Sydney Food
Sydney has managed to transform its eating and drinking experience for visitors and has now become one of the most exciting, interesting and cutting-edge cities to dine in.
There are over 3,000 restaurants in Sydney offering an array of worldwide cuisines, which includes local delicacies such as kangaroo, barramundi, snapper, emu and crocodile.
Eating out on a budget is not difficult in Sydney and the city is used to dealing with backpackers. Eating in the city is good value and there are hundreds of fast food restaurants as well as cheap eateries, cafes and stalls. There are also a number of 24-hour diners to satisfy night owls.
An even cheaper trend that is popular in Australia and especially in Sydney is the Bring Your Own or BYO venues. This means that visitors are invited to bring their own bottle of wine or beer. Some of the more expensive restaurants in the city charge a corkage fee but most are free or very minimal.
Due to its proximity to Australia, Asian cooking has had a major influence on the cuisine in Sydney and many of the dishes are heavily spiced. However, the city is the perfect place to sample Modern Australian or Mod Oz cuisine.
Mod Oz cuisine places emphasis on a creative blend of European styles with Asian influences and has been acclaimed by critics the world over but visitors will have to go to some of the city's top notch restaurants in order to sample some of the delights.
The majority of the finest eating establishments in Sydney are situated in around Circular Quay, the Rocks, the Central Business District and Darling Harbour. The city also has a buzzing Chinatown where the food is always incredible.
There is a thriving cafe culture in Sydney and this style of eating and drinking out on the pavements goes hand-in-hand with the Aussie laidback lifestyle. This culture is largely centred around the suburbs of Glebe, Darlinghurst, Newtown and the eastern beaches of Bondi and Bronte.
A number of cafes in Sydney claim to serve the best coffee and serve the most delicious snacks. The main cafes centre on Victoria Street in Darlinghurst, King Street in Newtown and Stanley Street in east Sydney. There are also a number of beach-bar type cafes on Balmoral Beach on the North Shore, Bondi Beach and Paddington.
Manly, which is a 30-minute ferry ride from Circular Quay, has a number of fine restaurants, as well as cheaper tasty Turkish eateries offering mouth-watering kebabs and Japanese diners serving every sort of noodle imaginable. Some of the best seafood in Australia is also served here and visitors are advised to splash out, excuse the pun, and enjoy salmon, perch, snapper or traditional Aussie barramundi.
Drinking is divided between the cafes and pubs in Sydney and visitors should take time to enjoy the relaxed atmosphere in both. Pubs are more popular with travellers and many of the bars in Sydney cater for students and offer cheap drinks deals and happy hours.
Aussies are renowned for their love of a cold beer and there is nowhere better to enjoy a tinny that in Sydney. The best pubs tend to be in the more established regions such as the Surry Hills, Woolloomooloo and The Rocks, as well as beachside pubs in Coogee and Bondi which offer large beer gardens. Most pubs tend not to serve pints but scooners, which are approximately three-quarters of a pint, and stubbies, which are small bottles of beer.
Sydney is a city of cultural and gastronomic variation. It is exciting, vibrant and enthralling and will offer any visitor on whatever budget the trip of a lifetime.
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Eating and Drinking
