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From three-hatters Quay and Oncore by Clare Smyth to the Bentley team’s Monopole and O Tama Carey’s Lankan Filling Station, these are the venues that recently served, or will soon serve, their final course.
With both Oncore by Clare Smyth and Quay announcing they will close in February next year, Sydney will lose two of the four three-hatted jewels in its crown. The degustation isn’t dead, but crippling price hikes and changing tastes are conspiring to make Sydney’s famed top-end dining pool a little shallower.
Contraction isn’t confined to the three-hat category, with Sydney sadly losing a mighty band of quality restaurants in 2025; the French-leaning Monopole from the Bentley team, Chippendale’s adventurous Longshore and O Tama Carey’s Lankan Filling Station all serving their last meals this year.
Celebrity chef Luke Nguyen and sister Pauline Nguyen’s Red Lantern ended its impressive 23-year-run in November, the restaurant’s third partner, Mark Jensen, telling Good Food that lower diner numbers, relentless rain, the economy and Sydneysiders’ fascination with new restaurants were some of the reasons behind the decision not to renew the Darlinghurst stalwart’s lease.
After an earlier exit at Tramsheds in Forest Lodge, China Diner closed its Bondi Beach branch, with co-owner Kingsley Smith explaining that the neighbouring gym has taken the Campbell Parade space, while the redevelopment of Manly Wharf was behind the August exit of Queen Chow Manly. Cheeseburger spring roll go-to, Potts Point’s Ms.G’s, joined the departures list on December 21 after a 15-year run.
Further afield, hatted Valentina pulled up stumps in Merimbula, and Babyface Kitchen called it a day in Wollongong.
Sydney hospitality has always had a strong flex for regeneration, and in 2025 Neil Perry closed Song Bird in Double Bay, promptly re-gearing the Modern Asian menu and reopening as Gran Torino, an Italian restaurant. When Enmore Road’s Bar Louise sold and closed mid-year, it reopened as Vineria Luisa, with new co-owner Alessandro Pavoni at the wheel. Catalan restaurant Parlar rebooted as Le frerot at Potts Point, and Darlinghurst’s Bar Vincent tweaked to Vin-Cenzo’s under its new owners from Bar Copains.
The closure of the York Street CBD Branch of The Bavarian gave life to steak frites concept 24 York. Ditto Newtown’s plant-based Flora, which was born-again as Joe’s Tavern. In Sydney, a closure is often just a prelude to the next restaurant opening.
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