Food with a View

You can feast your eyes on a view. But can you taste a view? In Sydney, absolutely. To eat before a view of this sparkling jewel of a harbour is to lift Sydney’s top dining experiences from world-class to something out of this world. The turban of scampi at Guillaume, for instance, or glorious fish soup higha bove the city at Summit and the Peking duck consommé at ARIA taste that little bit more memorable because you’re in Sydney, soaking up an extraordinary view.

The Sydney restaurant everyone talks about year after year is Quay. Peter Gilmore’s close-to-perfect contemporary cuisine – which he calls food inspired by nature – is served with the harbour’s best view as its backdrop: Quay is perched on the upper level of the overseas cruise-ship terminal at Circular Quay, Sydney’s iconic ferries in the foreground, the Sydney Opera House a stunning backdrop. For the complete Sydney experience, look in the other direction to the Harbour Bridge. Expect knockout culinary experiences:ethically harvested seafood or mud-crabcongee and sophisticated desserts.

Gilmore, a Sydneysider, began his career in his home city before heading to the UK at 19. Three years later he was back to hone his skills at smaller Sydney and Blue Mountains venues before taking over at Quay in 2001. The awards began piling in. This year it is the highest ranked Australian restaurant in the San Pellegrino World’s 50 best restaurants list, coming in at 27. The Sydney Morning Herald Good Food Guide critics named it restaurant of the year in 2009 and 2010 and this year gave it three hats (the top honour, achieved by only two other restaurants for 2011).

Look beyond the ferries from your table at Quay and you’ll see your next must-try Sydney dining experiences: ARIA and Guillaume. The Sydney Opera House is the focal point of the view at ARIA, too, though the Harbour Bridge competes for attention. Matt Moran –Sydney darling, occasional television star and charity and arts champion – is co-owner and chef. Moran’s food is contemporary and has gathered a swag of significant awards since the restaurant opened in 1999, achieving two hats in this year’s Good Food Guide. The lengthy wine list wins awards, too.

Guillaume at Bennelong, right out there on the point in the Sydney Opera House, is the work of owner and chef Guillaume Brahimi. Paris-born, Australian citizen Brahimi uses the best local ingredients to create inspired,contemporary dishes that are certainly more international than French. His Western Australian marron, for instance, rests on a bed of sealed foie gras, fresh radish and Tasmanian wasabi with oysters, mushrooms and a smoked duck consommé.

If you’ve looked at a map of Sydney Harbour you’ll see that there’s much more to it than Circular Quay. In fact,there’s about 240km of coastline.Imagine all those potential harbour views! Get out of the city and into the suburbs for show-stopping views, great food and terrific value for money.

Here are some ideas to whet your appetite:

1. More than pub grub - The Terrace on Pittwater, Newport Arms Hotel, 2 Kalinya Street, Newport. Tel: 9997 4900. The Newport Arms sits in a spectacular spot over Pittwater. The beer garden at this great old pub must have one of the best sunset views in the world. There’s also a big screen for watching sport, three children’s playgrounds, quality pub food and, upstairs, the award-winning contemporary restaurant The Terrace on Pittwater. What a package! www.theterraceonpittwater.com.au

2. Top of the world - Summit, Level 47, Australia Square, 264 George Street, Sydney. Tel: 9247 9777. It’s been rotating above the city centre for 40 years, but after slipping down the city’s culinary ladder it is finally at the top of its game again. The food is excellent but the experience up here above the city and the harbour makes that big trip up in the lift certainly worthwhile. www.summitrestaurant.com.au

3. Soak up the sun - Pilu at Freshwater, end of Moore Road, Freshwater. Tel: 9938 3331. Sardinian-born Giovanni Pilu brings the vibrant flavours and culinary style of Sardinia to this beachside Sydney locale. It’s a perfect match. Splurge on the tasting menu. www.piluatfreshwater.com.au

4. Taste the sea - Pier, 594 New South Head Road, Rose Bay. Tel: 9327 6561. Australia has a reputation for excellent seafood. Among Australian chefs, Greg Doyle has a reputation for obsession over the quality of the seafood he buys for his restaurant at the end of the pier at Rose Bay. www.pierrestaurant.com.au

5. Early dinner at Quay - Quay, Upper level, Overseas Passenger Terminal, Circular Quay West, The Rocks. Tel: 9521 5600.The food’s so good at Quay that people forget to mention the view. And when you’re sitting up to your meal at a table tucked in beside the Harbour Bridge and looking across the iconic ferries to the Sydney Opera House, you’ll understand how extraordinary an omission that is. Go early to experience that view in daylight and darkness. www.quay.com.au

6. Wine and dine - ARIA, 1 Macquarie Street, East Circular Quay. Tel: 9252 2555. Of course the food and setting are amazing, but so is the award-winnin gwine list, which includes Australia’s best wines and plenty more from around the world. www.ariarestaurant.com

7. An evening on Bennelong Point - Guillaume at Bennelong, Sydney Opera House, Bennelong Point, Sydney. Tel: 9241 1999. Get tickets to something – anything –at the Sydney Opera House and a table at Guillaume for the ultimate Sydney entertainment experience. www.guillaumeatbennelong.com.au

8. Be seen at the beach - North Bondi Italian Food, 118-120 Ramsgate Avenue, Bondi Beach. Tel: 9300 4400. All right, so it’s not a harbour view you’re getting with your meal here at Bondi. But won’t one of the world’s most famous beaches do? We promise you,it will. And make sure you do this one in the daytime. Weekend lunch, preferably. It’s when Sydney’s ultra-cool set sits by the beach to be seen. www.idrb.com/northbondi