Girls’ Day Out in Sydney: Unique spots for your next catch up
I spent the past few months in Sydney and made it my mission to fit in as many girls’ catch-ups as I could before heading back to Thailand for four months. Finding time with your friends can be hard enough without stressing over where to go. If you want something more memorable than the usual coffee catch-up, Sydney has plenty of venues built for exactly this. Think bottomless drinks, theatrical entertainment, and settings that make the afternoon feel like an event in itself.
These are my current favourites.
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High Cheese at The Gallery, Sheraton Grand Sydney Hyde Park
If you love cheese more than sweets, this one’s for you. High Cheese swaps the usual finger sandwiches and scones for a savoury-led spread, curated with cheese expert Will Studd.
The spread includes a two-tier stand: whipped galotyri crostini with fig and salmon caviar, and fried haloumi with saffron and habanero honey to start, then a cheese course of Roquefort, Brillat-Savarin and Manchego with honeycomb, quince and grapes on the top tier.
There’s also a hot baked camembert, served in a skillet with honey, Turkish chilli and rosemary, alongside a basket of feta and chive scones and raisin bread. You can ask for this to come out whenever suits, we had ours land in the middle of the tiers.
The lower tier finishes sweet, with a Basque cheesecake made from sheep’s milk galotyri, a double crème profiterole, and a Manchego and orange blossom friand.
Tea is included, but you can swap it out or add wine from the standard drinks menu instead. We started with tea and switched to wine partway through, which suited us better. The space is comfortable and the service is attentive without ever feeling rushed. We spent a couple of hours there and honestly needed all of it to get through the food.
One tip: don’t eat beforehand. You’ll want a proper appetite to finish this.
When: Fridays, 11am to 4pm
Where: The Gallery, Sheraton Grand Sydney Hyde Park
Cost: $75 per person (wine pairing for two an extra $20)
Bottomless Burlesque Lunches at Loulou Bistro
Loulou Bistro on Martin Place has launched a Saturday lunch series that pairs French bistro classics with live burlesque. It’s a fun pick if your group wants something with a bit of theatre alongside the food.
The set menu covers baguette with snail butter, champagne ham, fish tartare, roast sunchoke with hazelnut and Gruyère, and flank steak with a Dijon jus, plus unlimited frites and a green salad. Finish with a Bombe Alaska for dessert.
You get 90 minutes of free-flowing drinks and include a Kir Royale cocktail, sparkling, white, rosé and red, with beer available for an extra $10 per person.
The dancers move between the tables through the performance, so it’s a bit livelier than some of the other options on this list. It’s a great way to spend a Saturday afternoon, and you might even pick up a few burlesque moves to use later.
When: Saturdays, from 25 July 2026
Where: Loulou Bistro, Martin Place, Sydney CBD
Cost: $75 per person (food and 90 minutes bottomless drinks included)
Bottomless Lunch at Shaffa
Shaffa is a Middle Eastern spot in Surry Hills with a Saturday and Sunday long lunch, and it’s one I keep coming back to. Middle Eastern food is a favourite of mine, and Shaffa is consistently near the top of my list.
Sitting in the glasshouse dining room felt almost like being outdoors, and the open kitchen, piled high with produce, adds to the atmosphere.
The set menu runs around $79 per person and typically includes dishes like Jerusalem bagel, burnt eggplant labneh, chicken cigars and shawarma, plus a sweet finish. The bread alone will make you forget you’re watching your carbs, and the eggplant labneh was so good I ordered one to take home.
You can add a 90-minute drinks package on top, either rosé and beer for around $37pp, or rosé, beer and margaritas for around $47pp. I went with the rosé and left ready for the perfect weekend afternoon nap, completely satisfied.
When: Saturday and Sunday (confirm exact hours before publishing, sources vary between 12-2.30pm and 12-4.30pm)
Where: Shaffa, 80 Albion Street, Surry Hills
Cost: $79 per person, plus optional drinks package
Santorini Sundays at Ammos
A girls’ trip to Santorini is still on my bucket list, but until that happens, Santorini Sundays scratches the itch nicely. Ammos sits in Brighton-Le-Sands, long known as the heart of Sydney’s Greek community, and the glass walls overlooking the bay give you that seaside feel while you eat.
The share-style menu covers Sydney rock oysters with mastic mignonette, salt cod fritters with ouzo mayonnaise and bonito flakes, kataifi tarts with pastourma and whipped feta, spanakopita with caramelised leek, and wood-fired lamb cutlets with mint and feta pesto. There are fries with kasseri and volcanic sea salt too. The whipped feta in particular was excellent.
Greek background music plays through the afternoon, present enough to add to the mood without getting in the way of conversation. You get 90 minutes of free-flowing red, white and rosé wine, classic or spicy margaritas, a lychee martini, and Aperol or limoncello spritz.
When: Sunday, 12pm to 4pm (running 28 June, 12 July, 26 July, 23 August)
Where: Ammos, Botany Bay
Cost: $95 per person
Bottomless Mimosas at The Botanica, Vaucluse
The Botanica sits in a lush, light-filled garden in Vaucluse, and its Bottomless Mimosas breakfast is built for a slow start to the weekend rather than a rush.
The décor is pink, a lot of pink, with pink chairs, purple and grey carpet, gold-framed mirrors, hanging pot plants and nature-inspired wallpaper. Pink isn’t usually my colour at all, and the whole place looks like it could be a set from a Legally Blonde film, but it works.
Once you get past the chairs, which are genuinely comfortable, the space feels relaxing and a bit special. The landscaping is a highlight too.
The food matched the setting. You get 75 minutes of bottomless mimosas, or barista coffee if you’re skipping the drinks, alongside a two-course breakfast set menu. Every dish on the menu is gluten free, so if anyone in your group has coeliac disease, they can eat here without worry.
When: Saturday and Sunday, from 10am
Where: The Botanica, 2 Laguna Street, Vaucluse
Cost: $84 per person
So which would you choose?
All five of these are still in my regular rotation, and I’d happily go back to any of them. If you’re still narrowing it down, High Cheese suits a slower, more refined afternoon, Bottomless Burlesque and Santorini Sundays are the livelier picks, and Shaffa is the one I’d choose if I just wanted consistently good Middle Eastern food without much fuss. If you’re after something a bit more low-key, have a look at my Sydney Breakfast Guide for more options beyond this list.
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