Best Sushi in Sydney 2026
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Sydney's Japanese dining runs more to robata and modern izakaya than to pure Edomae, so the serious sushi is concentrated in a handful of rooms. At the top sits Ryuichi Yoshii, close to four decades at the counter, whose ten-seat omakase at Crown Sydney is the city's most expensive sushi seat at AU$398. Below him, Chase Kojima works a robata grill and a sushi counter at The Star, a Kyoto-trained chef runs a disciplined kappo tasting on Bridge Street, and two hatted neighbourhood rooms grill first-rate yakitori. Five counters and kitchens define serious Japanese dining in Sydney in 2026, from a once-a-month omakase to a AU$60 izakaya. Ranked below by what a serious eater books this year.
Five Sydney Sushi and Japanese Counters Worth Booking
Ryuichi Yoshii has cooked sushi across Japan and Australia for close to four decades, and his omakase now runs from a ten-seat counter at Crown Sydney in Barangaroo, holding two hats in the Good Food Guide. The sitting is AU$398 a head, built on signatures the regulars order without a menu: otoro nigiri, Hokkaido uni, a course of A5 wagyu. It is the purest and most expensive sushi counter in the city, and its hardest seat to secure. Bookings release at noon on the first of each month for the month ahead. Reserve the moment the calendar opens.
Sokyo is Chase Kojima's modern-Japanese flagship inside The Star in Pyrmont, a room that has held a hat in the Good Food Guide for years running. The kitchen works two strengths in parallel: robata flights from an open grill and sushi from a counter set with rice handled correctly and fish drawn from East Coast and Tokyo wholesalers. Dinner runs about AU$130 to AU$200 a head, with a tasting menu for a full read of the room. The sushi counter is the seat to take, and the most polished Japanese dining room in the city for a client night. Book one to two weeks ahead.
Kappo Yama sits on Bridge Street in the CBD, an eight-seat hinoki counter in pale wood and washi screens run by a Kyoto-trained chef as a kappo project rather than a strict sushi bar. The AU$185 tasting runs about twelve courses across ninety minutes: a seasonal sashimi platter, a steamed egg custard with sea urchin, a wagyu and seasonal-vegetable shabu-shabu, and a closing nigiri progression on rice cooked in donabe. The room is built for one or two diners, not a party, and the chef works directly in front of the counter. Book three to five weeks ahead.
Toko on Crown Street is Surry Hills' long-running modern-Japanese izakaya, a robata grill at the centre and a careful seasonal small-plate programme around it. The robata-grilled black cod is the dish the room is built on; sashimi flights come from the cold kitchen, and the cocktail list is unusually serious for the format. Dinner lands at about AU$60 to AU$100 a head, the value seat among the city's serious Japanese rooms. The dining room takes bookings while the bar handles walk-ins. It is the right first-date table for a diner who wants Japanese cooking without a tasting-menu commitment. Reserve a few days ahead.
Cho Cho San on Macleay Street is Jonathan Barthelmess's small modern-Japanese room in Potts Point, an open kitchen along the bar and a hat in the Good Food Guide for the cooking off its grill. The draw is the yakitori flight, a proper progression through chicken parts and vegetables, alongside considered sashimi, seasonal small plates and a donburi for a heavier finish. The room is intimate and busy, priced at about AU$60 to AU$100 a head, and the sake list rewards a confident order. It is a neighbourhood dinner done at restaurant standard. Book a few days ahead for a prime table.
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