Top 5 restaurants in Belmore, NSW

Five restaurants in Belmore worth the trip, on a Burwood Road strip that stacks Greek, Korean and Lebanese grilling inside two blocks.

Four of the best places to eat in Belmore sit within 150 metres of each other on Burwood Road, and they cover Greek, Korean and Lebanese without anyone moving the car. It is one of the most interesting eating strips in Sydney’s inner south west and almost nobody outside the postcode knows it.

Five restaurants in Belmore worth the trip, what each is genuinely good at, and which one to book when.

The top 5

#	Restaurant	Where	The night it is for
1	Elements Brasserie	721a Canterbury Rd	A booked table, courses, and somewhere to sit
2	Ma Po Charcoal BBQ	508 Burwood Rd	Four people cooking at the table
3	Yiro Yiro	374 Burwood Rd	Twenty minutes, start to finish
4	Belmore Awafy	416 Burwood Rd	Feeding a family for very little
5	Belmore Lebanese Bakery	339 Burwood Rd	Breakfast, from 6:30am

Why Belmore eats the way it does

The food here is not an accident, and the census explains it better than any review site. Australian Bureau of Statistics data for Belmore records Greek as the largest ancestry in the suburb at 14.4 per cent, Lebanese at 11.3 and Chinese at 10.4. Greek and Arabic are the two most spoken languages at home, and 73.3 per cent of households speak a language other than English.

Walk Burwood Road and you are walking that data. Greek souvlaki, then Korean charcoal, then Lebanese charcoal, then more Korean, inside two blocks. Very few Sydney suburbs stack three grilling traditions that tightly, and none do it this cheaply.

1. Elements Brasserie, 721a Canterbury Road

Belmore has exactly one room where you sit down, order courses and stay for three hours, and this is it. Everything else on this list is a counter, a grill or a bakery, and all of them are very good at it.

It is a charcoal steakhouse, and it is also the only restaurant in the suburb that opens in the morning, with breakfast and lunch from eight Monday to Saturday and the grill running through dinner daily. It takes up to 180 seated or 350 standing, with a private Garden Room holding 70, which makes it the default for a birthday or a family lunch in this part of Sydney.

The Belmore venue page carries the capacities and the courtyard detail.

Menus, hours and the weekly deal nights sit on the restaurant’s own site, so book through Elements Brasserie once you have picked your night.

2. Ma Po Charcoal BBQ, 508 Burwood Road

The long running Korean room and still the benchmark on this strip. Real charcoal set into the table rather than a gas burner, which is the difference between Korean barbecue and a hotplate.

Come with four people, order across the marinated and unmarinated cuts, and let the banchan handle the rest. Tanso Korean BBQ at 408 Burwood Road is the newer, brighter alternative and a shorter walk from the station, with Belmore Korea House and Rib On Stone rounding out the cluster.

3. Yiro Yiro, 374 Burwood Road

Greek street food done properly, in the suburb with the highest Greek ancestry in the area. Souvlaki off the vertical spit, wrapped tight, with the chips inside where they belong.

Counter service and quick. Twenty minutes start to finish, and you have eaten better than most of the CBD manages in an hour.

4. Belmore Awafy, 416 Burwood Road

Charcoal chicken, garlic toum, chips, pickles, bread. The point of this style of eating is that it feeds four people properly for the price of two mains almost anywhere else, and Awafy has been doing it on Burwood Road for years.

Order the chicken by the half or the whole and take it home. Nostimo Charcoal Chicken covers similar ground nearby when the queue is out the door, which on a Friday evening it often is.

5. Belmore Lebanese Bakery, 339 Burwood Road

You will smell it before you find it. Manoush with za’atar or cheese, folded and handed over in about two minutes, for a few dollars. Open from 6:30am Monday to Saturday and 7:00am on Sunday.

Best value breakfast in the suburb. Belmore Continental Bakery at 389 Burwood Road opens even earlier, from 5:00am, and its banh mi has a reputation well outside the postcode. All Seasons Bakehouse is the other Lebanese name locals will give you.

Getting there and parking

Belmore station sits on the T3 line and the Burwood Road strip is a short walk from the platform, which makes this one of the few good eating suburbs in Sydney you can reach without a car and without a fight for a park.

If you do drive, street parking on Burwood Road and the side streets around it is far easier than anything in Newtown or Marrickville. Canterbury Road has its own parking at the other end of the suburb.

If Belmore is booked out

Campsie sits five minutes west with a much larger Korean and Chinese strip along Beamish Street, and Canterbury is a similar distance the other way. Fifteen minutes north, Haberfield is Sydney’s Little Italy, and a schnitzel led room opened on Ramsay Street there this year; the note on SCHNITI opening in Haberfield has the detail.

None of those is far enough to be an expedition. A booked out Friday in Belmore is an inconvenience rather than a problem.

Belmore restaurants: common questions

What is Belmore known for, food wise?

Charcoal, in three traditions. Korean barbecue, Lebanese charcoal chicken and Greek souvlaki all sit within a couple of blocks of each other on Burwood Road. The suburb’s largest ancestries are Greek, Lebanese and Chinese, and the eating strip reflects that almost exactly.

Is there anywhere in Belmore to book a proper table?

One room, really. Most of the suburb’s best food comes over a counter, which is a strength rather than a criticism, but it does mean a sit down dinner with courses and a wine list has a single obvious answer. Elements Brasserie on Canterbury Road is it, and it takes group bookings in a private Garden Room.

Is Belmore cheaper than eating in the inner west?

Considerably, and not by a small margin. A charcoal chicken feed for four, a souvlaki dinner or a manoush breakfast all come in well under what the same food costs in Newtown or Marrickville. Even a full sit down dinner lands at suburban rather than city pricing.

Where can you eat in Belmore on a Sunday?

Most of the Burwood Road strip trades seven days and the bakeries open early. Belmore Lebanese Bakery runs 7:00am to 4:00pm on Sunday, its longest day of the week.

Is Belmore good for a family meal or a birthday?

Yes, and it is one of the easier suburbs in Sydney for it. Parking is straightforward, the strip is walkable, and the sit down option has a private room for a larger table. Above about eight people, ring rather than booking online.

Do Belmore restaurants cater for dietary requirements?

Many do, and the variety of cuisines helps. Vegetarian options are strong across the Lebanese and Greek venues in particular. Requirements vary venue by venue, so ring ahead or ask at the counter rather than assuming.

Booking in Belmore

Belmore is a suburb you eat your way along rather than book in advance, with one exception, and it is the one worth booking.

If you have not chosen a suburb yet, the Canterbury Bankstown dining guide compares the rooms across the area.

Book through the Dine with Elements booking page, or call 1300 ELEMENTS (1300 353 636). Give the team your numbers when you book, and ask about the Garden Room if the table is a big one.