Mark Best returns to Sydney with bold new vision for revolving dining at Infinity
One of Australia’s most acclaimed chefs, Mark Best, is stepping back into Sydney’s restaurant spotlight with a new venture perched high above the city skyline. As reported by The Sydney Morning Herald, Best will take the reins at Infinity, the revolving restaurant atop Sydney Tower, from Wednesday, August 13.
Best, who closed his much-loved three-hatted fine diner Marque in 2016, is setting his sights—literally and figuratively—on the 81st floor, where he plans to defy expectations about sky-high dining. “There’s the old maxim, ‘The higher you are, the worse the food’,” he told the SMH. “I’d never thought about [Sydney Tower] as a location, but the more I did, the more it excited me.”
The new restaurant, Infinity by Mark Best, is a shift away from the formality of Marque or his one-time offshoot Pei Modern. “It’s something completely different,” he said.
The menu will feature a bold take on modern Australian cuisine. Dishes in development include steamed bar cod with fish milk and fermented, fried kipfler potatoes, oysters with sea foam, and sea urchin crumpets. There’ll be 10 entrées, 10 mains and a dessert list, with a tasting menu option. Mains will range from A$50 to A$60.
Designed to appeal to both locals and tourists, the 90-seat venue has undergone a sleek, minimalistic refit in navy, charcoal and warm tones, all intended to let the view shine.
“You’re the first to see sunrise and the last to see sunset,” Best said. “When people come into the city they want to get to the highest point.”
He’s drawn inspiration from Dietmar Sawyere’s Forty One—a high-end penthouse-level venue from the 1990s and 2000s—and Sydney’s long-standing fascination with revolving restaurants. The city’s spinning-dining history dates back to 1968, when Oliver Shaul opened The Summit at the top of Harry Seidler’s Australia Square. On opening night, Sir Edmund Hillary and then-future Prime Minister William McMahon were among the guests.
Shaul famously quipped that he could afford a new Mercedes every year from the sales of garlic bread, a comment that cemented his place in Sydney dining lore. As the appetite for altitude grew, Sydney Tower joined the revolving restaurant club in 1981, followed by western Sydney’s more modestly elevated Hi-Lights in 1994.
For Best, the Sydney Tower gig is more than a one-off collaboration. His deal with hospitality heavyweight Trippas White Group is structured as a five-year partnership. “It’s a partnership,” he said, adding that the logistical lessons learned from working on cruise ships have proven useful. “Everything and everyone arrives by lift.”
That background has helped him build a strong team, including sommelier Polly Mackarel. He’s also been granted creative freedom over both the menu and produce.
The brief? “Be bold and make a profit.”
The venue itself was refreshed only a few years ago with a A$12 million makeover. Ahead of Best’s takeover, a few finishing touches will be made to personalise the space.
With other revolving restaurants enjoying a revival—from Michael Moore’s O Bar and Dining in Sydney to Danny Meyer’s updated The View in New York—Best is embracing the momentum. He’s particularly fond of a line from The New York Times review of Meyer’s restaurant: “Early on, revolving restaurants offered a sci-fi glimpse of the future; now they’re a comforting retreat to the past. (The future is here, and we don’t like it.)”
As for Best, he’s enjoying the view and crafting a new motto: “Come for the view and stay for the hospitality.” Looking out across the skyline, he added with a smile, “Yes, I can see my house.”
Jonathan Jackson, 14th July 2025
