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  1. Home
  2. Food

7 of the best degustation restaurants in Sydney

Treat yourself with these seven amazing degustation restaurants in Sydney. - by Rhys McKay
  • 02 Oct 2019
7 of the best degustation restaurants in Sydney

Though Melbourne has long held the title of Australia’s food capital, Sydney has been catching up. In recent years, we’ve seen a rise in inventive restaurants, including those with impressive degustation menus. From Japanese-Italian fusions to unique takes on Australian cuisine, the best degustation restaurants in Sydney are shaping up to rival those of more certifiably culinary-centric cities like Melbourne and Adelaide. 

Looking to broaden your culinary horizons? Here are our top seven degustations in Sydney ranked from the least favourite to the most talked-about restaurants on the web. If you’re looking to try the best degustations in Sydney, this list is for you!

RELATED: A list of the best Michelin-quality Australian restaurants

What is degustation?

The word ‘degustation’ is a French term ascribed to a ‘tasting menu’ and is used to describe a long session of sampling several courses of a chef’s best and most inventive dishes. From entrees to desserts to wine to cocktail pairings, the chef and his staff take hold of the reins and dictate your entire dining experience. So rather than plonking down in a restaurant and ordering any random item from their menu, think of it as a carefully curated playlist or a spa treatment for your tummy!

A family eating a fancy fish dinner with glasses of white wine
Getty

Is it affordable?

Degustation menus usually consist of a chef’s best, so don’t expect the experience to run cheap! In more low-key restaurants, a three-course lunch can cost $AUD60. Meanwhile, in more high-end ones, a degustation dinner can cost as much as $AUD275 per person. 

Where can you find a degustation menu?

Back in the day, degustation menus were limited to ultra-fine dining restaurants and special guest stints by chefs in hotels like The Langham and Shangri-La. These days, though, degustation restaurants are pretty spread out in the city, cropping up in different places like Chippendale, Stanmore, Haymarket, and Woolloomooloo. 

7 Best Degustation Restaurants in Sydney

7. nel.

Location: Surry Hills

Price: $AUD118 per head

What’s on the menu: Their latest menu consists of the “land and sea of NSW” with items like pork doughnuts, BBQ prawns, and “spuds in mud”.

Why it made the list: nel Is a unique degustation-only restaurant that serves dishes that are, as GQ put it, “inventive and often nostalgic”. Their eight-course menu changes every 10 weeks according to a new theme, so you never know what you will get with nel!

Great food aside, you’ll want to stay for the atmosphere too. Set in a bunker, nel isn’t your typical, stuffy fine dining restaurant. Instead, it’s a relaxed and intimate environment where all you have to focus on is your food. 

nelrestaurant View Profile
263 likes - View Post on Instagram
A British Pub Classics menu wouldn't be complete with a 🥩. . Slow cooked short rib with onion ring crumb. Watercress. Peppercorn sauce. Triple cooked chips. . 👨‍🍳: @nellyjrobinson 📸: @colebennetts

6. LuMi Dining

Location: Pirrama Road, Pyrmont

Price: $AUD150 per person

Cuisine: Modern Italian/Japanese

What’s on the menu: Italian gunkan with black truffle, agnolotti, murray cod, red emperor, and white chocolate & sudani are among the items on the chef’s menu.

Why it made the list: “Lumi” is Italian for “small lights” and is an apt name for a restaurant with a gorgeous view of Darling Harbour. And as you feast your eyes on the waterfront, you’ll be treated to a strange but comforting marriage of “modern Italian food with a Japanese twist”. 

lumidining View Profile
416 likes - View Post on Instagram
Pie: Pork and fermented shitake only @lumidining #chefsmenu

5. Tetsuya’s 

Location: Kent St, Sydney

Price: $AUD240 per head

Cuisine: Japanese

What’s on the menu: Roasted scampi tail with vanilla, tuna daikon, confit of ocean trout with apple and witlof salad. 

Why it made the list: Whereas LuMi offers Italian with a Japanese twist, Tetsuya’s gives you a French-inspired Japanese tasting menu whipped up by head chef Tetsuya Wakuda. In typical Japanese fashion, Tetsuya’s is located in a super tranquil garden that’ll make you forget you’re in the middle of the city!

tetsuyasydney View Profile
592 likes - View Post on Instagram
Snowy Mountains squab, charred onion broth and enoki mushrooms. #tetsuyas #relaischateaux

4. Automata

Location: Kensington St, Chippendale

Price: $AUD105 for five courses and $AUD130 for seven courses

What’s on the menu: Fermented mushroom pasta with toasted buckwheat and shiitake, black Angus hanger with grilled eggplant, fermented chilli and arame.

Why it made the list: According to Timeout, Automata’s Chef Clayton Wells “understands umami better than most", producing a menu of standout savoury dishes you’ll want to keep coming back to. The casual, relaxed vibe of the industrial space makes this place a cool, upscale hangout spot for celebrating special occasions with your friends. 

automata_syd View Profile
848 likes - View Post on Instagram
Poached cuttlefish, herbs & ink, fermented carrot, purple daikon, espelette pepper. New to our menu this week. #restaurantaustralia #automatasydney #theoldclarehotel #sydneyeats #kensingtonstreet

3. Alibi

Location: Woolloomooloo

Price: $AUD70 for the eight-course tasting menu

Cuisine: Vegan/Vegetarian

What’s on the menu: Kimchi dumplings, charcoal steamed buns, salt-baked celeriac, portobello mushroom in parsnip puree.

Why it made the list: The fact that this is Sydney’s first completely vegan fine-dining restaurant is just the tip of the iceberg. Alibi’s plant-based eight-course degustation menu is delicious enough to make you forget there’s no meat here.

alibisydney View Profile
97 likes - View Post on Instagram
Taste everything!! @alibisydney 8 course tasting menu with curated dishes @matthewkenneycuisine

2. Aria

Location: Macquarie St., Sydney

Price: The tasting menu is priced at $AUD210 per person. 

What’s on the menu: Their tasting menu consists of smoked eel, murray cod, and veal. 

Why it made the list: Aria describes itself as a “synergy of many elements” in an unrivalled harbourside location. And unrivalled is right – you can peep the Sydney Opera House just outside Aria’s massive windows! 

And of course, the food is fantastic too. This October, they’re bringing back their best dishes from the past to celebrate 20 years in the business, including crowd-pleasers like their Peking duck consommé from 2000 and their champagne lobster from 2016!

ariarestaurant View Profile
368 likes - View Post on Instagram
feijoa * pear * almond Sweet and ripe feijoas evoke memories of Australian winter days. Enjoy this weekend at Aria.

1. Quay

Location: Overseas Passenger Terminal, The Rocks

Price: A 10-course dinner at Quay costs $AUD275, while a six-course meal costs $AUD210 per person. 

What’s on the menu: Their 10-course menu includes hand-harvested seafood in virgin soy, seaweed, and aged vinegar, steamed mud crab custard, bone marrow pasta, smoked pig jowl, and roasted Maremma duck.

Why it made the list: It’s easy to see why Quay frequently makes it into numerous top 10 degustations in Sydney lists. Timeout, which placed it at the number two spot of the 50 best restaurants in Sydney, described Quay as the “king of Sydney fine dining” for their “heartbreakingly beautiful” marron and flowers.

Oh, and the view’s not too bad either.

quayrestaurant View Profile
View Post on Instagram
Steamed mud crab custard topped with garden & sea greens #quayrestaurant #petergilmore #restaurantaustralia

RELATED: Five outrageously decadent things you can do in Tasmania

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YOU’LL NEED A WEDGE TO HANG THAT DOOR
Watch 6:32

YOU’LL NEED A WEDGE TO HANG THAT DOOR

{headline}

{headline}

Karen Martini's tiramisu

Karen Martini's tiramisu

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Nutmeg figs with mint, pistachio, sugar and custard

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