The final months of the year are typically jam-packed with restaurant and bar openings in Australia, and 2025 is proving there’s plenty left to look forward to.
In September, notable new spots to eat and drink opened in Melbourne, Sydney and Brisbane — some from much-loved local chefs, a few joining existing hospitality groups, and some by first-time operators.
Ready to try something new? Look to these 10 restaurants and bars that opened in Australia in September.
Melbourne
Boire
The across-the-road sibling to Mauritian restaurant Manzé, Boire is a more snack-focused concept for the North Melbourne strip. Expect plates of taro fritters, Meredith Dairy goat ribs and charcoal chicken sandwiches, plus a 100-bottle-strong wine list and a rum-based twist on the Old Fashioned.
Saadi
Chefs Saavni Krishnan and Sriram Aditya Suresh found a permanent home for Saadi at the former Sunda site. Their take on recipes from across the Indian subcontinent offers dishes like idli (rice cakes) with spiced Dutch carrots; pulikachal (simmered tamarind) flathead from Corner Inlet with curry leaf chutney; and almond barfi with an apple curd and buttermilk sorbet.
Three Horses
The internationally awarded team behind Caretaker’s Cottage (currently number 21 on the World’s 50 Best Bars list) has expanded to Three Horses, a cocktail bar on Little Lonsdale Street with a focus on Sherry. The house Martini is tinged with fino, the Flor de Jerez blends amontillado with rum, elderflower, apricot and lime, and the venue glows under red bulbs and has a funky vinyl soundtrack.
Sydney
Lee Ho Fook
Victor Liong has taken his popular modern Chinese restaurant in Melbourne and transplanted in Sydney CBD’s Porter House Hotel. The ever-popular crisp eggplant in spiced red vinegar is joined on the menu at Lee Ho Fook Sydney by an expanded offering of premium meat and seafood, as well as a wine list that looks beyond the Australian-only selection of the original outpost.
The Corner
Palm Beach has scored a cafe, restaurant and grocer from The Boathouse Group, where daily breakfast and lunch dishes include smoked rainbow trout with potato latkes, crème fraîche and trout roe; leeks vinaigrette with a crumbed egg; and CopperTree Farms minute steak with bone marrow and green pepper shallot sauce.
An $85 three-course dinner menu is updated weekly, available every Friday and Saturday evening, alongside a neat cocktail list and revolving wine list focused on noble grapes. The providore is stocked with bread and pastries, fresh produce, small-batch dairy products, LP’s Quality Meats salumi, jams, sauces, chocolates and more.
theboathousegroup.com.au/the-corner
Bar Torino
Tucked under already buzzing Double Bay Italian restaurant Gran Torino, Bar Torino is Neil Perry’s flip of the basement bar that was once Bobbie’s. The cocktail spot is now decorated with a Campari-themed mural, serving cocktails built on classic Italian spirits, antipasti like chicken liver patè with Marsala jelly, crostini and pickles, and larger plates like baked semolina gnocchi with mushrooms and Taleggio.
themargaretfamily.com/venue/bar-torino
The Wharf Bar & Restaurant
Sydney Theatre Company has welcomed The Wharf Restaurant and Bar to the Walsh Bay Arts Precinct. Reviving the 100-year-old site at the end of Wharf 4/5, the restaurant serves a bistro-style menu for lunch and dinner, and the bar stays open for post-show drinks, snacks and chocolate torte with crème fraîche for dessert.
sydneytheatre.com.au/your-visit/the-wharf-restaurant-and-bar
Brisbane
Suum
A 16-seat restaurant by chef Andy Choi (who has experience at Disfrutar in Barcelona and Heston Blumenthal’s The Fat Duck), Suum is one of the most affordable omakase experiences going at $180. Choi’s menu shares dishes and ingredients from his home in Korea, delivered with European culinary techniques, including molecular gastronomy. Take the dehydrated persimmon dagwa filled with French butter, a dish that embodies the concept.
Marlowe
Spread across a 1930s apartment block near Fish Lane, Marlowe is the sixth venue from South East Queensland’s Fanda Group (Rick Shores, Southside, Central, Norté and Sueno). The Australian bistro combines vintage charm with a contemporary lens, with beef subbed for coral trout in a silver tray-served Wellington; prawn cocktail served as a tartlet; and trifle layered with rhubarb jelly and macadamia sponge. Native ingredients and a dose of nostalgia star on the cocktail menu, while the wine list is entirely Australian aside from a selection of Champagne.
Bar Monte
The Newstead bubble welcomed an elevated take on the Light Years team’s original Gold Coast Italian restaurant. The modern trattoria serves jazzed-up dishes such as mortadella buns with pickled green chilli and limoncello aioli; yellowfin tuna with pineapple, green chilli, lemon, and koji mayo; and dry-aged bistecca with porcini rub, onion, and marrow butter, along with pastas and risotto. Australian, Italian, and French wine producers form the drinks list alongside playful, savoury-leaning cocktails, including a Caprese Martini and a Celery Margarita.
What’s opening in Australia in October
- South End will open in Sydney’s inner west, with a European bistro menu for all occasions.
- Yakisan by former Shobosho chef Adam Liston will open in North Adelaide.
- Alejandro Saravia will unveil Farmer’s Daughters – Wine House at the former Morena Melbourne site.
- The 25hours Hotel, The Olympia, in inner Sydney will launch, introducing four venues: The Palomar, The Mulwray, Jacob the Angel and Monica.
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