Sydney or Melbourne for your foodie city break?

By Amy Cooper

First, a culinary caveat: Australia is outrageously fortunate to boast two world-class dining destinations so distinctively different and yet halves of one foodie soul.

But oh, the beach-fringed northern half is simply spectacular.

Sydney is the country's grand front entrance. Overseas visitors want to fly or float in via that glorious harbour postcard and dine amid the famous beaches, cliffs, ocean, voluptuous hills and curves.

We'll skip the weather, because Australia's entire summer has permanently relocated to Mykonos. But Sydney's natural beauty is, in every way, this city's secret sauce.

"Nice backdrop. So what?" I hear a sceptic mutter from dark Fitzroy. But to underestimate Sydney's visual splendour is to miss a major epicurean truth: great food engages all your senses. And this is a city of the senses.

The superlative chefs in Sydney's dress circle see their surroundings as both source and muse, matching exquisite local tastes and visual feasts at Quay, Aria, Icebergs, Bennelong and many more.

It's why Britain's first three-Michelin-star female chef, Clare Smyth, chose Sydney for her first overseas venture (Oncore). "It's one of the most beautiful views in the world," she says.

If Sydney has a sixth sense, it's the ocean. It's hard to imagine Josh Niland's extraordinary fish butchery anywhere else in the world but here. Speaking of St Peter, the humble fish sandwich has been reinterpreted here more than the Bible itself. Our fish market is the world's third largest.

From Sydney's gorgeous landscape flows a joyous exuberance that defines the cuisine. It doesn't stop at the shoreline, but extends deep into neighbourhoods and laneways in excellent iterations of cuisines and themes where care and carefree go hand in hand.

It's why a wild west saloon, Cuban rum bar and Caribbean Tiki bar are not just a party but global bartending benchmarks, and why even just the latest openings are an exhilarating atlas - Spanish and Catalan, French bistros, Japanese gems and a grand European brasserie with a 28-layer Russian honey cake that takes two days to make.

At every level, Sydney's dining is dynamic; from the caviar-bumping, 24-carat-gold-tea-sipping boujee bling we do so well, to that Vietnamese backstreet joint in Cabramatta with oxtail hotpot people cross town for.

Right now, Sydney's hospitality is especially unstoppable. The lockout laws are over and the city has a Scarlett O'Hara "I'll never go hungry again" zeal to its late-night dining and drinking.

Exciting venues are opening beyond midnight again with unquenchable enthusiasm. The city of senses has never been so sensational.

By Mal Chenu

Sydney has the beaches and Melbourne has the food, right? Isn't that the accepted line of demarcation?

Well, Melbourne has a sort-of beach, like Sydney has a sort-of food scene.

The reality, of course, is there's plenty to get your teeth into, whether you choose a three-toque restaurant in Sydney or a three-beret restaurant in Melbourne.

The food scene in both capitals took a major hit during the pandemic, which ironically started in a food market. This has probably delayed some experimentation but we are unlikely to see poached pangolin or bat bourguignon on menus any time soon.

The sheer breadth of Melbourne's culinary culture, driven by generations of immigrants and healthy competition, is highlighted by its superb fresh produce, innovative cooking, inventive fusion, style, class and variety.

The CBD laneways - not to mention the basements, rooftops, pop-ups and repurposed industrial spaces - offer a mural of intriguing options. Think Supernormal for Asian, Tonka for Indian, Pastuso for Peruvian and Tippy Tay, where hearts will play, to name but a few laneway leading lights.

Lygon Street in Carlton is an opus autentico to Italian cucine, espresso, gelati and grappa. Naarm (the traditional Aboriginal name for Melbourne) is also home to Indigenous eatery Big Esso, where saltbush and pepperberry fried crocodile, and charred emu and desert raisins, beckon.

I will confess a weakness for Chinese food, and it really is chalk and chow mein when it comes to the cities' Chinatowns. Little Bourke Street in Melbourne has a Hong Kong throng every night but you could throw a dumpling in Sydney's Haymarket and it would roll to an ignominious stop outside the Chiko Roll outlet at Paddy's Market.

Melbourne puts itself on the plate, particularly at the top end. Chef Ben Shewry's Attica has been a regular on the World's 50 Best Restaurants list. Citta, from the renowned Di Stasio stable, is as much theatre as it is food. Glam Richmond sushi bar Minamishima is "a truly brilliant textural experience", according to Gourmet Traveller.

These top restaurants are so popular you might not get a booking until North Melbourne qualifies for a grand final at the MCG. Where, by the way, you'll find even the hot dogs taste better.

Melbourne dining is renowned for its value for money, too. You can get top-notch nosh for a reasonable price practically anywhere.

When you ask for the bill in Sydney, especially if you had a view of the harbour, you could be told you haven't spent enough yet. And you might still need to stop at Maccas on the way home.