Restaurant in Sydney, Australia
Sydney's strongest case for Argentine asado.
Porteño is Surry Hills' most convincing Argentine kitchen — open-fire asado with dry-aged Australian Wagyu and Black Angus, a deep Argentine wine list, and service that's genuinely warm rather than performatively polished. Book for Friday or Saturday evening if you want the full room energy, and come ready to share cuts and spend time at the table.
The second time you visit Porteño, you notice what hasn't changed: the smell of ironbark smoke meeting you at the door, the open grill commanding the room, the warmth of a room that knows exactly what it is. That consistency is the point. In Surry Hills, where dining concepts cycle through faster than the seasons, Porteño's refusal to reinvent itself is its greatest asset. If you're asking whether to book it again, the answer is yes — and if you've never been, there's no better entry point into fire-led cooking in Sydney.
Porteño sits at 50 Holt St in Surry Hills, a neighbourhood that has built its food identity on independent operators with genuine points of view. Porteño is the anchor that gives the area credibility at the leading end of the casual-serious spectrum , not a fine-dining destination in the white-tablecloth sense, but a room where the cooking is precise and the hospitality is genuinely considered. It draws from the neighbourhood's energy without being swallowed by it. The exposed brick, vintage details and the steady visual drama of the open Parrilla and Asador grills make the room immediately legible: you're here to eat, drink well, and stay a while. Compared to the more polished dining rooms around the CBD, Porteño offers something harder to manufacture , atmosphere that feels earned rather than designed.
Chef Matthew Fox runs a kitchen built around Australian Black Angus and Australian Wagyu, dry-aged and cooked over open fire. The grill programme covers beef, pork and lamb, with cuts including a Shimo F1 Wagyu skirt, bone-in ribeye, and a dry-aged pork tomahawk. These are not decorative descriptions , the dry-ageing process and ironbark charcoal combination produces depth of flavour that direct grilling can't replicate. The kitchen extends to starters that hold their own: house-made tallow fried empanadas, Mayura Station Wagyu carpaccio, and fried Brussels sprouts with lentils are all cited as signatures, each providing contrast to the richness of the fire-cooked mains. Seasonal salads and pickled elements keep the table from tipping into one-note heaviness. The wine list runs deep into Mendoza reds and Patagonian Pinot alongside Australian producers , this is a list built for pairing with the food rather than for display.
Porteño suits an evening that has room to breathe. The fire-led format rewards patience: this is not a venue for a quick midweek dinner before a 9pm obligation. A Friday or Saturday evening gives the room its full character , the convivial energy that comes from a full house around an open grill. If you want a quieter experience with more attention from the floor, a midweek booking is the better call. The wine list and the nature of the asado format both point toward groups of two to four who are prepared to share cuts and work through a proper bottle or two from Argentina or the Hunter Valley.
Address: 50 Holt St, Surry Hills NSW 2010. Chef: Matthew Fox. Cuisine: Argentine asado, open fire grill. Beef: Australian Black Angus and Australian Wagyu, dry-aged. Grill: Open fire , Parrilla and Asador. Dress: Smart casual; the room has character but no formality requirement. Reservations: Booking is relatively direct , this is not a venue with a months-long waitlist, but weekends fill, so book at least a week ahead for Friday or Saturday. Groups: Well-suited to groups of two to six; the sharing format and communal energy of the room make it a practical group booking. Budget: Price range not published, but comparable Argentine-style grill experiences in Sydney's Surry Hills bracket typically run $90–$140 per head with wine , confirm directly when booking.
For fire and meat in Sydney, 6HEAD is the obvious structural comparison , harbour views and premium Australian beef, but a more formal room and less cultural specificity. Porteño wins on atmosphere and the depth of the Argentine culinary frame. For high-end steak in a more polished setting, Rockpool remains the benchmark, but at a meaningfully higher price point and with a different energy entirely. If you're choosing between them for a group dinner with genuine conviviality, Porteño is the right call. Saint Peter operates in a different category , it's the venue for Australian seafood at its most considered , so the two aren't in direct competition. Within the Surry Hills and inner-city casual-serious tier, Porteño has few genuine challengers in its specific format.
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| Venue | Cuisine | Awards | Booking Difficulty | Value |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Porteño | Where fire, generosity and great beef come alive in Sydney In the heart of Surry Hills, Porteño stands as one of Sydney’s most iconic and enduring dining institutions - a restaurant where the warmth of Argentine hospitality and the primal beauty of fire are brought together with rare authenticity and confidence. Over the years, it has come to define what true asado culture can look like far beyond South America, translating tradition into something immediate, atmospheric and deeply rooted in craft. Stepping inside Porteño feels like entering a space suspended between Buenos Aires and Sydney. Exposed brick, vintage details and the steady crackle of flame create a room that is both rustic and full of character, yet never self-conscious. There is an energy here that feels entirely natural - lively, smoky and convivial, with the kind of ease that can only come from a restaurant that knows exactly what it is. Porteño does not chase fashion or reinvention. Its strength lies in conviction, and in the consistency with which it continues to express its identity. At the centre of that identity is fire. The open kitchen, anchored by the restaurant’s signature grill, gives the room both its visual focus and its deeper rhythm. Here, cooking is guided by patience, judgement and a clear respect for the ingredient. Beef is handled with confidence and restraint, allowing flame, smoke and time to draw out depth, texture and character rather than overwhelm it. The use of open fire is not theatrical for its own sake - it is the essential language of the kitchen, a method that reveals the soul of the product through simplicity and control. The meat programme lies at the heart of the experience. Working with Australian beef and a strong emphasis on dry-ageing, Porteño builds flavour in a way that feels both robust and precise. The result is steak with depth and presence, each cut carrying a richness shaped not only by the quality of the meat itself, but by the measured way it is cooked over fire. There is a directness to the food, but never a lack of finesse. Everything is designed to honour the product and the culture from which the restaurant draws its spirit. Yet Porteño’s appeal extends beyond the grill alone. The kitchen captures the broader soul of Argentine dining - generous, communal and full of life. Seasonal produce, house-made accompaniments and well-judged contrasts of acidity and texture bring balance to the table, ensuring that richness is always met with freshness and clarity. It is this sense of completeness that gives the restaurant its staying power: a style of cooking deeply rooted in tradition, yet fully at ease in contemporary Sydney. The wine programme reflects the same dual identity, bringing together Argentina’s great reds and expressive Australian producers in a list built for pleasure and harmony rather than display. Service, meanwhile, remains one of Porteño’s defining strengths - relaxed yet highly professional, warm without ever losing precision. Guests are welcomed with genuine charm and an instinctive sense of hospitality that makes every meal feel less like a transaction and more like a shared ritual. Porteño continues to thrive through clarity of purpose, consistency and a genuine understanding of what makes fire-led cooking so compelling. It deserves its place in the ranking for offering one of the most convincing expressions of Argentine asado outside its homeland - soulful, confident and utterly alive.; Porteño – Sydney’s Soulful Homage to Fire and Argentina Tucked into the heart of Surry Hills, Porteño remains one of Sydney’s most distinctive and enduring dining institutions. In 2025, this Argentinian powerhouse continues to embody the essence of asado culture, with its intoxicating blend of wood smoke, warm hospitality and unapologetically bold flavours. The space is as atmospheric as ever—vintage interiors, exposed brick and the unmistakable crackle of the Parrilla and Asador grills in full view. The restaurant pulses with energy, but never feels chaotic. Instead, it wraps guests in a kind of rustic glamour that feels equal parts Buenos Aires and bohemian Sydney. At the core of Porteño’s offering is its meat programme, led by the house Asado: a glorious array of beef cuts, pork and lamb, slow-cooked over ironbark and charcoal. The Shimo F1 Wagyu skirt, bone-in ribeye and the dry-aged pork tomahawk are particular highlights in 2025—each imbued with deep, smoky complexity and a texture that speaks to hours of patient grilling. The kitchen’s respect for animal and fire is unwavering. Starters and sides are no afterthought. The house-made tallow fried empanadas and the Mayura station Wagyu carpaccio remain beloved signatures. Fried Brussels sprouts with lentils and Grass-fed Wagyu tongue continue to delight as bold, umami-rich counterpoints to the flame-grilled mains. Seasonal salads and pickled garnishes bring brightness and lift to the table. Porteño’s wine list, as always, is a celebration of Argentinian and South American viticulture, with deep reds from Mendoza, Patagonian Pinot and crisp Torrontés offering compelling pairings across the board. The front-of-house team is approachable, informed and passionate about guiding guests through both the menu and the wine cellar. Service at Porteño is one of its secret weapons—genuinely warm, unpretentious and intuitive. Whether it’s your first visit or your fiftieth, there’s a sense that you’re being welcomed into a long-standing tradition with arms wide open. In 2025, Porteño continues to thrive not through reinvention, but through an unwavering dedication to what it does best: fire-driven, flavour-packed cooking that transports you to Argentina’s heartland—without ever leaving Sydney. Age Method: Australian Black Angus, Australian Wagyu Beef Type: Dry aged beef Grill Type: Open fire grill | Easy | — | |
| Saint Peter | Australian Seafood | World's 50 Best | Unknown | — |
| Rockpool | Australian Cuisine | World's 50 Best | Unknown | — |
| BENTLEY Restaurant & Bar | Australian Modern | Unknown | — | |
| Bennelong | Australian Cuisine | Unknown | — | |
| NEL | Unknown | — |
Key differences to consider before you reserve.
The room at 50 Holt St is exposed brick, wood smoke, and vintage details — relaxed but not casual in a slouchy sense. Think put-together rather than dressed up: dark jeans and a good shirt work well for both the atmosphere and the price point. No need for a jacket or heels, but this is not a shorts-and-sneakers dinner either.
For fire and premium beef, 6HEAD offers harbour views and serious Australian cuts in a more formal room, but lacks Porteño's Argentine identity and communal energy. Rockpool Bar & Grill is the city's benchmark for steak precision and depth of wine list, but the format is closer to a steakhouse than a shared-table asado experience. If the draw is the fire-led, convivial Argentine format specifically, Porteño has no direct equivalent in Sydney.
The format suits groups well: the Argentine asado tradition is built around shared cuts and communal eating, and Porteño's kitchen at 50 Holt St is set up for that kind of table. For larger parties, check the venue's official channels to confirm private or semi-private arrangements. Groups of four to eight are likely the sweet spot where the sharing format pays off most.
The open fire grill is the centrepiece — book expecting to eat beef, and to take your time doing it. Chef Matthew Fox runs a dry-aged programme covering Australian Black Angus and Australian Wagyu, cooked over ironbark and charcoal, so the kitchen rewards patience rather than a quick turnaround. Order generously across the starters and sides: the kitchen's Argentine logic is about the whole table, not a single plate.
Yes, if the occasion suits a lively, fire-driven room rather than a hushed fine-dining format. Porteño's strength is in warmth, generosity, and atmosphere — the kind of dinner that feels like an event without being stiff about it. For a milestone that calls for drama and great beef, it holds up well. For something quieter or more intimate, the energy of the room may not be the right fit.
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