WHAT TO SEE

Sydney Harbour and surrounds

Fast Facts:

• Sydney Harbour is one of the world’s most beautiful harbours. It is part of Port Jackson and measures approximately 500 gigalitres (about 400,000 acre-feet).

• The Rocks, on the western side of Circular Quay is Sydney's oldest area. Former nineteenth-century warehouses are now transformed into galleries, restaurants and bars.

• Sydney Opera House on Bennelong Point was opened by Queen Elizabeth II in 1973. Designed by Danish architect Jørn Utzon it was a controversial design and he left the project in 1966, although there was a reconciliation in the 1990s. Perhaps appropriately the first opera performed in the Sydney Opera House was Sergei Prokofiev's War and Peace.

• The Sydney Harbour Bridge, aka ‘the Coathanger’, opened in 1932, is 1149 metres in length, including approach spans. It is said to be the world's widest long-span bridge and it is the tallest steel arch bridge, measuring 134 metres (440 ft) from top to water level.

Eat nearby at: Guillaume at Bennelong, part of the Sydney Opera House, or Aria, with excellent views of the harbour and Sydney Opera House. Across the quay, Quay restaurant is often named Sydney’s best restaurant, while Rockpool in The Rocks area has been a top restaurant for over twenty years. There are many smaller restaurants, cafes and bars which make this a delightful area for visitors.

The Fortune of War is Sydney’s oldest hotel (pub) established in 1828, just forty years after white settlement.

Extra time: Allow time for a Sydney Harbour BridgeClimb one of the city’s most popular activities, since it began in 1998. It operates climbs from dawn to night. Or take a ferry ride to Manly Beach, almost as well-known as Bondi, and easily reached from Circular Quay. Or visit one of the several harbour islands.

Trivia: The Sydney Harbour Bridge has a smaller twin in Newcastle, Northumberland, England. Built by the same bridge builders, that one was opened four years earlier in 1928.

More information.

Darling Harbour & Sydney Central Business District

Fast Facts:

• Darling Harbour was constructed on the site of former rail yards and warehouses. It is now the city’s centre for leisure and entertainment with around 40 restaurants, 30 bars, cafes, museums, theatres and an entertainment centre and cinema. There are also several hotels and Star City Casino in the vicinity as well as the Sydney Convention and Exhibition Centre.

•Cockle Bay Wharf and King Street Wharf extend the options for eating and drinking on the other side of the water.

• Sydney Tower, soaring over 305 metres above the city, is Sydney’s tallest building. Skywalk at 268 metres (880 feet), the same height as the Eiffel Tower, is the city’s highest tourist attraction.

• Chinatown, Sydney, in nearby Haymarket, is the place to find affordable Asian meals, groceries and shopping.

• Shopping in Sydney offers everything from top-end designer boutiques in the northern end of Castlereagh Street to world-class shopping centres to street markets in the suburbs. Westfield Sydney is the latest major shopping centre to open in 2010. It has 130 fashion and food specialty stores.

Eat nearby at: Zaaffran Indian Restaurant, Darling Harbour; Vessel Italian, King Street Wharf; Coast Restaurant, Cockle Bay Wharf; Chinta Ria, Cockle Bay Wharf; Tetsuya’s, Sydney. 

Extra time: Take a relaxing RiverCat ride up the Parramatta River, passing the site of the 2000 Olympics.

Trivia: About a fifth of the Australian population lives in Sydney; a third of these were born overseas, migrating from over 200 countries. More than 20 languages are in widespread daily use in Sydney and its suburbs.

More information.

Kings Cross, Bondi And Eastern Suburbs

Fast Facts:

• Kings Cross has long been the colourful bohemian and often seedy centre of Sydney. It has many nightclubs, restaurants and cafes, bars and boutique hotels. There is a small but good organic market on Saturdays.

• Darlinghurst, Paddington and Surry Hills are hot spots for dining with dozens of trendy cafes, bars and restaurants.

• Bondi Beach is the famous beach seen on many postcards. The beach is a kilometre long and there are many restaurants, cafes and bars nearby. It is a relaxed and popular place.

Eat nearby at: Nick’s Bondi Beach Pavillion, Bondi; Icebergs Dining Room & Bar, Bondi; Aperitif, Kings Cross; Billy Kwong, Surry Hills; Bird Cow Fish, Surry Hills; Marque, Surry Hills.

Extra time: Explore the beaches and coast to the south. Bronte, Clovelly, Cronulla, all have lovely views and places to dine.

Trivia: The large Coco Cola advertising sign in Kings Cross is heritage listed.

Sydney’s food precincts at a glance:

Sydney’s Central Business District (CBD), bounded by Circular Quay, Darling Harbour, Chinatown and Hyde Park – hundreds of restaurants and cafes featuring international and 'modern Australian' cuisine.

The Rocks and Circular Quay – Sydney's first European settlement with beautifully restored historic buildings. Have a coffee or lunch at the many excellent cafes and restaurants, or historic pubs.

Sydney's Eastside – a dense belt of cafes or restaurants with magnificent views of the Botanic Gardens, Woolloomooloo and Kings Cross. Quickly accessed by bus from the city.

Darling Harbour and Cockle Bay - just minutes from the CBD by monorail or RiverCat, a major tourist destination with dozens of restaurants and cafes.

Chinatown - famous for restaurants and food halls specialising in genuine Chinese and Asian cuisine, accessible by light rail or bus.

Kings Cross - a buzzing 24-hour precinct featuring nightclubs, cabarets and some of the city’s finest restaurants and cafes. Quickly accessed by train or bus from the city.

Double Bay – Sydney's ultra-chic shopping centre known for its cosmopolitan cafe society, designer shopping and European ambience. Quickly accessed by train or bus from the city.

Paddington (Oxford Street) and Darlinghurst – (Darlinghurst Road) - a hip area to visit with great pubs, cafes and restaurants. Easily accessed by train or bus from the city.

Bondi Beach – Sydney's most famous beach with many trendy restaurants and outdoor cafes. Easily accessed by bus from the city.

Southern beach suburbs: Randwick, Coogee, Clovelly to La Perouse - this area attracts cosmopolitan and fashionable visitors to its ocean beaches. Hugely popular beach side stretches, with excellent international hotels, restaurants and outdoor cafes. Accessible by bus from the city.

Newtown - the energetic 24-hour street life attracts visitors to its eccentric speciality stores, intriguing antique and artisan showrooms, new and recycled clothing stores, cafes, restaurants, theatres and pubs. Accessible by bus from the city.

Glebe – a popular and colourful residential area for artists, old time locals including students of the nearby Sydney University and the upwardly mobile. The area is known for its alternative therapy outlets, excellent bookshops and a good selection of restaurants and cafes. Accessible by bus from the city.

Balmain - an early suburb now with a trendy village atmosphere and many restaurants and pubs and a thriving weekly market. Accessible by bus from the city.

Leichhardt - a strong Italian influence evident in many local Italian restaurants. Readily accessible by bus from the city. Other enclaves with ethnic cafes and restaurants include Petersham (Portuguese), Marrickville (Greek and Asian), Campsie (Korean), Bankstown (Vietnamese), Haberfield (Italian), Parramatta (Indian).

Manly – an easy ferry or bus ride from the city, with good restaurants, bars and cafes, many with water views.

Mosman – (Military Road) - A sophisticated shopping village. Nearby Balmoral Beach and its esplanade features well known restaurants and smart cafes. Accessible by bus from the city.

Parramatta - Sydney`s second CBD with a growing restaurant culture and a strong mixed ethnic influence. Accessible by train or bus from the city.

Cabramatta - join a tour with gourmet chef and food writer Carol Selva Rajah for a “day trip to Asia”.

FOOD TO TASTE

Two things often confuse visitors to Australia:

BYO – if a restaurant states it is ‘BYO’, you may Bring Your Own – meaning you make take your own wine to a restaurant to enjoy with your meal. In most cases beer and spirits are not included in this rule.

Modern Australian Food (Mod Oz) – this term, describing the cuisine of an eating place has more recently become ‘Contemporary’. It means that the food does not conform to any particular ethnic style but is following current food trends, which in Sydney will often mean a fusion of Asian styles with more European techniques. But then it may not. Try it and expect to enjoy whatever you are served. That’s what travel is for.

Top Ten Sydney Tastes:

1. Sample Adriano Zumbo’s macarons and other sweet treats. Since MasterChef, this Balmain-based patissier has reached legend-status.
2. Experience Australian bush food. Some restaurants serve kangaroo, warrigal greens and other indigenous foods or ‘bush tucker’, but to see it growing, go to the Royal Botanic Gardens and take the self-guided Aboriginal Walk.
3. Sourdough bread is popular at most restaurants and some of the best bakeries include: Iggy’s Sourdough, Bronte; The Grumpy Baker, Darlinghurst; Sonoma Sourdough, Glebe; and Infinity Bread, Darlinghurst.
4. Sydney’s seafood. Seafood is on almost every menu in this city, but to see it best go to the Sydney Fish Market at Pyrmont. Buy it fresh to cook at home, or eat fish and chips waterside at one of the cafes. If you’re outside watch out for hungry seagulls!
5. Gelato is alive and well in Sydney, thanks to many Italian migrants and Italophiles. Pompei’s at Bondi is one of the best, but there are many others.
6. Have a meat pie at Harry’s Café de Wheels, and enjoy trad-Australian food at a Sydney icon. Casual and good. Everyone should do it at least once. meat pies
7. Farmers’ Produce markets have sprung up around the city and its suburbs, bringing country-fresh produce to a park near almost anyone. Best are Northside, North Sydney, Pyrmont, Eveleigh and Fox Studios.
8. Start a day with yum cha. Best places include Marigold, Kam Fook and Sky Phoenix.
9. Sydneysiders take their coffee seriously and many dispute that Melbourne’s is any better. Impossible to say which is the city’s best, but Allpress Espresso at Rosebery wins awards.
10. Enjoy Sydney at its best and visit Doyle’s at Watsons Bay. The Doyle family has been fishing and serving up the catch to Sydneysiders since 1885, and a seat beachside here as you eat fish and chips is one of life’s little privileges.

COMING SOON: Centennial Parklands will again be the idyllic setting for Sydney's ultimate alfresco dining experience - Taste of Sydney. Held from Thursday March 10 to Sunday March 13th, Taste is now established as a 'must attend event' by food and wine lovers. Treat yourself to a delicious day out sampling signature dishes from Sydney's finest restaurants and tasting an extraordinary range of food and drink from Australia and beyond.

HELPFUL INFORMATION

When and How to Go: Sydney is a long way from most other countries – 24 hours from Europe, at least 13 hours from west coast USA, 13 hours from Beijing, 9 hours from Singapore. Many people choose to visit Australia and spend some time to make the long trip (and cost) worthwhile. Many just like to hang out with Aussies too!

Major Annual Events:

Sydney has a month-long cultural festival, the Sydney Festival, every January.

Sydney International Food Festival is part of Crave Sydney, a month-long food and cultural festival each October.

Information on other upcoming events.

Cooking Schools:

Sydney Seafood School, at the Sydney Fish Market for everything you need to know about preparing Australian seafood. Some of Sydney's best chefs conduct classes here.

Greekalicious, Greek chef, Maria Benardis, shares her homeland's cuisine with great skill.

Accoutrement, a cookware shop in suburban Mosman, has a demonstartion kitchen where top chefs come to teach.

USEFUL INFORMATION ABOUT SYDNEY

Sydney weather conditions

Currency converter

World clock

Travel advisory information

Restaurant information and bookings

SYDNEY GUIDES

The Foodies Guide to Sydney 2011, Hardie Grant Books, 2010, Elizabeth Meryment, Kate Gibbs, Pauline Nguyen

The Sydney Morning Herald Good Food Guide 2011, Penguin, 2010, Terry Durack & Joanna Savill

The Sydney Morning Herald Good Food Shopping Guide 2011, Fairfax Books, 2010, Helen Greenwood & John Newton

SYDNEY-BASED BLOGS

Grab your Fork

How to Shuck and Oyster

Not Quite Nigella

SBS Hunter Gatherer

Stone Soup

FIND OUT MORE

My Sydney – why I love it

Australia Day 2010

24 FASCINATING FACTS ABOUT SYDNEY:

• Did you know that Sydney, named in honour of Lord Sydney, the British Home Secretary from 1784 to 1789 was never officially named because the first settlers were simply too busy setting themselves up in their new country? Originally the settlement was called Sydney Cove, the name later shortened to Sydney.

• Sydney's postcode is 2000, the same number as the year it hosted the hugely successful 2000 Olympics.

• Sydney is situated at a similar latitude to Cape Town, Buenos Aires, Los Angeles, Casablanca and Beirut – 33' 55" south.

• Sydney is one of the largest cities in its land size, spreading across 1580 square kilometres, the same as London and more than double New York.

• The first European to come ashore in what is now Sydney, was a cabin boy, Isaac Smith who, before the more official people could land on April 29, 1770, jumped from the ship's boat onto the sands of what is now Kurnell in Botany Bay.

• Likewise the official opening of the distinctive Sydney Harbour Bridge on March 19, 1932, was hijacked by a man with a sword mounted on a galloping horse. Right wing New Guard member, Captain Francis de Groot burst through the assembled dignitaries, and slashed the ceremonial ribbon before the Premier could do so.

• The strength of Sydney Harbour Bridge, the world's widest single-span bridge, was tested before its opening by placing 96 railway engines, equivalent in weight to 5900 family cars, or almost seven times the number of cars that could actually fit on the bridge at any one time. Visitors may walk across the arch of the bridge each day as part of specially guided groups. If that is too strenuous they may ascend inside one of the pylons or simply use the footpath.

• Sydney has a relatively mild climate. The average summer maximum temperature is 25.8C, and the average winter maximum is 15.9C. Interestingly there is an average of twice as many cloudy days per month in summer (12) as there are in winter (6).

• Sydney is without sunshine for only 23 days a year yet, surprisingly, rain falls on about 150 days a year.

• The 25 year-old Sydney Opera House, which seats 5200 people, was paid for by a public lottery. It took six years to complete, and its cost and design caused so much conflict that the Danish architect, Utzon, resigned before its completion. Tours of the Opera House have long been popular with visitors, but now Backstage Tours are also available.

• An attempt to set a new mass tap-dancing record was made on the steps of the Sydney Opera House in May 1985. Performed to the music of Waltzing Matilda it was unsuccessful as only 1500 tappers attended. There was more success at the Sydney Entertainment Centre the same month when 23,094 dancers set the record for most dancers in one dance.

• About half of Sydney Harbour has a depth of nine metres or more at low water, with a maximum depth of 24.4. metres at the harbour entrance.

The oldest surviving building in Australia is Elizabeth Farm at Parramatta, 23 kilometres from the city centre. It was built as the family homestead for wool pioneer John Macarthur and his family in 1793.

• Each year around 3.5 million international visitors visit Sydney. This number is expected to increase enormously in 2000 when the city hosts the Olympics.

• Today a sixth of the Australian population lives in Sydney, yet about a third of these were born overseas, and migrated from over 200 countries. Counting their Australian-born children they account for about half of Sydney's population. More than 20 languages are in widespread daily use,

• The unmistakably shaped Sydney Tower, at 324.8 metres, is the tallest observation tower in the Southern hemisphere. There is a revolving restaurant near the top of the tower.

• To the west of Sydney Harbour, the graceful Gladesville Bridge over the Parramatta River has a span of 305 metres, making it the world's longest concrete arch.

• It is said a Sydney housewife threw out some rotting Tasmanian apples in the 1830s and they grew in her garden to become the forebears of all the Granny Smith apples in the world.

• Sydney Harbour contains over 240km of foreshore and extends over 55 square kilometres. The Sydney metropolitan ocean coastline stretches for 60km.

• The cost of staging the Sydney 2000 Olympic games was at least $5.2 billion, of which taxpayers will pay about one-third. The 110,000 seat Olympic stadium was the largest ever built for an Olympic Games. Four jumbo jets would fit side by side under the span of the main roof arch.

• The 2.3 kilometre Sydney Harbour Tunnel, was completed in 1992 at a cost of $738 million. It is estimated that its use cuts the crossing time by ten minutes and saves 13 million litres of fuel a year.

• Paul Hogan, most famous for his role as Mick Dundee in the 1986 blockbuster film Crocodile Dundee was once employed as a painter on the Sydney Harbour Bridge.

• The Mint Building on Queen Street was originally built in 1814 as a hospital and was known as the Rum Hospital because the builders received no money for its construction. Their reward was a monopoly on the booming rum trade in the colony at the time.

• The State Conservatorium of Music on Macquarie Street was originally built as the Government House stables.

SOMETHING UNUSUAL

There’s a new fad in town of ad hoc ‘underground dining’. Table for 20 is the most mainstream, although some hosts spread invitations by SMS directing diners to a changing parade of private homes or locations.

Summertime may also see a Central Business District laneway transformed into an impromptu bar.

Beachfront is Billie’s (02 9973 1988) at Bilgola Beach. Dine here at night, and you could be at your best friend's place right on the beach. Basically, Billies is an ex-beach kiosk offering ultra-simple but good open air dining, four nights a week during summer.

On the waterways look for boats such as Captain Cappuccino ready to pull up at a beach or alongside your yacht to serve you espressos.

And then there’s Nookie Café, arguably the world’s smallest café at 268B Cleveland Street, Surry Hills. Just ‘a man and his window’ through which he serves great espresso coffee and cakes. Patrons may sit on one of two stools outside on the pavement or take their coffee away.

Or Clydesdale’s Restaurant, Windsor, a dining experience on wheels. Outer Sydney has farmland and orchards, so what better way to enjoy this historical riverside town than in a uniquely elegant, old-world horse-drawn (seats eight) carriage restaurant pulled by Clydesdale horses?