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Great casual European restaurants in Sydney, 2015

MoVida in Surry Hills.
MoVida in Surry Hills.Fiona Morris

Bambini Trust

There's that glittering friend you can tolerate in small doses, and then there is the dependable, dignified sort who never lets you down. Bambini Trust falls into the latter category. They've been pulling the crowds in this most fickle of cities for 18 years, with their well-worn recipe of old school reliable glamour. The food is solid – think pappardelle with chianti-braised wagyu and porcini ragu, grilled swordfish, or rabbit roulade; all cooked in that miniature kitchen out the back. Weeks later, in the middle of a boring meeting, you'll find yourself craving their signature dish: steak frites with café de Paris butter. They also do a mean breakfast, long on the eggs, even when you're short on time. The surrounds are intimate and just dark enough (it's our pick for a fancy first date dinner), the service distant but friendly. And the crowd? Also consistent. Look, there's rakish lawyer Charles Waterstreet, at his regular table, and Lucy Turnbull, holding court quietly in the corner. Corporate, coiffed, cultured, just like the restaurant.

185 Elizabeth St, Sydney, (02) 9283 7098

Tapavino's pata negra, iberico acorn fed jamon.
Tapavino's pata negra, iberico acorn fed jamon.Edwina Pickles
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Wine Library

Remember that time John Thorpe said Sydneysiders didn't want to read and drink chardonnay in small bars? It was vaguely amusing eight years ago, today it's just downright hilarious. Legislation changes may have proved how ridiculous that statement was, but places like the Wine Library have since been demonstrating how sophisticated Sydney's tastes are. They offer 15 pages of wines (chardonnay included), that are mostly biodynamic, naturally fermented and made with skin-contact, plus oddities like the Dandy in a Clos made in a warehouse in Marrickville. But this is more than a place for wine geeks. The menu is an excellent mix of small dishes for day-long snacking – maybe it'll be the plump golden salt cod fish fingers with paprika mayonnaise, or figs wrapped in prosciutto with splodges of goat's curd. Become a little too excited with that list? There are heftier dishes such as braised lamb shoulder with chickpeas and tomato. Yes, service can be patchy when it's busy, but the Library continues to be one of Sydney's leading wine destinations.

18 Oxford St, Woollahra, (02) 9360 5686

Gowings Bar & Grill

It's hard to know which is the more theatrical – this bright-lights-big-city brasserie, or the gorgeously gilt-edged State Theatre next door. Glamorously dressed staff seem cast rather than merely hired, and the wide-open kitchen is all show business, from the fishmonger stage right, to the grill, rotisserie and wood-fired oven stage left. The vast menu fizzes and sparks with almost too many ideas (food director Robert Marchetti's trademark) that head chef Paul Easson calmly and skilfully puts into action, from a fresh kingfish tartare lushed up with mozzarella, mint and baby zucchini, to cute bacon-powered spanner crab croquettes perched on zingy celeriac remoulade or wood-roasted pork belly. Regulars return for their Black Angus rib-eye steak with anchovy butter and shoestring fries; others for the hearty cioppino fish soup, a sea-worthy vessel of fresh clams, crab, prawns and mussels with garlicky grilled bread. More choices, damn it: profiteroles drowned in Valrhona dark chocolate, or pavlova with passionfruit, sugar bananas and candied coconut.

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QT Hotel, 49 Market St, Sydney, (02) 8262 0062

Tapavino

Sherry rules the roost at this laneway gem for CBD folk, sloughing off the day. Begin the post-five-o'clock gambit with a glass of sea-salty manzanilla and a plate of boquerones (white anchovies) and end with the dulce de leche tart and a nip of raisiny Pedro Ximénez. The 80-plus Sherrys on offer, with 50 pours by the glass, means you'll have a lot of sips to cover in between and there's a match for every bite. A bone-dry fino with the potato and caramelised onion Spanish pizza? A nutty amontillado to pair with the unctuous fattiness of jamon Ibérico? A rich, creamy oloroso to stand up to the shaggy slab of beef rib? Yes, yes and yes. The wait-staff move to a Barcelona beat and keep the bites coming. Though bite is misleading – they're big small-plates here, which means you'll want to bring the whole team along. It's a happy antidote to end the office day.

6-8 Bulletin Pl, Sydney, (02) 9247 3221

MoVida

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You cannot beat this hustly-bustly, rustically inclined Melbourne import as a place to get together with friends over a few plates of high-interest tapas. That this intelligent way of eating and drinking has gained its rightful place in the local dining stratosphere has much to do with Frank Camorra, who manages to remain one of Spanish food's greatest ambassadors, even as he re-works its traditions. So while the food-savvy crowd, in the booths, on the window-side high tables and at the stool-lined bar, are tucking into nutty jamon or triple-cooked patatas bravas, they're also ordering some rather lovely quail and morcilla pastries, or marinated bass groper in a slightly odd semolina crust and mojo verde that's like a cubist escabeche. Larger raciones are indeed, larger, with a massive slow-cooked lamb shoulder on a rich pisto of tomato and eggplant, under a tumble of glossy green padron peppers. Cheese is as relevant an ending as dessert, as it is in Spain.

50 Holt St, Surry Hills, (02) 8964 7642

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