Australia’s best seafood restaurants can usually be found on a jetty somewhere, or at the very least, a sandy shake from the water’s edge. Enter Petermen, Josh and Julie Niland’s pescatarian diner in the landlocked suburb of St Leonards on Sydney’s North Shore. Modern-Australian through and through, dishes range from saltbush empanada to marron with Jeow Som and sticky rice. It may seem like a fish-out-of-water scenario for some, but the Nilands have never needed a coastline to create a truly magnificent seafood dining experience. 66 Chandos Street, St Leonards; petermen.com.au.

Poetica is the latest restaurant by Etymon Projects, the guys behind LouLou in Milsons Point. Rather than the casual bistro vibes of LouLou or the grand French brassiere glamour of The Charles in the CBD, Poetica is all about classic French flavours and woodfire cooking. Mezzanine Level/1 Denison St, North Sydney; poetica.sydney.

The hospitality group behind North Shore stalwarts SoCal and The Botanist has branched out with a leafy new eatery in North Sydney. Located on Mount Street in the North Sydney business district, RAFI lures office workers out for Friday night drinks with its impressive 300-seat restaurant and vast al fresco areas, including a tree-lined Arbour Bar. This is the place to be if you want to throw back oysters, perfectly grilled lamb backstraps and pretend you’re still holidaying around Europe. 99 Mount Street, North Sydney; rafisydney.com.au.

Loulou seems designed to cover all our French cravings. The design is a perfect mimicry of a Paris bistro: light-wood tables, bentwood chairs, marble tops, black-and-white tiles in the corridors. The menu requires great deliberation; from crudités to caviar, steak tartare to chicken liver parfait – and with warm brioche! – how to choose? 61 Lavender Bay Road, Milsons Point; loulou.sydney.

This harbourside French Maison, headed by Japanese hospitality group Azabu, is situated in a heritage listed building over two stories and will excite and delight consumers with its European charm paired with nostalgic dishes from the South of France and Provence, a few Japanese twists here and there. 139 Blues Point Road, McMahons Point; charlottebarbistro.com.au.

Me-Gal takes its name from the Cammeraigal word for saltwater, referencing the surrounding harbourside shoreline. Chef Stefan Schröder’s Mediterranean-style menu is designed for grazing, with options for both carnivores and herbivores. Native ingredients and sustainable produce star on the menu, which includes baba ganoush with sugar snaps and finger lime, MSC scallops with ponzu and karkalla and Hunter Valley duck breast with fermented sweetcorn and Illawarra plum. 2A Bradleys Head Road, Mosman; megal-mosman.com.au.