© 2004 by Laurel Miller

Photographs by Scott Clemens

   Ask most people what comes to mind when they think of Sydney, and you're sure to hear one of two answers.   And while there's no denying the allure of the graceful stone sails of the Opera House or the soaring expanse of the Harbour Bridge, gastronomically intrepid visitors to Australia's largest and oldest city could no doubt come up with a few edible icons of their own.

   It was the 2000 Olympic Games that turned a global spotlight on Sydney and brought international acclaim to Aussie chefs such as Tetsuya Wakuda and Neil Perry.   Part of what made their cuisine so exciting was its focus on local ingredients- specialty produce, meat, seafood, and cheese, often grown or raised to their specifications.   With   Australia's multi-ethnic populace, the advent of an innovative, culturally diverse "Mod Oz" cuisine was inevitable.   A sunny climate, sweeping beaches, nearby Hunter Valley wine region, and quirky blend of Old World and contemporary architecture all combine to make Sydney a world-class dining destination.

   Divided into northern and southern halves by Sydney Harbour, the city is comprised of numerous suburbs, many of which are accessible by ferry or water taxi from the main terminal at Circular Quay, near Sydney's central business district (CBD). Manly is perhaps the most well known of these outlying communities, a pleasant place to while away an afternoon at the beach or, on summer nights, cruise the numerous bars and cafes along the main drag on North and South Steyn Road.

  Aquatic day-trippers to Manly will disembark at Manly Wharf.   The refurbished building houses all manner of upscale food shops, including a branch of the CBD's tony David Jones food hall, sushi, kebabs, noodles, gelato, and an outpost of Chocolate by the Bald Man, Max Brenner- the original being in the Paddington neighborhood.   At Max's, you can savor a cup of molten chocolate kept warm in a specially designed "suckao" cup heated by a votive candle.   Try one of the "varietals" such as the dark Ghana roast infused with orange peel or orchid.   Too hot for hot chocolate?   Max's offers cold "shots" of chocolate as well, in addition to a wide range of handcrafted chocolate candies.

If you'd like to experience the azure waters of the harbour in a bit more style, try renting your own transportation.   Companies like Eastsail in Rushcutter's Bay rent yachts and cruisers by the half or full day, or overnight.   Captain yourself or relax on a skippered sail- it's a perfect way to explore Sydney's hidden coves and get in touch with the city's decidedly nautical vibe.   Be sure to stop by Australia's first seafood restaurant and a beloved Sydney institution, Doyle's on the Wharf in Watson's Bay. Established in 1885 and still run by the Doyle family, this is the perfect place to enjoy a classic Aussie repast of fish and chips and a beer, all while admiring the Sydney skyline from across the water.

Sun worshippers and serious eaters will also want to visit Bondi Beach, famed for its surf and Speedo-clad lifeguards.   Bondi is also home to some of Sydney's top restaurants.   Two recent additions are chef Luke Mangan's Moorish, a hip, glass-enclosed space featuring delectable Spanish and Moroccan-influenced dishes such as grilled baby octopus with green beans, parsley, and sumac, grilled whole red mullet with smoked eggplant, green chile, and mint, and air-cured beef with fresh borlotti beans, spiced olives, and dukkah (a regional Australian spice blend that generally includes indigenous plants such as pepperberry or wattleseed).

   On the opposite end of the beach, chef Karen Martini does Mediterranean Mod Oz-style at Icebergs Dining Room & Bar, above the Bondi Icebergs Swim Club.   The seasonal menu gives starring role to locally grown produce, as well as Aussie olive oils and cheeses. Many of the ingredients, including organic meat, come from the indigenous mallee wood-fueled oven.   A warm salad of Moreton Bay bugs, a lobster-like crustacean, with kipfler potatoes and baby argula is a standout. Try the white Spanish anchovies with ox heart tomatoes, radishes, and tomato jelly, or roasted wild barramundi (a game fish) with herbed chickpea caponata.

From Icebergs, it's possible to walk along a curving coastal footpath to the quieter, but no less stunning beaches of Tamarama, Bronte, Clovelly, and Coogee.   A short detour driving back to the city will take you past the Italian district of Leichardt, perfect for a late afternoon espresso.   At Gelateria La Cremeria, Sicilian-born master gelato maker Luigi De Luca gives a nod to his adopted homeland by turning out gelati flavored with indigenous "bush tucker" ingredients such as citrusy lemon myrtle or wattleseed, which is reminiscent of coffee and hazelnut, as well as traditional flavors.

If you arrive back at Circular Quay from a day on the water, head down the boardwalk to the gorgeous Park Hyatt's harbour kitchen & bar for happy hour.   Located in The Rocks, site of Sydney's first European settlement and today a bustling warren of shops, galleries, and restaurants, the sumptuous waterfront rooms of the hotel command an up-close view of the Opera House.

  The award-winning restaurant, which until recently was overseen by chef Anthony Musarra, who is now chef at Radii at the Park Hyatt Melbourne, is now run by his former sous chef, Danny Drinkwater, who holds to Musarra's tradition of using the freshest seasonal products procured from local family farms.   The Mod Oz menu features such delights as grilled local snapper with lentils, tomato confit, pancetta, and salsa verde, crispy squid with fennel & watercress salad and preserved lemon aioli, or crostini slathered with plump, jammy figs, prosciutto and Barossa Valley's Woodside goat's curd.   The casually elegant restaurant features sliding glass walls that are usually rolled back to let in the balmy breeze, and also features three separate bars: martini, champagne and beer, as well as an extensive wine cellar.  

Although most of the restaurants clustered in The Rocks and along Circular Quay's boardwalk cater to tourists, you will find a few gems in addition to harbourkitchen&bar.   Aria, located near the Opera House, serves rich, lush, seasonal Mod Oz cuisine with a European bent prepared by acclaimed chef Matthew Moran.   In The Rocks proper, take a shopping break by popping into local favorite Sailor's Thai for innovative dishes such as spicy and sour relish of smoked trout with salted duck eggs and grilled sardines, or duck curry with sweet potato and cucumber relish, served in a stylish canteen overlooking the harbour.

No visit to Sydney would be complete without a trip to the fish market in the suburb of Pyrmont.   Early risers can catch the impressive fish auction, where over 100 species of seafood- many found only in Australian waters- are sold every day to the city's chefs and purveyors.   Late sleepers can benefit from an early lunch of fresh fish or shellfish from one of the market's numerous food stalls.   An on-site wine shop makes it easy to enjoy a glass with freshly shucked Tasmanian oysters or steamed Balmain bugs at a dockside picnic table.   The fish market also has an excellent cooking school offering hands-on and demo classes, as well as market tours from Sydney's top chefs.

With miles of coastline and parkland, Sydney is a city that lends itself well to picnics.   Located several blocks from the fish market is Simon Johnson, a charming specialty food shop and demo cooking school.   Stocked with irresistible Australian and imported artisan foodstuffs and cheeses, this is the place to load up on gifts and lunch staples.   Other picks for picnic fare include jones the grocer in Woollahra, and GPO, located in the former General Post Office in the CBD, and home to the largest cheese room in the Southern Hemisphere.

If you're fortunate enough to be in town on the first Saturday of the month, Pyrmont's Good Living Growers Market is one of the world's finest farmers' markets, bringing in close to 100 family farmers and ranchers, primarily from New South Wales.   The extraordinary variety of sustainably-grown produce (including Australian treats such as sunrise limes, rosella blossoms, and other bush tucker foods), cheese, seafood such as Tasmanian ocean trout, and meat, including grass fed Wagyu beef and free range duck, is a treat for cooks and non-cooks alike.

One of Sydney's top picnicking spots is the Royal Botanic Gardens, a series of rolling lawns and landscaped gardens with a view of the harbour, located between Woolloomooloo and The Rocks.   The Art Gallery of NSW is also there, while the excellent Australian Museum is only a five-minute walk down the road.  

   For the ultimate dining experience in Sydney, you can't do better than Tetsuya's.   Japanese-born Tetsuya Wakuda is Australia's most revered chef, famed for his artful seasonal cuisine embellished by classical Japanese and French techniques.   Tetsuya's is located in a refurbished World Heritage site located on the edge of the city's CBD, right around the corner from Chinatown. The frequently changing, 12-course degustation menu is pricey, but is worth every cent- this is one dining experience you'll be remembering for years to come.

   Chinatown, in Sydney's Haymarket neighborhood, offers some of the city's most vibrant - as well as affordable - dining.   A meal at the venerable Golden Century, a Hong Kong banquet-style seafood restaurant, means feasting on uniquely Australian delicacies such as mud crabs or enormous, scarlet and ivory Australian king crabs- all plucked from tanks lining the front of the restaurant and brought wriggling to your table for inspection before being dispatched to the kitchen for expert preparation.

   Regal is equally famed for its superb yum cha, or dim sum, while BBQ King, a notorious late night chef's hangout, dishes up succulent barbeque duck and pork in a boisterous atmosphere embellished only by Formica tables and giant, grease-spattered photos of hanging barbequed ducks and suckling pigs adorning the walls.   Don't miss it.

   Other treats include the austerely-named Chinese Noodle Restaurant, which specializes in fat, chewy wheat noodles from Xin Jiang province, hand pulled to order.   Be sure to order the combo- noodles tossed with a spicy, savory sauce of ground pork and chile worth crossing the Pacific for.

   Mother Chu's Taiwanese Gourmet turns out chewy little scallion or pork pancakes to order that, at 80 cents U.S. a pop, are one of the best bargains in Sydney.   Don't forget to pick up some Australian-grown tropical fruit such as mangosteen, rambutan, or lychee at Thai Kee, a tidy little supermarket near on the corner of Sussex and Goulburn, near Golden Century.

   Surry Hills is Sydney's other most accessible ethnic dining suburb, close to downtown and noted for its Southeast Asian and Lebanese establishments, as well as an increasing number of cutting edge eateries such as Billy Kwong for chef Kylie Kwong's contemporary spin on Chinese cooking, or Longrain for modern Thai and, more notably, a slick bar mixing up exotic- and lethal- "stick drinks-" refreshing cocktails served in tall, slender glasses.   

   The tony neighborhoods of Paddington and Darlinghurst are Sydney's premier shopping districts, lined with trendy cafes and shops.   The Saturday Paddington Bazaar offers an open-air arts and crafts market, as well as great people watching.   Tired feet and legs will enjoy a revitalizing treatment from nearby Venustus, a closet-sized spa specializing in edibly-delicous smelling, housemade skin products (also available retail and via mail order), such as their heavenly, coconutty Tahitian line.   If days of eating have left you feeling seriously sluggish, the uber-stylish W Hotel on Woolloomooloo's Finger Wharf also has a day spa to pamper guests.   Spa Chakra offers a full range of treatments, including facials to die for, while the W has surprisingly comfortable, urban-chic   rooms and a customer service philosophy that will not leave you wanting.