In Sydney
Five Sydney local city gems
Le Foote
101 George St, The Rocks.
Backstreets of Paris, or the Rocks Sydney. It could well be either.
Euro wine bar? Parisian cafe? Mediterranean grill?
Le Foote has been called all, and more. But what we know is it has rapidly become a local Sydney rocks favourite since opening its doors in 2023.
Located in the old Sydney stalwart Phillip’s Foote, Le Foote is a new iteration of this once popular steak house brought to Sydney by the occasionally infamous Swillhouse Group. It has a fun, busy but relaxed atmosphere perfect for chatting, eating and relaxing as jazz and pop classics drawn from a different era play softly in the background. Think Italian singer Renato Carosone’s classic Tu vuò fà l’americano. It’s a long way from Lady Gaga.
The food is good. It is all about the soaring grill at the very front of the restaurant (or the back depending on where you enter) where the chefs do the best of their work.
Try the grilled octopus with chopped potato, macadamia, Aleppo pepper sauce and crisp sage leaves. Yum.
Or better still, order the charred duck sausage, sliced with a dollop of Dijon mustard. Simple, but exquisitely moreish.
The Swillhouse team have nailed the bar/restaurant theme with style and charm. The service is courteous and efficient, the wine list mainly stacked with European favourites and the food is consistently good.
www.therocks.com/eat-drink/le-foote
Viand
41 Crown St, Woolloomooloo NSW 2011
Chef Annita Potter has created a destination that rates as one of Sydney’s finest Thai diners and since the demise of Long Chim, one of its very best alongside Porkfat in Haymarket.
Stepping through the red velvet curtains seemingly inspired by a scene from a film by the late David Lynch into the restaurant you’re hit by the refreshing aromas of Thai spices and a welcoming ambience. Annita personally greets you from behind the counter of the open kitchen and you take your seat while listening to her personally curated playlist… everything from Iggy Pop through to James Brown and Talking Heads. It’s eclectic and it works.
A five-course chef’s tasting menu or the special eight-course option are the dining options and you will be dazzled by the flavours of modern Thai delicacies like palm sugar peppered shallots with sticky cornfed chicken, lemongrass and infant coriander lime cured scallops with lime leaves chillies and wild salmon caviar.
A palate cleansing coconut and galangal soup of black lip mussels assorted mushrooms and chilli jam sets the taste buds running as do the grilled Skull Island prawns with green chillies coriander and golden garlic – you’ll be thinking about them days after visiting.
Viand is warm and engaging, the food superbly presented and ever so well thought through. Try the house special Frankie’s Margarita with it – you’ll be pleased you did.
Palazzo Salato
201 Clarence St
The Love Tilly Group’s most ambitious venture yet, Palazzo Salato is a Roman-inspired trattoria situated in the heart of Sydney’s CBD.
The food is mature but approachable, the wine list a little less approachable but stacked full of European offerings.
The food is delicious. Try Ox tongue, mustard leaf, pear mostrado, or if not the moreish Scarpinocc of ricotta or the Spanish black truffle Ricotta gnocchi.
The Palazzo menu changes each season but stays loyal to its roots – offering fresh, high-quality Italian food cooked with care and no doubt eaten with loads of love!
Sake
12 Argyle St The Rocks
As many times as you visit Sake on the Rocks, you always feel like you are discovering it all over again. The restaurant is tucked away on Argyle Street in the heart of old Sydney inside a sandstone heritage building.
Sake is a refined Sydney Japanese restaurant which is consistently high class and does fresh cuisine, with a well curated international wine list, in a fantastic location and venue.
What more could you ask for?
Perhaps a semi-open kitchen where you can watch the chefs get to work on Sake classic like their double kingfish crunch with jalapeno mayonnaise, spicy masego and crispy tempura?
Or maybe the ever-tempting popcorn shrimp with yuzu and chilli mayonnaise or the tuna ceviche with watermelon and charred corn.
For mains the melt-in-your-mouth 200g tajima wagyu sirloin with yakima tare (Japanese BBQ sauce) or the delicious pan seared duck breast with crispy onion and sansho pepper soy are the go-tos.
And of course, finish it all with the signature dragon eggs dessert, featuring elegant chocolate eggs bursting with gourmet fillings and topped with extravagant garnishes and served with a touch of theatre.
sakerestaurant.com.auDe Vine Food and Wine
32 Market St (cnr Clarence St)
There is something so family about Anthony and Julian Izzillo’s slice of Europe in Sydney’s CBD. They welcome you with a smile and always bid fond farewells – ensuring everyone feels welcome and itching to return for more.
Just moments from Town Hall, The QVB, State Theatre and Darling Harbour, the restaurant has undergone a complete refurbishment in the last 12-months after 21-years of wonderful service.
A favourite among Sydney restaurateurs looking to dine incognito, De Vine’s fare is consistently good and always wholesome and comforting. Their zucchini flowers are hard to match and artisan salumi boards a wonderful way to get things started.
For mains try the gnocchi, or even better their sumptuous pork cotoletta done with capers, sage and burnt butter. It’s a Lunch magazine favourite and one of the best Sydney has to offer.
Match either with some of the European wine classics on the extensive wine list or for the more adventurous consider one of their natural and biodynamic wines. If not, rest easy, the significant cellar houses all the aged Australian blue-chip producers such as Rockford, Giaconda, Lakes Folly and Henschke and more.
De Vine deserves the home away from home tag it has rightfully earned.
