Recommended - Gourmet Traveller Wine Magazine
2009 Australian Wine List of the Year Awards

"A small wine list is difficult to do well, but stocking it with strong names, quality wines and the odd surprise (Te Mata Gamay!) keeps wine lovers coming back to Swell & Bonsai. Wines turn over quickly here (many are limited in stock). Expect the unexpected: Loire muscadet, Rhone rose, Sardinian carignano, prosecco and sake. What a mix!"

WINNER - Best Small Wine List
Restaurant & Catering Industry Association
Metropolitan Awards for Excellence 2009

Recommended - Gourmet Traveller Wine Magazine
2008 Australian Wine List of the Year Awards

"Swell and Bonsai offer a daring mix of modern Australian meets modern Japanese dishes, and the wine list is equally daring. It’s small and compact but every wine here deserves its place, from the Spanish Cava to the Barossan albarino. And we haven’t even mentioned the sake!"

WINNER - Local Business of the Year
2008 True Local / Wentworth Courier
Business Awards

WINNER - Formal Dining
2008 True Local / Wentworth Courier
Business Awards

FINALIST - Best Small Wine List
Restaurant & Catering Industry Association
Metropolitan Awards for Excellence 2008

FINALIST - Best Japanese Restaurant
Restaurant & Catering Industry Association
Metropolitan Awards for Excellence 2008

"some of the most exquisitely fresh and delicate around"
sydney eats/cheap eats, 2008
read more

"Highly Recommended" - rated 8 out of 10
eatability.com.au, august 2008
read more

"This credible contemporary Japanese restaurant is a welcome addition to (the Bronte Beach dining strip... 13/20
simon thomsen, smh good living, august 2007
read more

"Bonsai is an asset to the Bronte restaurant strip..."
village voice, may 2007
read more

"tantalising menu options - there's so much we want to try"
sunday magazine, december 2006
read more

BONSAI is a "contemporary little Japanese suburban gem"
alternative media group, july 2008
read more

"This breezy sibling to Swell on Bronte's popular beachside cafe strip is a relaxed evening venue offering a parade of contemporary Japanese flavours..."
the (sydney) magazine, february 2008
read more

"best place to eat on the beach" in Sydney
conde naste traveller, december 2007
read more

"diners at Bronte restaurant Bonsai were stirred, not shaken, to sit alongside a Bond girl..."
sydney confidential, december 2007
read more

"Swell thing, Japanese Style"
scott bolles, short black, smh good living, august 2006
read more