Following the tradition of previous conferences, we have a welcome reception on Sunday night at the ICC, and an excursion on Tuesday night.

On Saturday and Monday nights you have the opportunity to explore Sydney’s great food offerings. And, there’s a lot on offer, so if you enjoy food, you may find the following local information useful.

Sydney’s restaurants reflect its diverse migrant heritage. If you know where to look, you’ll find great examples of many of the world’s cuisines. Compared to the US or Europe, you’ll probably notice a stronger emphasis on East Asian and South East Asian food.

Tipping and Tax

Tips are optional in Australia, and the goods and services tax (GST) is always included in the price. Staff are not dependent on tips for their wage, so you’re welcome to tip, but the culture is that it is genuinely a gratuity, reflecting a great meal and great service. So if the menu lists something at $30, that’s actually what you pay (about USD $20).

BYO Alcohol

Liquor licensing laws historically meant that many restaurants did not have a liquor license, and today many still do not. However many restaurants (often including those who do have a liquor license) allow you to “bring your own” (BYO). High end restaurants generally don’t offer BYO. Sometimes BYO will be limited to wine, and at places that do hold a liquor license will often come with a “corkage fee” (a charge per bottle brought in or glass served). Liquor stores are common near food outlets, and allow you to buy alcohol a lot more cheaply than in a restaurant. Major chains include BWS and Liquorland. Nearby outlets include Liquorland Pyrmont (700m), Liquorland World Square (1.1km), BWS Haymarket (1.1km), Liquorland York St (1.2km) and Liquorland Broadway (1.7km). Dan Murphy’s is another nation-wide chain. It tends to have larger stores with a wider range (the nearest is in Martin Place, 1.8km). Liquor stores are also a great place to buy Australian wine relatively inexpensively.

Fine Dining

If you’re looking for a top restaurant, the place to look is the Sydney Morning Herald Good Food Guide. Unfortunately for visitors, the Sydney Morning Herald is paywalled and the Good Food Guide app requires a $13/month subscription (you can grab the app here). You can find more lists here and here. Among the top restaurants, there are plenty nearby the ICC, including three of the top four in the state: Oncore (19/20, 1.6km), Bentley (18/20, 1.8km) and Quay (18/20, 2.6km). Among other top-ranked restaurants, Atelier (15/20, 100m) is right next door in the Sofitel, LuMi (17/20, 900m) and Kuro (17/20, 1km) are an easy walk, while Nel (16/20, 1.5km), Firedoor (15/20, 1.8km), Bennelong (17/20 3km) and ARIA (17/20, 2.8km) are not far.

(The AGFG’s scoring describes 18-19 as “Superlative Food & Wine: Internationally acclaimed”, 16-17 as “Exceptional Quality of Cuisine”, while 12-13 is “A Good Restaurant in its category”.)

Food Districts

Sydney has a number of districts where the density of restaurants is high. If you’re not quite sure what you want, you can wander around until you find a restaurant that fits your budget and tastes. Below are a few that are not far from the conference venue. There are others further afield.

Tumbalong Park

Tumbaloong Park, right outside the ICC, is the least exciting but most convenient. Just turn right at the waterfront and walk south about 200m. Options include fast food such as Guzman y Gomez, and casual outlets like Noodle Face, and DooDee King. If you continue south a few hundred meters from Tumbalong park, you’ll find Little Pier St and Little Hay St, part of the Haymarket food district.

Haymarket

Haymarket is a short walk from the ICC, is dense with restaurants, and is home to Chinatown (and the much smaller Koreatown and Thaitown). There’s a lively and much newer area to the west end of Haymarket around Little Pier St and Little Hay St.

Spice Alley

Spice Alley is a collection of hawker-style outlets and bars to the south west of Haymarket, just 1.6km from the ICC. It has a nice selection of inexpensive outlets featuring food from Singapore, Thailand, Malaysia, China and Japan. Like many Australian cheap eats, these are “BYO” (bring your own alcohol), so you can stop by the nearby BWS Haymarket and buy whatever you would like to drink with your meal, inexpensively. Spice Alley also has a couple of bars of its own.

King Street and Enmore Road, Newtown

This is a favorite of locals. Over a kilometre of inner-city street, in Newtown just south of Sydney University. The area is dense with restaurants, bookstores, funky fashion outlets, etc, from Rubyos at the north end to GiGi’s Pizzeria and Cow and The Moon in the south. Stroll around, enjoy the atmosphere and find a restaurant that suits your mood and budget. If you enjoy food, you’ll enjoy a visit to King Street. It’s about a 10 min ride from the ICC, or a 3km walk, if you’re looking for some fresh air. Or you can walk or get the light rail to Central and then catch the train to Newtown.

Crown Street and Bourke Street, Surry Hills

Surry Hills is home to many good restaurants, from Australian, to fancy Middle Eastern, to Lebanese, to Korean, to French all the way to pub food. It’s just a 1.8km walk or a few stops on the light rail to the north western end of Surry Hills. From there you can walk east to Crown street, where you’ll find many favorites including Yuli’s. Burke St is another block to the east.

Cockle Bay, King St Wharf, and Barangaroo

This is the strip of restaurants right opposite the ICC that runs north from Druitt Landing just 100m from the ICC, for about a kilometre up to the Crown. This strip is all within walking distance and has a fairly diverse range of options, but caters primarily for tourists, and the prices and styles reflect that. King St Wharf is not to be confused with King St, Newtown. (There’s more than one King St in this colonial outpost).

Vegan and Vegetarian

There are plenty of good vegan and vegetarian options available. There’s a useful guide here. Some of your General Chair’s favorites include GiGi Pizzeria, Vandal, and Neko Neko in Newtown (12 min ride), Yulli’s Surry Hills (10 min ride), or the very low-key but excellent Peace Harmony, (just 13 min walk from the ICC).

Seafood

The new Sydney Fish Market is slated to open on January 19, just before our conference. It’s just 18 min walk from the ICC, and will include 40 retailers, including restaurants, cafes and fish retailers. If you like fresh seafood you might enjoy the visit. Before you visit, you might want to check their web page to confirm that it opened on schedule. Aside from the fish market, there are many seafood restaurants in Sydney, including love.fish, Walsh Bay Crabhouse, and Harbourfront Seafood Restaurant, which are not far from the ICC. Many of Sydney’s outstanding restaurants have strong seafood menus, including Firedoor, Sake, Yoshii’s Omakase, and the nearby Kuro.

Coffee

While Melbourne likes to consider itself the center of the coffee universe, Sydney has some respectable options. If you’re prepared to go 2km, you can visit the 2025 gold medal-winning cafe at Toby’s Estate, Chippendale, and judge for yourself. Toby’s also has an outlet in the city (1.3km). This list locates a number of top options within walking distance of the ICC: Edition Coffee Roasters (Expensive! but only 750m), Skittle Lane (1.1km), Gumption (1.3km). This list adds Pablo & Rusty’s (1.2km), and Normcore (1.1km). Another list claims that the Fine Food Store has the best coffee in Sydney, but it’s not especially close (2.4km). Industry Beans is closer (1.2km), as is Kingswood Coffee’s World Square outlet (1.1km).

Ice Cream

Good ice cream can also be found in Sydney. Favorites include Rivareno which has a store a 13 min walk away in Barangaroo; Messina, which has stores 12 min walk away in Darling Square and 12 min walk in the Star, and Cow and The Moon, on Enmore Road, Newtown, and (TBC) in the new Fish Market 18 min walk.

Bars etc

If you enjoy whiskey, you’ll probably enjoy the Baxter Inn, which is within walking distance. It’s set up as a speakeasy, with its entrance down a narrow lane, around a corner past some dumpsters, then down some stairs. You’ll find it around here. Other favorites include the Jam Record Bar, the Catapillar Club, and Ni Hao Bar.