For cheaper meals you cannot beat the pubs in the Rocks area.

The Australian Hertiage Pub - fabulous pizza's.

The Harbourview Hotel - upstairs - great tucker.

Philips Foot - BBQ steaks/ salads.

The Orient - moderately priced meals.

for others, list below are upmarket restaurants.

Altitude – Shangri- La Hotel – Contemporary - 92506123

Harbourkitchen - 7 Hickson Road - contemporary - 92561661

Sailors Thai Canteen and Restaurant –Lower Level 106 George St - Thai

Ocean Room – Ground Level Overseas Passenger Terminal –Modern/Asian

Quay – Upper Level Overseas Terminal – Contemporary - 92515600* for views

Wildfire – Ground Level Passenger Terminal – Mediterranean - 82731222

Rockpool – 107 George St –Contemporary – 9252 1888 * For food

Bel Mondo – Gloucester walk – Contemporary – 9241 3700

MCA Cafe - 140 George Street - Contemporary - 9241 4253

Circular Quay

Guillaume at Bennelong - French/contemporary - 9241 1990 (the best)*** For views

Opera Oyster Bar - Opera House

Quadrant – Level 2 Macquarie Street – Contemporary -9256 4044

Aria – 1 Macquarie Street – Contemporary - 93613930* For food

Ellemay nailed it as usual...

Out of her list, I would particularly suggest:

The Harbourview Hotel and Philips Foot on the cheaper side...

Sailors Thai Canteen - the canteen is pretty damn cheap, and the food is wonderful (just as good as the food downstairs at the Restaurant and half the price)... just get there early (12.25ish) if you want to get a seat for lunch without a long wait...

Quay – views are spectacular, and I really like the food... very imaginative, and the service is wonderful... expensive, but a definite "experience" restaurant...

Guillaume at Bennelong - as a tourist experience to tell your friends about, eating in one of the sails of the Sydney Opera House is hard to beat! Very pricey.

Also, the Opera Bar in the forecourt of the Opera House has OK (and slightly expensive) food, but is the perfect place for a drink in the afternoon, looking across the harbour, and gets very very busy after work hours...

A little further into the city, but the Lindt Cafe is also something that should not be missed... it's the first of its kind in the world (the other one is at Darling Harbour) and offers Lindt cakes and chocolates (including some you can't buy anywhere else)... and the best hot chocolate in the world....

http://www.lindt.com.au/1/4.asp

I would steer clear of Guillaume at Bennelong – the food is OK but isn’t worth the money. Haven’t been to Quay recently – but heard very mixed things. Anyway, by the sounds of it, you’re not all that interested in fine dining?

For great food, great views at mid range prices, I think The Wharf at Walsh Bay (round the corner from The Rocks) is hard to beat. It’s run by Tim Pak Poy who used to own Claudes (which was, then, one of the three best restaurants in Sydney).

Check out the menu at www.thewharfrestaurant.com.au.

Second Ellemay’s suggestion of The Australian at the Rocks – some of the best pizzas in town. Also agree that Sailor’s Thai Canteen is great value and the Opera Bar is a nice place for a reasonably priced, reasonably good meal.

Also: consider heading to Crown Street in Surry Hills for one of Bill Granger’s 3 bistros (reliably good food at reasonable prices) as well as a number of other nice places to eat (eg Billy Kwong's, Prasit's Thai). Oxford Street in Paddington; Darling Street in Balmain; Glebe Point Road in Glebe and King Street in Newtown – all inner city suburbs – have a plethora of funky cafes and reasonably priced bistros and restaurants.

Thanks so much for the replies!

At Circular Quay I really liked "Young Albert" (it's ground floor of the lovely Custom House). And the cafe at the Art museum (sorry my memory is terrible today; I know it has a 'proper' name but it escapes me!).

At the Rocks there's a pancake place - can't remember the name of that one either! - they were delish.

Best view & brekky is in the Law Courts building up near St James train station exit - Buena Vist (lvl 14). Has views to the Heads, Opera House, the Domain, Kings Cross...all over the place! Great scrambled eggs and excellent Lavazza coffee :-)