wales have a dynamic and exciting food and wine scene. Passionate chefs, premium produce, a culinary style that has evolved from a rich and exotic intermingling of cultures, innovative architecture and superb backdrops make dining in Sydney and New South Wales a tantalising experience.  Sydney's Quay Restaurant, Marque and Tetsuya's have all been recognised again in the S.Pellegrino World Restaurant Awards in 2012, cementing Sydney's reputation for world-class dining.

Sydney's new taste sensations

The Star, the rebirthed version of Sydney's bright shining entertainment complex, has added a stellar collection of restaurants to Sydney's food universe. Some of the world's most acclaimed chefs have established themselves in these glamorous new premises. Among the headliners are David Chang's Momofu Seiōbo, Teage Ezard's BLACK by ezard and Chase Kojima's Sokyo, Sydney's own chefs including Stefano Manfredi, patissier extraordinaire Adriano Zumbo, Luke Nguyen and Flying Fish's Peter Kuruvita, a new star chef on the TV screen. 

Newly emerged from a multi-million dollar makeover, the Park Hyatt Sydney has a new fine dining restaurant, The Dining Room, which has injected fresh glamour into the city's upscale dining scene. Set in a peerless position on the waterfront with views across Sydney Cove to the Opera House, The Dining Room is an opulent setting for the prodigious talents of Executive Chef Andrew McKee's contemporary Australian-inspired menu which makes exceptional use of local, seasonal produce.

A stunning new addition to Sydney's dining, The Chiswick, has brought another culinary delight for diners. Set in a gorgeous heritage garden in leafy Woollahra, the conservatory-style restaurant features a huge vegetable garden that supplies the kitchen with seasonal produce, underpinning a Mediterranean-style menu strong on luscious flavours under the inspired direction of Matt Moran and Peter Sullivan.

The attraction of dining in Sydney's best attractions

Opera Kitchen has brought style, substance and great flavours to the lower concourse level of Sydney Opera House. This buzzy waterfront dining precinct is a bistro-style showcase for some of Sydney's favourite taste makers, and diners are loving it. There's spicy and subtle Asian flavours from Misschu, burgers from Justin North's Charlie & Co., John Susman's Cloudy Bay Fish Co and Kenji, awarded Sydney's favourite sushi in the Sydney Morning Herald's Good Food Guide 2012. 

Towering 305 metres above the newly refurbished Westfield Sydney, 360 Bar and Dining is the fine dining restaurant within Sydney Tower Dining. With its modern Australian menu, a softly glowing interior complemented by dark mahogany finishes and stunning views, this revolving restaurant offers elegance and flair at an unsurpassed level. Sky Venue, the highest event space in the southern hemisphere, is in the same complex.

The upper levels of the city centre's Westfield Sydney shopping complex have become a red hot food destination. This is dining for all occasions, from speedy lunches to a sublime providore store to gourmet dining from some of the stars of Sydney gastronomy. Included in the mix are Charlie & Co. Burgers, seafood delights from the Cloudy Bay Fish Co., Pies by Mick's Bakehouse, fabulous dumplings from Din Tai Fung and Becasse, a chic, stylish showcase for the culinary talents of Justin North. Nearby also is the Becasse Bakery, featuring a mouth-watering array of madeleines, pastries, rolls, tarts, croissants, brioche and breads.

The Restaurant within the Art Gallery of NSW is a work of art in its own right. It is an airy, buzzy space with floor-to-ceiling windows overlooking the Woolloomooloo waterfront and the Royal Botanic Gardens. Along with the smart, imaginative menu, visitors to the gallery can enjoy a traditional high tea every afternoon. On Wednesday evenings, the café becomes a lively bar when it hosts Art After Hours, with live music, dinner, wine and bright ideas. 

The Mint Café in the historic precinct along Macquarie Street is a standout for casual dining, serving delicious breakfast, lunches and to-die-for desserts within the sandstone courtyard of this landmark Sydney building.
The MCA Café and Sculpture Terrace is the latest addition to Sydney's waterfront dining, offering a smart, Mediterranean-influenced menu and peerless views over Sydney Cove and Circular Quay from the fourth level of the newly renovated Museum of Contemporary Art. 

The joy of a long and lingering afternoon tea is enjoying a resurgence in Sydney. Afternoon tea served on weekends at the Victoria Room has long been a favourite. Opulent, funky and terrific fun, this Darlinghurst bar/restaurant brings a modern twist to the manners and style of a bygone era. With the arrival of the Victoria Tea Room Salon at Westfield Food Court, tea lovers have a new venue to discover the pleasures of afternoon tea, accompanied by gourmet brunches, sinful cakes, dainty ribbon sandwiches and high tea with a scone menu, in the same artful and slightly eccentric style as its Darlinghurst sibling. On the waterfront at Manly Cove, the art deco Manly Pavilion serves a truly amazing afternoon tea from Tuesday to Saturday, with Head Chef Tony Gibson orchestrating a unique high tea menu original with surprises from his kitchen. Add in opera with high tea at Guillaume @ Bennelong and the traditional favourite The Tearoom in the QVB.

Small bars, big personality

Sydney's small-bar scene continues to breakout. Quirky, classy and full of personality, basement bars and pop-ups are happening all over the city, serving sassy cocktails, wines by the glass from far-flung  parts and small-plate foods strong on gutsy flavours. Sydney's quirky and electrifying bar scene continues with the opening of York Lane, a European style bar/bistro with Head Chef Brian Geraghty, formerly of Bilsons and Quay, at work in the kitchen. York Lane is a sassy espresso café by day, morphing to a tapas bar by night, with personality packed into its shoebox dimensions. Bringing a touch of 1960s Boston to Sydney, The Baxter Inn adds something decidedly different to the city's late night bar scene, from the team behind the city's acclaimed Shady Pines Saloon. In Sydney's historic Rocks district, Bar100 is an exciting new addition to Sydney's nightlife scene, a multi-level complex with four chic bars, indoor and outdoor dining, lounge spaces and a VIP area. New to Kellett Street, 21, brings splash and dash to one of Sydney's favourite nightlife scenes with a spunky fitout, bar wizard Andy Penney dishing out dynamite cocktails including a raspberry fantagroni.  A new addition to the Potts Point bar scene, The Roosevelt takes a style step back to the era of Humphrey Bogart's Casablanca, with moody lighting and a few modern twists such as the nitrogenized cocktail trolley - using liquid nitrogen in the mix.

New flavours in the Hunter

The Hunter Valley has always been an exciting wine-producing region. With a burgeoning food industry that includes olive oils, farmhouse cheeses, smokehouse products, organic meats and sourdough breads to complement its fine wines, gourmands have a whole new list of reasons to make a date in the Hunter. An ever-increasing number of wineries are now offering food-matching as part of their cellar-door experience. The Hunter is also home to the only organic distillery in the southern hemisphere, the Hunter Distillery, making premium organic vodka, gin and spirits. The Hunter Valley Wine and Food Month Experience, held each June, is a month-long showcase for Hunter Valley wines, foods and culture. 

Keith Tulloch Winery has created a smart, club-like ambience with its new cellar door, located on the upper storey with views of the Brokenback Range from its verandahs. The winery also features a restaurant, Muse Kitchen, where Head Chef Troy Rhoades-Brown uses fresh, local ingredients to inspired effect.

The latest addition to the Hunter Valley's wine labels, Wynwood Estate, is now operating from the former Golden Grape cellar door, with a new restaurant scheduled for opening this year.

Scarborough Wines has opened its second cellar door in the Hunter Valley, with a stylish contemporary look together with wine and food matching experiences. 

St Clements Estate, one of the Hunter Valley's newest cellar doors, is home to Lillino's Sardinian Restaurant, featuring a wood-fired pizza oven.  

The dining scene in the Hunter Valley has a new sweet spot with the arrival of Sabor, a dessert-only restaurant serving Portuguese chocolate mousse, decadent cakes and pastries, artisan chocolates and gelato in stunning flavours, paired with dessert wines and ports from the Hunter region.

RidgeView Restaurant and Café now has a state-of-the-art cellar door and restaurant, complementing the range of fine wines and the lovely guest cottages.

Two Fat Blokes operates gourmet tours of the Hunter that involve not only fine wines but also some of the cottage-industry producers of olives and olive oils, cheeses, snails, berries, herbs, preserves and chocolates.

Plenty Cropping up in Northern NSW

The coffee industry is booming in the mild growing conditions of the Northern Rivers region in NSW. The lack of pesticides used in Australia means locally grown coffee is not exposed to diseases or pests that require pesticides in most other parts of the world. The coffee that is grown in this cool-climate region has a longer ripening period which results in sweeter, more complex flavours than tropically grown coffee.

Giant avocados, lucmos, jak fruits and soursops are just some of the unusual tropical fruits being harvested at Tropical Fruit World in Duranbah in Northern NSW. Begun as an experimental project run by the Department of Agriculture to research tropical fruits, the privately-owned, 65-hectare plantation grows more than 500 hundred varieties of rare and tropical fruits, including the chocolate pudding fruit, casimoras, carambolas, cactus fruit and babacos. There's also an Aboriginal bush tucker garden where visitors can sample the wild fruits, nuts and berries that made up the diet of indigenous Australians.

It's no secret that the state of New South Wales is a culinary force. Australians themselves have known it for years, and now the rest of the world is discovering the quality and diversity of the State's produce and the creativity of its chefs. 


For more information go to www.sydney.com or www.visitnsw.com

To access the image library and download images go to images.destinationnsw.com.au   


Who's at ATE 2012?

Destination New South Wales. Booth 35. Eastern & Western. www.destinationnsw.com.au
Byron and Beyond. Booth 15. Eastern and Western. www.northernriverstourism.com.au
Dockside Group. Booth 26. Eastern. www.docksidegroup.com.au
Hunter Valley Wine Country Tourism.  Booth 6.  Eastern & Western. www.winecountry.com.au
Sydney Opera House.  Booth 31. Eastern & Western. www.sydneyoperahouse.com
The Star. Booth 42. Eastern & Western . www.star.com.au
Trippas White Group. Booth 40. Eastern. www.trippaswhitegroup.com.au
Westfield Sydney. Booth 39. Eastern. www.westfield.com.au