Restaurant in Sydney, Australia
La Liste-ranked. Easier to book than it should be.
Brent Savage's Bentley is the strongest wine-and-food pairing in the Sydney CBD, backed by La Liste recognition and multiple Star Wine List top-ranked finishes. The move to the Radisson Blu Hotel gave it room-scale and confidence to match its ambition. Easier to book than its award profile suggests, and the bar seating is a genuine option for wine-serious visitors.
For a restaurant that has appeared on La Liste's Leading Restaurants list two years running (83.5 points in 2025, 82 points in 2026) and repeatedly topped Star Wine List rankings, Bentley is surprisingly approachable to book. That's the first thing to know. The second is that if you care about wine as much as food, this is the strongest combination of both in the Sydney CBD. Chef Brent Savage leads one of the more coherent Australian Modern kitchens in the city, and the room it occupies — the grand dining space inside the Radisson Blu Hotel on O'Connell Street — gives the whole operation a confidence that its original neighbourhood wine bar format never quite had.
Bentley's move into the Radisson Blu Hotel was a genuine step-change. The restaurant went from a compact, beloved wine bar to a CBD dining room with scale and presence. Visually, that means high ceilings, considered lighting, and the kind of formal-but-not-stuffy setting that works for a business dinner on Tuesday and a celebratory table on Saturday. For the food-and-wine enthusiast specifically, the transition matters because it gave Savage and his team the physical space to run a more ambitious program without losing the wine-forward identity that built Bentley's reputation in the first place. The room reads serious. It earns it.
The bar and counter seating at Bentley is worth knowing about if you're visiting solo or as a pair with serious wine interest. Eating at the bar puts you closer to the floor team and gives you access to the full menu without the formality of a table booking. Given Bentley's consistent Star Wine List recognition , holding multiple leading rankings in 2021 and 2022, including two number-one positions , the bar is arguably where the wine program is leading appreciated. You can ask questions, work through the list with staff, and treat the meal as an extended tasting rather than a structured dinner. For explorers who want depth and context with their wine choices, bar seating here is a practical advantage, not a consolation option.
The Star Wine List performance is the clearest signal of where Bentley sits in the Sydney wine conversation. Multiple top-three and number-one rankings in a single year (2021) is not an accident , it reflects a wine program with genuine breadth and editorial intelligence. For diners who treat the wine list as part of the core decision about where to eat, Bentley competes with venues that charge significantly more per head. Combined with the Australian Modern cooking format under Savage, this is a strong choice when you want a full fine-dining experience without locking into a tasting menu format at a venue like Attica in Melbourne or Brae in Birregurra.
Reservations: Easy to book relative to its award profile , standard lead time of one to two weeks should be sufficient for most dates, though weekend evenings benefit from booking further ahead. Address: 27 O'Connell St, Sydney CBD, inside the Radisson Blu Hotel. Cuisine: Australian Modern under Chef Brent Savage. Awards: La Liste Leading Restaurants 2025 (83.5pts) and 2026 (82pts); multiple Star Wine List leading rankings including two number-one finishes in 2021. Google rating: 4.4 from 866 reviews. Dress: Smart casual to business dress fits the room; the hotel setting sets a tone without enforcing a strict code. Groups: The larger dining room format from the hotel move makes Bentley more viable for groups than its former venue , contact directly to discuss private or semi-private options. Bar seating: Available and recommended for solo diners and pairs with strong wine interest.
If you're building a Sydney trip around food and wine, Bentley belongs on the short list alongside Saint Peter for seafood-focused Australian cooking and Rockpool for a more classical fine-dining register. For Australian Modern elsewhere in the country, Cutler & Co. in Fitzroy and Provenance in Beechworth offer useful points of comparison. Sydney visitors with broader interests can find more in our full Sydney restaurants guide, Sydney bars guide, Sydney hotels guide, Sydney wineries guide, and Sydney experiences guide.
| Venue | Price | Value |
|---|---|---|
| BENTLEY Restaurant & Bar | — | |
| Rockpool | — | |
| Saint Peter | — | |
| Bennelong | — | |
| 20 Chapel | — | |
| AALIA | — |
A quick look at how BENTLEY Restaurant & Bar measures up.
Saint Peter is the stronger call if seafood-focused Australian cooking is your priority. Bennelong is the choice for a bigger occasion with a landmark setting. AALIA covers similar CBD territory with a Middle Eastern-influenced modern menu. Rockpool remains the reference point for dry-aged beef and old-school power-dining. BENTLEY sits closest to wine-serious diners who want La Liste-calibre cooking (83.5 points in 2025) without the full theatre of a tasting menu.
Yes, and it's one of the more practical choices for a special occasion in Sydney's CBD. The Radisson Blu dining room gives it a proper occasion feel without requiring you to book months in advance. La Liste Top Restaurants recognition two years running and a wine list that has repeatedly ranked number one on Star Wine List give it the credentials to justify a celebration spend.
Specific menu items are not documented in our current data, so we won't guess. What is documented is that Brent Savage leads the kitchen under an Australian Modern format, and the wine list is one of the most decorated in Sydney, so leaning into the sommelier's recommendations is a sound move regardless of what you eat.
The move into the Radisson Blu gives BENTLEY a larger footprint than its original wine bar format, which improves group flexibility. For larger parties, check the venue's official channels at 27 O'Connell St to confirm private dining availability. Solo diners and pairs are well-served by the bar and counter seating.
Yes. Bar and counter seating is available and worth prioritising if you're dining solo or as a pair with a serious interest in wine. It puts you closer to the wine programme, which has held multiple Star Wine List number-one rankings, and is the format that makes the most of BENTLEY's strengths without needing a full table reservation.
One to two weeks is sufficient for most dates, which is notably accessible for a restaurant with two consecutive years on La Liste's Top Restaurants list. Weekend evenings will tighten faster, so book earlier if your dates are fixed. This is one of the easier bookings at its level in Sydney.
BENTLEY operates in the grand dining room of the Radisson Blu Hotel at 27 O'Connell St, a step up from its origins as a neighbourhood wine bar. Chef Brent Savage runs an Australian Modern kitchen, and the wine list is the real differentiator — multiple Star Wine List top-three and number-one finishes make this one of the most wine-serious rooms in the city. Book a week or two out, consider the bar if you're a pair, and engage with the wine list properly.
Keep this venue in your Pearl passport, rate it after you visit, and track it alongside every other place you collect.
