Best Sydney Autumn Eats 2026: Restaurants, Bars and Events
Sydney’s restaurants don’t slow down in autumn — if anything, March through May tends to bring out some of the more creative programming of the year.
This year there’s plenty to plan around. Easter brings a run of theatrical experiences — InterContinental Sydney’s historic lift bar returns with chocolate and Italian Easter cake-inspired cocktails, while Barangaroo House runs its Chicken & Champagne Club across all three floors through March.
Across the city, Marrickville delivers a one-day brewery takeover from one of Australia’s top steak restaurants, Manly Wharf hosts a Michelin-recommended Mexico City taqueria for two weekends in March, and Coogee’s dining options continue to grow with a new beachside breakfast worth knowing about.
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New Restaurants and Bars
Besa – Bondi
ESCA Group — the team behind two-hatted Aalia and Nour — opened this Spanish tapas bar in Bondi on 1 March, and it’s built for staying late. Named from the Spanish word for ‘kiss’, Besa brings a Madrid bar energy to Hall Street: tight space, DJs from Friday to Sunday, food designed for sharing and a wine list with twenty options by the glass.
The kitchen is led by executive chef Ibrahim Kasif (Porteno, Bodega, Nour) and head chef Alan Kropman (ex-AALIA, Sean’s Panorama). Menu highlights include blue mackerel with butter leaf and encurtidos, raw beef carpaccio with white anchovy and goats cheese anchoiade, squid ink fideuà negra with grilled chicken and aioli, and a confit potato tortilla. Desserts rotate weekly — basque cheesecake, churros and flan among them.
The cocktail list takes its cues from Don Quixote, each drink inspired by a chapter of Cervantes’ novel. Worth trying: El Compañero (vodka, limoncello, suze, blood orange sorbet) or El Regreso (mint-washed sherry, plum verjus, citrus and fizz).
Sixty wines by the bottle, predominantly Spanish, with Australian, New Zealand and broader European selections alongside.
When: Lunch Fri–Sun 12–3pm; dinner Tue–Sun from 5pm
Where: 75–79 Hall Street, Bondi Booking: besabondi.com
Limited Events: Book Now
These are the time-sensitive experiences for autumn 2026. Some are already open, others sell out fast — we’ve listed them in date order so you can plan ahead.
Wunderlich Exchange – Wunderlich Lane
Wunderlich Lane’s first cross-precinct collaboration series runs through March, pairing up its hospitality, wellness and retail operators to create limited-edition offerings you won’t find anywhere else.
The food highlights are strong. S’WICH is serving a Taverna Lamb Roll developed with Olympus Dining — oven-baked lamb shoulder with tzatziki, mustard toum and red onion, available daily in limited numbers alongside an Olympus lemon spritz.
At Lottie, the dessert collab with Gelato Messina is worth a detour: Messina’s Salty Margs sorbet (orange zest, sea salt) served ahogado-style, drowned in Don Julio Blanco tequila at the table — upgrade to Don Julio 1942 if you’re feeling it.
When: 23 February – 31 March 2026
Where: Wunderlich Lane, Sydney
Ramadan Nights – IFTAR, Merrylands
IFTAR has been a Western Sydney daytime favourite for a while, but Ramadan brings it out after dark. Throughout Ramadan, the Merrylands restaurant extends into evening service with a dedicated menu built for post-sunset feasting and long shared tables — exactly what iftar is meant to be.
The spread is generous and designed to move through the meal as tradition dictates: dates and lentil soup to break the fast, then kibbeh nayeh, cheese cigars, chickpea fatteh and woodfired bread, before moving into mujadara rice, lamb shish, hummus and seasonal fruit. New additions this year include burning cheese served hot for tearing and sharing, beef tartare, a fried fish sando and crisp sambousek cigars.
Founded by Jeremy Agha, who grew up working in his family’s Lebanese bakery in Guildford, IFTAR takes its name from the Arabic word for breaking the fast — and, as Agha points out, you can’t spell IFTAR without the letters of his mother Rita’s name, whose recipes shaped the menu.
When: From 18 February, throughout Ramadan. One sitting nightly at 7:30pm
Where: IFTAR, Main Lane, Merrylands
Booking: Via Seven Rooms at @iftarsydney
InterContinental Sydney – Easter Lift Bar
Sydney’s most unusual bar is back. InterContinental’s historic lift — the oldest working lift in the Southern Hemisphere, built in 1851 — transforms into a five-week Easter experience from 4 March, with cocktails and bites inspired by Italian Easter traditions, rich chocolate, and seasonal florals.
The journey starts in the lift itself with a Colomba Mini Martini (Four Pillars Yuzu Gin, Mancino Sakura, roasted almond, honey peach mead, orange blossom) paired with The Easter Hare — a brioche with smoked salmon, goats’ cheese and carrot fronds.
The experience continues at The Treasury Bar with the Chocolate Bloom On The Rocks (Rémy Martin VSOP, lemon curd, raspberry, Tempus chocolate liqueur) and the Treasury Chocolate Nest, a single-origin dark chocolate dessert with wattle seed, passionfruit coulis and golden eggs.
The lift itself gets the full treatment — dried floral arrangements outside, flowers cascading from the ceiling inside.
When: Wed–Sat, 4 March–4 April 2026, 5pm–8pm
Cost: $75pp
Where: InterContinental Sydney, 117 Macquarie Street
Booking: sydney.intercontinental.com
Philthy Chapel – 20 Chapel x Philter Brewing
Marrickville’s 20 Chapel — one of Australia’s top 13 steak restaurants and a Good Food Guide hat winner in its first two years — is leaving the dining room for one day to take over the kitchen at Philter Brewing just down the road.
The centrepiece is the 20 Chapel Snack Pack: wagyu-fat wedges and fries loaded with Blackmore Wagyu, crème fraîche, housemade chilli jam, jalapeño hot sauce and Korean BBQ sauce.
Beyond that, a tight menu of signatures including BBQ octopus with romesco and hazelnut, grilled Mooloolaba prawn skewers, Sichuan duck leg with smashed cucumber and black vinegar, and Fijian kokoda served in a coconut shell — order it and you can get a shot of rum poured straight into the empty shell when you’re done.
When: Sunday 8 March, from 11:30am (until 9pm or sold out)
Where: Philter Brewing, 92–98 Sydenham Road, Marrickville
The Chicken & Champagne Club – Barangaroo House
Barangaroo House is leaning into the high-low dining trend for March with a month-long menu pairing Japanese fried chicken with Champagne across all three floors. It’s a fun concept — custom-branded fried chicken buckets alongside caviar-topped karaage and lobster-stuffed wings, with Moët, Veuve Clicquot and Dom Pérignon available by the glass or bottle.
Menu highlights include togarashi fried chicken buckets ($20), lobster-stuffed wings with Japanese hot sauce ($20), karaage with caviar and yuzu mayo ($50), mini katsu sliders with Champagne glaze ($12), and half a crispy spatchcock with Champagne miso glaze and yuzu salt ($18). Champagne starts at $18 a glass for Moët through to $75 a glass for Dom Pérignon.
Available across House Bar, Rekōdo and Smoke Bar, so you can graze your way through the building.
When: 5–31 March 2026
Where: Barangaroo House, Barangaroo waterfront
Booking: barangaroohouse.com.au
La Mexicana & Margarita Week – Manly Wharf
A Michelin Guide-recommended Mexico City taqueria is making its first Australian visit this March, and Sydney gets it at Manly Wharf. El Vilsito — a mechanic’s workshop by day that transforms nightly into one of Mexico City’s most celebrated taco destinations — is sending two of its chefs to Australia to cook their famous tacos al pastor exactly as they do at home: marinated pork on a vertical spit, thinly sliced into corn tortillas.
The visit is part of La Mexicana, a Mexican food and culture festival running alongside the popular Margarita Week. Beyond the El Vilsito takeover, expect margaritas across participating venues in partnership with Patrón — sweet, smoky, spicy and savoury interpretations — plus Mexican cocktails, immersive styling and entertainment across the wharf.
El Vilsito has been featured in Netflix’s Taco Chronicles and the New York Times, and the family behind it has been cooking for nearly forty years. Sandra Blanco, daughter of owner Juan Carlos Blanco, is travelling with the chefs for the festival.
Margarita Week: Thursday 19 – Sunday 29 March
La Mexicana (El Vilsito takeover): 19–22 March and 26–29 March
Where: Manly Wharf — manlywharf.com.au
Monthly Series
Paddo Nights Inn – Paddo Inn, Paddington
After selling out Tarot & Tannin three times in 2025, Paddo Inn has turned its experiential evenings into a monthly Monday night series. Each $60pp event pairs three wines and Italian bites from il Baretto with an expert-led experience — think tarot, astrology and psychic readings in an intimate, limited-capacity setting. It’s a genuinely different way to spend a Monday.
The Autumn lineup: Tarot & Tannin returns on 16 March with reader Ginny Shearer (introduction to tarot, homemade focaccia, rigatoni alla norma), followed by Stars & Sips on 13 April with astrologer Marcus D covering star signs and birth charts.
These sell out. Book early.
When: Monthly Mondays — 16 March and 13 April 2026, 7pm
Where: Paddo Inn, 338 Oxford Street, Paddington
Cost: $60pp Booking: Essential
Menu Launches
ABODE Bistro. Bar – Sydney CBD
ABODE took out Best Casual Dining Experience at the 2025 NSW Accommodation Awards, and the newly launched seasonal menu from Sous Chef Miguel shows why the recognition was deserved. The focus is straightforward: quality produce, confident cooking, no fuss.
Standouts include Cowra lamb rump with peas, broccolini and gai-lan, prawn mafaldine with garlic emulsion, calabrian chilli and trout roe, and roasted chicken with habanero butter sauce, swiss chard and pawpaw. House-made bread with duck liver parfait is a good way to start.
When: Current menu, ongoing
Where: ABODE Bistro. Bar, 150 Day Street, Sydney CBD
Coogee Bay Hotel – Beachside Breakfast
If you’re making a morning of Coogee Beach, Coogee Bay Hotel’s new breakfast menu is worth knowing about. Chef Justin Schott (formerly of Mimi’s) has put together a menu that ranges from lighter options like coconut chia pudding and house-made granola through to more substantial plates — a smoked brisket hash, spicy sausage and egg roll, and a cheese and leek toastie. Coffee is from Ek’sentrik Cafe.
Takeaway or outdoor seating, right on the corner of Arden Street and Coogee Bay Road, steps from the sand.
When: Every morning
Where: Beach Bar, Coogee Bay Hotel, 253 Coogee Bay Road, Coogee
Plan Your Autumn
We’ll keep updating this guide as more openings and events are confirmed through April and May. In the meantime, the listings above cover the essentials — and the limited events in particular won’t wait, so check dates and book ahead.
Quick links to help you plan:
- Dining deals and specials
- Happy hours across Sydney
- Sydney events calendar for March, April and May
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