Sixpenny
“Three hats and a score of 19 hiding on a Stanmore corner, seven courses for A$265. Book it for an anniversary.”
About Sixpenny
Sydney's most decorated open dining room is not on the harbour. It occupies a 1907 corner building in Stanmore, deep in the inner west, where Daniel Puskas and Anthony Schifilliti have run Sixpenny since 2012. The Good Food Guide 2026 gave it three hats and a score of 19, one of only two scores that high in the awards this year, and the contrast between the address and the accolade is the whole story: nothing about this room shouts, including its trophies.
The menu is seven courses at A$265, seasonal, produce driven and quietly engineered, with a deep fermentation program of house made pastes and sauces doing the engine work underneath plates that look simple and are not. Dishes read as a few ingredients and eat like arguments. Pairings run at A$160 for the Sixpenny selection and A$230 for the sommelier's older and odder bottles, and the service explains everything without ever performing.
The inner west address is the point, not a compromise. Suburb quiet means generous spacing, conversation level sound and none of the harbour's tourist churn, while Stanmore station sits a short walk away. With Quay closed since February 2026 and Oncore gone, Sixpenny and Saint Peter now hold Sydney's three hat line between them, and Sixpenny does it at A$265, a ticket the harbour rooms cannot match for cooking of this rank. Booking runs through OpenTable, weeks ahead rather than months.
The Room
A small heritage corner room from 1907, pale, calm and lit softly enough that the food provides the colour. Tables are spaced for privacy, the floor team moves with the unhurried confidence of people who know exactly how good the kitchen is, and the whole experience runs at conversation volume. Dress is smart casual; nobody checks. Stanmore outside is quiet by nine, which is exactly how the room likes it.
Why book it, occasion by occasion
Sixpenny is not a general purpose luxury. It has specialties among occasions, and they are these.
For the anniversary measured in conversation, not spectacle
Some anniversaries want fireworks; the best ones want three uninterrupted hours with the right person. Sixpenny is built for the second kind: a hushed heritage room, tables that give a couple actual privacy, and seven courses that hand you something to marvel at together every twenty minutes. Tell the team the occasion when booking and the evening bends gently around it. A score of 19 is the private proof that you chose the best room in the city, whatever the skyline says.
For a first date you are certain about
This is not a hedge your bets venue; it is a statement of intent at A$265 a head, and the right first date reads it exactly that way. The room's quiet means you hear every answer, seven courses supply three hours of runway, and the plates themselves make conversation, since each one looks simple and turns out not to be. Take the A$160 pairing rather than the sommelier tier; the night has enough decisions in it already.
For the solo diner escaping the counter circuit
Most solo fine dining funnels you to a counter and a show. Sixpenny offers the rarer thing: a proper table alone with cooking of three hat rank and a floor team happy to talk ferments for as long as you ask. The seven course structure gives a single diner the whole arc without the pacing awkwardness, and OpenTable takes single covers without ceremony. Bring a book for the walk, not the table; the food will hold your attention.
What to order
Seven courses arrive regardless. The choices left are the pairing, the timing and the questions you ask.
- The Sixpenny pairing at A$160
The house selection is the smart order, matched course by course without cellar theatrics. The A$230 sommelier tier is for second visits and wine obsessives.
- Ask about the ferments
The house made pastes and sauces underneath the menu are built across months. The floor will tell you what is working inside each course; the answers double the meal.
- A weeknight table
Weekend seats go quickly on OpenTable and the room is at its calmest midweek, when the pacing stretches and the kitchen breathes.
- Trust the quiet dishes
The plate that looks like three ingredients is the one the kitchen sweated hardest. Do not rank courses by drama; the sleeper is usually the masterpiece.
Practical
- Address
- Percival Road, Stanmore
- Reservations
- OpenTable · book weeks ahead for weekends
- Menu
- Seven courses · A$265
- Pairings
- Sixpenny A$160 · Sommelier A$230
- Hats
- Three, score of 19, Good Food Guide 2026
- Building
- 1907 corner heritage room
- Chefs
- Daniel Puskas and Anthony Schifilliti
- Getting there
- Stanmore station, a short walk
Questions diners ask
Is Sixpenny worth the trip to Stanmore?
Yes, and the trip is the point. Three hats and a score of 19 in the Good Food Guide 2026 put it at the very top of Sydney dining, and the quiet inner west setting delivers a calm the harbour rooms cannot. At A$265 for seven courses it also undercuts comparable rooms by a clear margin. The Value score of eight reflects that arithmetic.
How hard is it to book Sixpenny?
Manageable with planning. Tables release on OpenTable and weekends go quickest, so book several weeks ahead for a Friday or Saturday; midweek tables hold longer. The room is small, which is most of the scarcity. Single diners and twos have the easiest run; larger tables should call the restaurant directly.
What does dinner at Sixpenny cost?
Seven courses at A$265 per person, with pairings at A$160 or A$230. A couple taking the house pairing lands around A$425 a head before tip, which for cooking scored 19 out of 20 is the best ratio in Sydney fine dining. Drinks by the glass can bring a careful evening in under A$350 each.
Who cooks at Sixpenny?
Daniel Puskas, with Anthony Schifilliti alongside, as it has been since the room opened in 2012. The kitchen's signature is patience: a fermentation program of house pastes and sauces that takes months and then hides inside dishes that look effortless. The 2026 Good Food Guide rewarded exactly that quiet depth with three hats.