diburning

I will be in Sydney next month where I will be celebrating my SO's birthday. I will be celebrating mine soon after as well. I've never been to Sydney (or Australia) before, so I thought I'd ask for suggestions here.

We're both somewhat well traveled young(er) people, but I'm an American who has never been to Australia, and she is a Sydneysider born and raised, and the itinerary for her birthday celebration will be a surprise (she knows I'm planning something, she's all for it, but she doesn't know what it is yet. The problem is, neither do I)

What I'm looking for suggestions are:

1. A nice place (Fine dining would be nice, although it doesn't have to be a fine dining place) for dinner. I thought that this part would be easy and that I'd take her to a Michelin rated restaurant, but then I found that there is no Michelin guide for Australia. What would a Sydneysider consider to be a nice place to eat?
2. An afternoon activity that we can do as a couple that is local, but is both not touristy, and also not something that a typical Sydneysider will have already done. As I mentioned, we're young(er) people, so if we don't figure out this part, I'm sure we also won't be unhappy with just doing a movie date at a theater or at home, or going out to brunch at a cafe or something.

Feel free to ask about our likes and dislikes when making suggestions, and thank you for your help! Normally, I'm not bad at this, but this will be a new place and a new culture to me.

IMOA

It’s my SO’s birthday next month, apart from a long weekend away in Mudgee on her actual birthday we’ll be having lunch at Bistecca (underground italian restaurant specialising in, well, Bistecca) followed by a reservation at Sky Bar in Shellhouse for afternoon/evening drinks so we can watch the sun go down with excellant cocktails.

For food rather than Michelin stars you need to look for ‘Hats’, thats the local ranking where there are 1,2 and 3 hat restaurants but if I was to guess I’d rank the Australian hat ranking 1 star (maybe a half) behind Michelin, i.e. a 1 star Michelin is closer to a restaurant ranked as 2 hats in sydney than those ranked as 1 hat. The other thing I’d say is look at the last few pages of the ‘Sydney where to eat’ thread, thats where people put restaurant recommendations etc so if some of the places mentioned in there sound good to you then we could probably suggest other similar places in that ballpark.

That said, my off the cuff recommendation for a ‘date night’ restaurant in sydney atm is Ursulas. Or sixpenny. Pick your budget And my afternoon activity recommendation, especially in winter, is Dean and Nancy’s on 22, get in while the sun is still up, watch the sunset and the city lights come up.

diburning

Thank you! Since we'll be celebrating my birthday a few weeks later, I'll get to try more than one of these recommendations (provided that she doesn't have a surprise plan for me!)

bensyd

That was what came to my mind as well, but as the OP has never been to Sydney maybe something with the harbour might be a bit better. So in that vein there is Catalina's in Rose Bay (The food is good if not great, but you are really there for the view) or the Bather's Pavilion at Balmoral Beach. Of the two I'd pick the Bather's over Catalinas every day of the week. If the OP wants to combine doing something that's not too touristy but that most Sydneysiders haven't done then they could catch a seaplane up to Berowra Waters Inn for lunch. That would be pretty memorable experience, if not exactly cheap. Lol. Sydney Seaplanes has packages...
https://www.seaplanes.com.au/

IMOA

Actually, talking of harbour views it’s vivid next month, 27 May - 18 June. If the birthday is in that range I think you might want to take advantage and do something with a view. And if not, you’d want to understand that the city, particularly the areas with installations, will be very busy. First vivid in 3 years.

JClasstraveller

Otto - excellent Italian and beautiful setting on the waterfront

Rockpool Bar and Grill (champagne menu is outrageously long and $$$) - some of Australia’s best produce cooked very well.

I haven’t tried but 3 Michelin star British chef Clare Smyth opened a Sydney restaurant called Oncore and apparently it’s brilliant with price tag to match.

I’d book now. Restaurants are starting to fill up and bookings at weekends are tricky. Go weekday if you can.

diburning

Thank you everyone for all the suggestions! My SO's birthday is on a weekday, so weekends won't be a problem!

diburning

Is Tuesday a day off in the Australian restaurant industry? Because my SO's birthday falls on a Tuesday this year. I wanted to take her to a fine dining place with a tasting menu (I was thinking Sixpenny or Oncore) but neither are open on Tuesday!

bensyd

It is more so than it used to be. Because the border was closed for 2 years there's just not enough labour and it's being felt most acutely in hospitality.

IMOA

Just did a few google searches and yep, a lot of restaurants closed Tuesday which I don’t remember being closed.

Of the degustations I like the ones I can see open are Ester, Nel, Poly, Cafe Paci and Monopole, they’re all good but not sure they’re the vibe you’re looking for. The first four are a bit more casual, bit noisier and monopole feels a bit business dinner to me. Metisse is open and has a great vibe and feels special but when we went there were some misses on the menu and at the price you pay there shouldn’t be any.

hmm, Sokyo? I’ve only eaten from there during lockdown and it was very good and tonight we had dinner at their casual restaurant, Senpai Ramen, and that was excellant. You’d obviously want to be in the mood for Japanese though.

bensyd

I know a few guys who own pubs and some of them have had to shut on Mondays because they don't have enough staff to do a 7 day roster. It's really hard to get staff at the moment. Obviously if you're running a high end sort of place it's even harder to find staff who can do more than pull beers.

diburning

Looks like we're going to go with Ester. Anyone here try them?

IMOA

It’s very good, it’s not as fancy fine dining as say a sixpenny or a quay but the food is excellant and I really like the atmosphere. You should have a great night.