After 20-odd years as a chef, Wal Foster is now churning some of the most elegant ice cream you’ll ever have the pleasure to savour. Sourcing local ingredients from nearby producers, Foster’s Wonka-like confections are works of near genius. You may find a Bowen mango sorbet made with cultured Jersey milk from a local cheesemaker, spiked with pandanus vinegar from forager Peter Hardwick. Or perhaps you’ll please your palate with Dorrigo truffle, honey, orange and vanilla. Popping up at Daily Counter in the holiday hamlet of Brunswick Heads two days a week, Bush Icecreamery is worth scheduling a Byron trip around.

If we were to play a word-association game with Ballina, chances are ‘Byron’ and ‘big prawn’ would come up. Aside from serving as a landing pad for Byron holidays, Ballina has a long prawning history. Hence its oversized crustacean, skewered aloft in a Bunnings carpark. And, in case you haven’t heard, Ballina prawns are really very good. So skip the fibreglass one and head straight for the Amalfi-adjacent stylings of Shaws Bay Hotel. Grab a table by the sand and order the Ballina prawn roll, which comes with citrus mayo, furikake and fried shallot. Actually, you’ll want to order two.

Whether it’s an ode or a parody, one thing’s for sure: Happy Shop’s ‘Big Happy’ is a damn good burger. Squishy buns, double patties, cheese and special sauce hit all the familiar McNotes, but everything is dialled up: better beef, sharper pickles, more attitude. It perfectly captures the ethos of Sydney’s Happy Shop (and sister venue Happyfield); familiar food, cleverly re-engineered and served with a wink. In a city that thrives on both irony and excellence, The Big Happy feels right at home. It’s cheeky, wildly craveable and just as worthy of a golden star as it is a golden arch.

When chefs start raving about a fish & chip shop in a coastal town en route to Wollongong, you pay attention. Rosie’s has earned its reputation by frying everything in beef dripping, the old-school chippy method. Increasing its local fan base, Rosie’s has now taken over The Bistro at Coledale RSL. The fish is local and sustainably sourced (think flathead, sea bream, blue mackerel, pink ling or gurnard, depending on the day), while the chips are hand-cut from local potatoes. The result is pure nostalgia: golden, crisp and comforting, like being nine again on a family road trip. Worth the detour.

In late 2025, Joe’s rose from the ashes of Flora, the vegetarian eatery that formed part of the Porteño team’s Australia Street empire, pivoting into a cosy, New York-leaning tavern with a hearty sweet tooth. That evolution is perfectly captured in the Knickerbocker Glory, a joyous tower of ice cream, fruit, jelly, meringue and cream created by pastry chef Lauren Eldridge. It’s nostalgic without irony, and as sharp as the venue itself. In many ways, this fancy sundae feels emblematic of Sydney dining right now: confident, playful and deliciously unafraid of leaning into pleasure. All with a cherry on top.

The historic retreat of the well-heeled and green-thumbed, NSW’s Southern Highlands feels plucked from another time and place. Its grandest dame, Milton Park, has just been reborn as Ardour Milton Park Bowral, with destination restaurant Horderns relocated inside the homestead overlooking the gardens. While its setting is genteel, chef Mark Holland (ex Nomad) understands the beauty of simplicity. His signature lamb shoulder comes from Cowra, its natural sweetness coaxed out low and slow over 12 hours, served in custom cast-iron pans with a simple fennel and mint salad and herbaceous salsa verde. Speaking of place without shouting, this is Australian luxury.

At its recently upsized shrine to Korean flavours in Sydney’s Eastwood, Yeodongsik’s perilla noodles arrive like a palate reset. Toothsome buckwheat noodles are glossed with nutty perilla oil and showered with seaweed and hand-ground sesame seeds, a restrained and deeply aromatic interval that announces itself with a whisper. It’s a dish that’s proudly wearing the ethos of the venue on the front of its shirt: precision over pyrotechnics; and tradition rendered in modern tones through clear, decisive flavour combos. In a dining scene increasingly obsessed with heat and hype, these noodles feel almost radical in their calm restraint.

In a charming heritage building in bucolic village Davistown, Chillis overlooks the deep blue of Brisbane Water. This is one of the NSW Central Coast’s high-water mark dining experiences. Brunch here is seriously good, lavish but unfussy, though it’s lunch that delivers the show-stopper: spaghettini with Moreton Bay bug. Sweet, buttery bug meat tangles through fine pasta strands; sesame lending gentle, savoury depth and chives bringing freshness. It feels refined yet comforting; a kind of coastal luxury. Match it with Chillis’ Miss Mary, a lightweight Bloody Mary riff, with vodka, fresh tomato, sambal and tamari – spicy, umami-rich and absurdly drinkable.

Chinese food had a long-overdue resurgence on Sydney’s dining scene in 2025, blending Chinese-Aussie nostalgia with something more authentic. The unstoppable group behind Pellegrino 2000, Clam Bar and more revealed Grandfathers: a masterclass in vibe with leather booths, blue-tinged fish tanks and jazz rumbling on the speakers. The menu flits between familiar (prawn toast and fried rice) and rarer finds like jellyfish salad. Crunchy jellyfish – translucent slithers that taste more vegetable than animal – mingles with sweet king prawn, green chilli and coriander, all singing with the literally tongue-tingling málà (numbing/spicy) sensation that transforms the converted into Sichuan food obsessives.

When local brothers Harry and Mario Kapoulas opened their beachside version of a gritty Athenian taverna last year, Sydney’s Shire community descended in droves, and haven’t stopped coming. The brutalism of the decor, all exposed concrete and pipes, meets its opposite in the warmth and generosity on the plate. Comfort, thy name is koulouri: sesame-studded bread perfect for swiping through mains. Its sweet cousin, the puffy, loukoumades-style doughnut, also arrives warm, with honeyed ice cream scattered with crumbled walnuts. Embrace the sticky fingers, and make mini ice cream sandwiches. Just like Yiayia’s house, you’ll leave with heart and stomach full.

This appropriately named new Sydney arrival on King Street’s ‘south end’ hasn’t wasted any time building a devoted following. Part of the appeal is its produce-led menu, which shifts with the seasons and market hauls. But even in its fluidity there are non-negotiables. If the chubby potato rosti makes an appearance – all crisp-edged, soft-centred and crowned with squeaky Goldstreet Dairy cheese curds and fine rings of sugar snap peas – order it immediately. It’s a dish that captures South End’s ‘simple on paper, meticulous in practice’ charm, and hints at the eatery’s inevitable long-term relationship with the Inner West.

Kingfish ceviche has become somewhat ubiquitous at many a fine diner, but chef Frank Fawkner’s take stands apart. Lightly cured in vinegar made with local wattle blossom, pickled Tasmanian kelp and smoked salt, the kingfish lolls in a pool of shio koji buttermilk, smoked over pecan wood chips and split with local wild fennel oil. The menu changes regularly, but the kingfish’s popularity means it’s forever returning. Hunter Valley’s much-lauded EXP. doesn’t offer bucolic vineyard vistas, but that matters not one iota when the food is this good. Prop yourself at the bar and prepare for culinary theatre at its best.

It’s as if someone plucked a pint-sized inner-city bar and plonked it in the heart of Orange. Twenty-seater wine bar Hey Rosey may be small, but overdelivers on the wine and food front. An ever-changing drinks list features small international, independent and local winemakers; including many emerging local producers from Central West NSW. Chef Hugh Piper, formerly of Sydney’s Dear Sainte Éloise, plates up bites that pair perfectly with these pours at one, long communal bench. The fresh pastas always on rotation are standouts, like the hand-rolled cavatelli, paired now with spider crab, smoked tomato sugo and ’nduja.

The battle for Sydney’s best laksa is relentless, but Parramatta’s Temasek has been holding its own since the early ’90s; an icon of a suburb that landed on Condé Nast Traveler’s Best Places to Eat in 2026. Now settled into a larger George Street home, the Malaysian stalwart is perpetually packed with devoted locals and serious laksa seekers. The must-order is laksa Singapura: an enormous bowl that could feed two if you added a side of roti. The coconut-rich broth delivers satisfying heat without overpowering its gentle sweetness and depth, while toppings are generous and impeccably cooked – particularly the chicken breast.

It’s no small achievement to turn an address on Sydney’s Parramatta Road into a destination brunch stop, but Pantry Story manages it effortlessly. With raked ceilings and an Instagram-friendly central display, the Asian-inspired bakery flirted with virality thanks to its playful sweet pastries (yes, the chocolate panna cotta capybara was from here), but we think their savoury options are the ones to watch. The beef rendang pie, for instance, comes with generous hunks of fall-apart beef, a spice-heavy rendang sauce and gently sweet golden pastry. Add a brown sugar-spiked iced latte and you’ll gladly make the Parra Road pilgrimage again and again.