✍️ Time Out Sydney never writes starred restaurant and bar reviews from hosted experiences – Time Out covers restaurant and bar bills, and anonymously reviews, so that readers can trust our critique. Find out more, here.
When I walk into Tida with my mum and cousins, it’s like being plunged into a sweet saffron sea that makes me want to cry (in a good way, I promise). As a second-generation Iranian-Australian, I grew up going to Iranian restaurants run by friends of my grandparents on Sydney’s north shore. These restaurants were old-school formal palaces, made for the older generation who’d recently arrived in Australia. But when I walk into Tida, it’s a fresher, younger Iranian world that I recognise, and it makes me feel emotional.
Tida (whose name translates to “daughter of the sun” in old Persian) is a new-ish introduction to North Willoughby’s high street – an intimate space with a handful of communal tables and warm, hand-painted golden-yellow walls. Its young owners wanted their restaurant to look and feel like a dining room in an Iranian home, because, as they tell me, “we can’t go back to ours”.
Every part of Tida has been lovingly created by a friend, from the thoughtful scattered artworks to the homey display cabinets. There’s a real sense of love and care here, and it extends to the patrons who sit comfortably in long, languorous conversations around the small white tables, sipping black tea and forgetting they’re in a restaurant on the side of a major road. It’s
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Update: Award-winning coastal diner Longshore in Chippendale has unveiled a new menu that encapsulates summer. Executive chef Jarrod Walsh shines the spotlight on fresh seafood and sustainable Aussie ingredients. Highlights include the Abrolhos Island scallops in a zesty bergamot vinaigrette; Goolwa pipi frites with a sauce so yum you'll want to soak it up with their house-made beer bread; and Westholme Wagyu beef tartare with Marmande tomato that looks as pretty as a picture. Psst! The menu offers optional wine pairings.
- Alison Rodericks
Read on for our review of Longshore from September 2023 by Carly Sophia.
*****
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If you thought it’s impossible for ‘coastal’ design to not look naff, you certainly aren’t alone. But the old warehouse space previously home to Automata has been given a luxe marine makeover in honour of its recent inception – sustainable seafood restaurant and wine bar, Longshore. And Sydney-based interior design firm Guru Projects have absolutely killed it – the building's stark, industrial bones now exude grace and warmth, thanks to a raw, yet refined glow-up.
Soft linens, sandy terrazzo tiles and textural features are evocative of Australia’s shores, while coiled rope, a pearlescent bar top and a muted, pelagic colour palette really take the brutalist edge off.
Ex-Hartsyarders Dot Lee and Jarrod Walsh have curated three ocean-inspired dining experiences spi
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Update: Mexican joint Bad Hombres has moved from its OG Surry Hills location to Darlinghurst, so you can still enjoy the same tasty plant-based eats – now on Oxford Street. (And you can check out our guide to the Mexican restaurants in Sydney here.)
- Avril Treasure
Read on for our original write-up of Bad Hombres from 2017 by Emily Lloyd-Tait.
*****
Anyone who thinks vegan can’t be fun needs to both update their opinions from 1998 and also get to Bad Hombres, stat. What started as a Mexican Chinese mash-up from Toby Wilson (Ghostboy Cantina), Sean McManus (Neighbourhood Surry Hills) and Jon Kennedy (the Sandwich Shop) with a 60 per cent veg-powered menu has now gone the full vegan and we’re into it.
Snacks, tunes and booze are the key elements to a good time and these guys are rocking one of the best house-party playlists in town. We clock an ’80s glory run of Culture Club’s ‘I’ll Tumble 4 Ya’, Farnsie’s ‘The Voice’, Fine Young Cannibals’ ‘She Drives Me Crazy’, Dexys Midnight Runners ‘Come on Eileen’ and the Outfield’s classic ‘Your Love’. Seriously, this is an A-grade ’80s playlist and it can be yours – just look up Zangers on Spotify.
On the booze front, they’re rocking a fruity, funky, smash-tastic line-up of local natural wines that changes all the time – small batch production means they can only get it by the case from the vineyards – so maybe the tropical-fruits-in-the-sun pet nat from Pyren Vineyard’s Little Ra Ra is all poured out. There’ll be something else equal
✍️ Time Out Sydney never writes starred restaurant and bar reviews from hosted experiences – Time Out covers restaurant and bar bills, and anonymously reviews, so that readers can trust our critique. Find out more, here.
People milling around carts on busy street corners for their chaat fix of pani puri and bhel; teens cutting class from college for their fill of samosas and pakoras; office-goers woofing down vada pav with a cutting chai before they catch their train; crowds at popular beaches snacking on pav bhaji and dosas.
Mumbai, the commercial and cultural capital of India, is where street food comes into its own. It takes the best street eats from different regions of India and adds its own masala to the mix. Mumbai street food is cheap, quick and oh-so tasty. It’s also the ultimate equaliser, available to everyone from your daily wage labourers to your penthouse-living super rich. So, when the Indian diaspora in Sydney craves their street-food fix, they make their way to Sydney’s Little India: Harris Park.
It’s lunch o’clock on a Sunday and we’re outside Chatkazz, a Mumbai street-food joint that’s held its own for more than a decade. You need to know three things before you go: Chatkazz doesn’t take reservations; it is vegetarian; it’s not licensed to serve alcohol. Trust us when we say that you won't be kept waiting for long despite how busy it seems; you won’t miss the meat; and there are plenty of interesting non-alcoholic drinks to try.
We join the queue outside al
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✍️ Time Out Sydney never writes starred restaurant and bar reviews from hosted experiences – Time Out covers restaurant and bar bills, and anonymously reviews, so that readers can trust our critique. Find out more, here.
Our city has cluckloads of excellent charcoal chicken shops all over the place (you could say Sydneysiders are obsessed with them) so it’s hard to stand out in a cramped market – but Hariri Chickens in Kogarah does. I’d have to say it’s the best chicken shop in all of Sydney. I’ve eaten my way across a lot of them because my son does love a barbecue chook.
I am particularly clucky for Lebanese style-charcoal chicken – not only because of the toum, tabouli and pickles served alongside it, but because the chicken meat is always so flavour-packed and juicy. Hariri takes it up another notch – they finish the cooking of their whole barbecue chicken (after the skin is golden and crisp) by wrapping it in a village-style Lebanese bread (you know like those really thin Mountain Bread wraps you get from the supermarket?). As well as keeping the chicken insulated so it stays nice and succulent, the bread soaks up all the tasty chickeny goodness – the flavours from the skin and the juices from the chicken, so it’s this partly-crisp, partly-oozy thing that you rip into alongside the chicken. It’s an absolute masterstroke. Even just thinking about it right now, my tastebuds are keen.
As well as that, Hariri serves up all the other chicken-shop staples (chicken burgers, w
✍️ Time Out Sydney never writes starred restaurant and bar reviews from hosted experiences – Time Out covers restaurant and bar bills, and anonymously reviews, so that readers can trust our critique. Find out more, here.
Update: Dining at EXP, Pokolbin’s dark and moody fire-powered restaurant by chef/owner Frank Fawkner, is an extraordinary experience. The multi-course menu is as much a love letter to the rolling green hills of the Hunter Valley as it is a display of Fawkner’s talent and flair. Nostalgic touches are threaded throughout the meal, service is intuitive, and the wine menu features all of the Valley’s greats. Take a seat at the bar and strap in for an extra-special, and most importantly, delicious meal – and one that will stay with you long after you return to the big smoke.
– Avril Treasure
Read on for our review of EXP from 2022 by Elizabeth McDonald.
*****
A trip to a Hunter Valley restaurant most often involves placing rolling hills, climbing grape vines, and breathtaking sunsets front and centre. Throw in some local plonk and a few familiar but still tasty plates and you can safely bank that even an overcooked scotch fillet or slightly mushy fish can be forgiven with just a glance at those vineyards and hopping kangaroos.
This is not the case at EXP. in Pokolbin village. It is immediately clear from casting an eye over the parchment paper menu that you are in wine country; Usher Tinkler prosecco, Brokenwood semillon and Vinden Estate shiraz nouveau jump out a
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✍️ Time Out Sydney never writes starred restaurant and bar reviews from hosted experiences – Time Out covers restaurant and bar bills, and anonymously reviews, so that readers can trust our critique. Find out more, here.
Update: Yellow is an apt name for this seasonal, produce-focused restaurant from the Bentley boys, given that you’ll feel like sunshine after you leave. The Potts Point diner opened in 2014, and in 2016 made the switch to be completely plant-based. Trust us – you won’t miss a thing.
– Avril Treasure
Read on for our review of Yellow from 2018 by Emily Lloyd-Tait.
*****
It takes a kind of vision bordering on the mad to see a burnt onion as a dessert, but that is the creative genius we’re dealing with from the team at Yellow. Not just a staunchly savoury veg, but a burned one at that, is ground down into a charcoal-black powder to contrast brutishly with the pretty-in-pink Frenchness of a tartine made from more leaves of sticky apple than your average Penguin Classic. This is so much more than meat-free cooking, it’s abstract expressionism with fruit and veg.
Brent Savage and Nick Hildebrandt’s restaurant empire (Bentley, Monopole, Cirrus) had always catered to vegetarians without making a fuss, but when they devoted their Potts Point dining room to the best of the plant world, people really started to take notice. And importantly, they kept coming back for more.
More of the stracciatella, a fresh cheese that’s so creamy and relaxed it’s basically a liquid, sp
✍️ Time Out Sydney never writes starred restaurant and bar reviews from hosted experiences – Time Out covers restaurant and bar bills, and anonymously reviews, so that readers can trust our critique. Find out more, here.
Update: There may be a new chef on the pans at this Paddington gem, but it’s still a Sydney institution, thanks to its on-point pastas, cosy and teeny-tiny dining room and, of course, the heaven-like warm pretzel with whipped bottarga. This is one of our fave spots in town for a date night.
– Avril Treasure
Read on for our review of 10 William St from 2019 by Emily Lloyd-Tait.
*****
Trisha Greentree is very open to the power of suggestion. The freshly minted head chef of Paddington’s beloved Italian wine bar 10 William Street has stepped into the space left by outgoing chef Enrico Tomelleri, and is letting the wine and the produce dictate where the menu goes – within strict boundaries, of course. It wouldn’t be 10 William Street if it didn’t have the pretzel and whipped bottarga on the menu, three pastas and the tiramisù, which possesses more airy lift than a helium balloon.
Seeking a new perspective and a break from the kitchen at Dan Hunter’s Brae in Birregurra, Greentree started working full time in the market gardens at the restaurant. “You learn as chef, but as a farmer you learn what a chef needs,” she tells Time Out. When 10 William owners Marco Ambrosino, Enrico Paradiso and Giovanni Paradiso approached her with an offer to take on stewardship of thei
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✍️ Time Out Sydney never writes starred restaurant and bar reviews from hosted experiences – Time Out covers restaurant and bar bills, and anonymously reviews, so that readers can trust our critique. Find out more, here.
Update: There have been a few changes since our review of Lankan Filling Station, but one thing has stayed the same, and that’s chef/owner O Tama Carey’s soul-warming food. Come for the delicious hoppers paired with make-you-sweat sambals, and stay for the fragrant curries and warm service.
– Avril Treasure
Read on for our review of Lankan Filling Station from 2019 by Emily Lloyd-Tait.
*****
Have you been to the casual Sri Lankan diner tucked in Darlinghurst for hoppers yet? You have? Have you tried their brunch menu, where you can get some spicy AM kicks with an egg roll dressed in fermented chilli and sambol? Yes? Well there’s always the monthly crab curries: a Sunday set menu where your tiny table is so laden with flavours, spices and colours that it’s like dining inside a kaleidoscope.
Those crab lunches book out well in advance, and with good reason. You pay $60 and in return they Tetris onto your table little fried lentil cakes, sunset coloured sweet’n’sour pickles, shredded beetroot relish, snake beans with Maldive fish and tamarind, lime pickle (so pucker-powerful you might turn inside out), coconutty pol sambol, spicy katta sambol, soft red lentil dahl, and a never-ending supply of pappadams. Last to arrive is a bowl of nutty red rice and a terracott
✍️ Time Out Sydney never writes starred restaurant and bar reviews from hosted experiences – Time Out covers restaurant and bar bills, and anonymously reviews, so that readers can trust our critique. Find out more, here.
It is a truth universally acknowledged in Sydney dining circles that special occasion dining demands special occasion views. You may not have made it to Santorini this year, but a table laden with a Hellenic feast set to the backdrop of Botany Bay is as close to ‘summer in Europe’ as you can get via Opal card. And while international travel can at times be stressful, expensive and arduous, dining at Ammos, the new neutral-chic Greek restaurant in the Novotel in Brighton Le Sands, is relaxing and hospitable.
It’s not everywhere that can accommodate a quadruple date alongside dinner-for-two, but the beauty of a floor plan this generous is that each table is its own island. And if you do have an intergenerational gathering on the horizon, there is definitely a strong case for bringing more people with you to Ammos.
In true Greek style, the menu is lengthy and the serves are generous
A plate of feather-light whipped feta is a snow-white, salty canvas for the earthy funk of black garlic, gentle Turkish chilli heat, sweet red capsicum and lemon oil. Pita is the obvious sidekick, but why not level-up your Greek game and order the flaounes instead. These golden, sweet-and-savoury baked pastries are like a souped-up dinner roll, stuffed with three cheeses and a sweet
✍️ Time Out Sydney never writes starred restaurant and bar reviews from hosted experiences – Time Out covers restaurant and bar bills, and anonymously reviews, so that readers can trust our critique. Find out more, here.
Have you eaten the bones of coral trout before? Neither had I, until a few weeks ago when I dined at the new Saint Peter, which has moved down the road from its original Oxford Street location (where it stood for eight years) to Paddington’s Grand National Hotel. The tasting menu kicks off with an exquisite coral trout noodle soup, featuring a bright, umami and savoury consommé enhanced by roasted coral trout bones. At the bottom are soft, bamboo skewer-like noodles also made from the trout’s bones. When Niland says he and the team use 90 per cent of each fish to create their dishes, he’s not joking. Also: the result is absolutely delicious; my eyes as wide as those googly-eyed fish while eating it. Chicken noodle soup, watch out.
Josh Niland is a genius, but you probably already know that. For years, he has been practising nose-to-tail magic, showing the world the limitless possibilities with creatures of the sea, whether that’s transforming fish eyes into velvety ice-cream, or giving beef and pork a run for their money with his legendary yellowfin tuna and swordfish bacon cheeseburger. He proves it yet again at Saint Peter 2.0, a project five-and-a-half-years in the making by Niland and his wife, Julie.
Across nine exquisite courses, Niland celebrates seafo
✍️ Time Out Sydney never writes starred restaurant and bar reviews from hosted experiences – Time Out covers restaurant and bar bills, and anonymously reviews, so that readers can trust our critique. Find out more, here.
We know it’s a big call, but we think Pellegrino 2000’s truffle butter should be one of your desert island belongings (along with a cooler bag, a good book and a baguette, of course). Soft and creamy with a whack of umami truffle and a hefty dose of salt, the butter is heavenly when slathered over thick and fluffy housemade focaccia. Though beware: it’s very moreish, so dive in for seconds at your own risk (a discreet but necessary unzipping of one’s pants may be the repercussion).
It’s true that us Sydneysiders love our bread and butter as much as the folks who dined at the Last Supper, so naturally there’s a lot of excellent bread around town. But Pellegrino’s takes our coveted Top Spot. Yet it’s not just the bread and butter that’s delicious. Every single dish that comes out of the kitchen at this Surry Hills’ trattoria is on point, cooked beautifully and seasoned well. Which is why it’s about as difficult to get a booking on a Saturday evening as it is to get rid of mozzies in summer.
Take the prawn ravioli, for example. Plump and juicy crustaceans are cased in silky, slippery wrappers and finished with brown butter and sage, resulting in a dish that tastes equal parts elegant and comforting. Whole artichokes come on a plate looking pretty and dressed in
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Disclaimer: Good-times-only Italian diner Pellegrino 2000 is one of our favourite restaurants in Sydney. Chefs and owners Dan Pepperell and Mikey Clift, alongside sommelier Andy Tyson, know how to create a rocking venue with on-point flavours and a feel-good vibe (the fact that it’s impossible to get a booking unless it's a Tuesday at 5pm is testament to that). So, when news broke earlier this year that the trio were opening a third Sydney restaurant – a New York-style steak house slinging retro classics – joining Pellegrino 2000 and their French baby, Bistrot 916 – we were thrilled, hopeful, and perhaps a little biased. Thankfully, it’s turned out to be a clam dunk.
We head to Clam Bar – which has taken over the former Bridge Room space in Sydney’s CBD – mid-week and hungry. The outside doesn’t give much away except for tinted glass and silver doors with the words Clam Bar in giant letters. It looks grand and important.
If the outside city is grey, then the inside of Clam Bar is light years away from that. Herringbone timber flooring and Art Deco chandeliers the colour of toffee add sophistication; while Murano clam-shaped lights are a nice nod to the creatures of the sea. Speaking of the ocean, an illuminated sea life painting by artist Laura Jones hangs on the wall, alongside a giant fish. At the back, vintage posters of Ortiz anchovies and Rosella tomato sauce bring character above chocolate-coloured seating. It does verge into 50 shades of brown territory, even with the
July 2023 update: The Love Tilly Group’s (Ragazzi, La Salut, Love, Tilly Devine and Dear Sainte Éloise) gorgeous Italian trattoria Palazzo Salato has launched a $65 set menu available now for Saturday lunch only. The stellar prix fixe menu comes with five of the Italian restaurant’s greatest hits – including snacks and two pastas – for less than the price of a bottle of wine at most Sydney restaurants. We love to see it.
Things will kick off with stracciatella with Cantabrian anchovies and pangrattato; grilled artichokes with green tomato pesto; and Palazzo ham with colatura hot sauce. Next, choose two pasta dishes from four options: mafaldine with spanner crab, uni butter, chilli and sea blight; spaghetti alla chitarra with bottarga and egg yolk; casarecce with boer goat ragu; or trottole amatriciana (a spicy tomato and pork pasta).
All good things come to an end, and this banging deal is available now for Saturday lunch only, until Saturday August 26. Get it while it’s hot.
*****
Read on for our review of Palazzo Salato from June 2023
Do you remember the old Pantene commercials featuring models with glossy and shiny hair the length of Rapunzel’s? Let’s face it, that level of shine was unrealistic to most – it was just trying to get us to buy the silicone-laced shampoo and conditioner. Which we did. And while we may never have reached Pantene-level strands, boy did we lust over that gloss.
It’s a Wednesday evening when we visit Palazzo Salato, the sprawling new Italian resta
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✍️ Time Out Sydney never writes starred reviews from hosted experiences – Time Out covers restaurant and bar bills for reviews so that readers can trust our critique.
There’s a certain joy surfers experience when they're gliding on the perfect wave. It begins with anticipation laced with the excitement of what’s to come, followed by a hit of adrenaline. Then, whoosh: blissful, simple, joy. It doesn’t come around often – I’ve done enough nose dives in my time to attest to that – but when it does, the feeling is magic. That’s why you’ll see the ocean studded with so many black beads in the mornings and early evenings, even in the dead of winter. Dining at Sean’s, the sea-salt-sprayed restaurant located across from Bondi’s golden sand, is like catching the perfect wave. Sure, there’s a little less water and a bit more wine, but the feeling of being in harmony with your environment, and of the joy it sparks, reminds me of my years spent in the sea.
And, of course, there’s the dining room. But more on that soon.
It is not a grid-perfect Bondi day on my most recent visit to Sean’s. In fact, it’s bloody miserable. The kind of day where the rain seems to be coming at you sideways. As such, the main entrance is closed and guests are asked to enter through a different door, so I find myself huddled into a closet-like room with a bunch of smiling strangers, waiting until it’s our turn. The excitement in the air is palpable, like we’re off to a Bridgerton ball.
When it’s time, a host wel
Update: Award-winning coastal diner Longshore in Chippendale has unveiled a new menu that encapsulates summer. Executive chef Jarrod Walsh shines the spotlight on fresh seafood and sustainable Aussie ingredients. Highlights include the Abrolhos Island scallops in a zesty bergamot vinaigrette; Goolwa pipi frites with a sauce so yum you'll want to soak it up with their house-made beer bread; and Westholme Wagyu beef tartare with Marmande tomato that looks as pretty as a picture. Psst! The menu offers optional wine pairings.
- Alison Rodericks
Read on for our review of Longshore from September 2023 by Carly Sophia.
*****
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If you thought it’s impossible for ‘coastal’ design to not look naff, you certainly aren’t alone. But the old warehouse space previously home to Automata has been given a luxe marine makeover in honour of its recent inception – sustainable seafood restaurant and wine bar, Longshore. And Sydney-based interior design firm Guru Projects have absolutely killed it – the building's stark, industrial bones now exude grace and warmth, thanks to a raw, yet refined glow-up.
Soft linens, sandy terrazzo tiles and textural features are evocative of Australia’s shores, while coiled rope, a pearlescent bar top and a muted, pelagic colour palette really take the brutalist edge off.
Ex-Hartsyarders Dot Lee and Jarrod Walsh have curated three ocean-inspired dining experiences spi
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Eggs and tofu. Let’s be frank: It’s not really the kind of thing you crave when you’re heading out for lunch or dinner, unless of course you’re training for the Sydney Marathon and counting your macros. But the eggs and tofu dish at Merivale’s latest instalment, Good Luck Restaurant Lounge, will put any bland notions to bed. Crisp and golden fried eggs rest on a bed of whipped silken tofu before being topped with a chilli sauce and a scattering of verdant chives. We’re given scissors to cut it up, and the glorious, sunny yolks run free. In it goes. Crunchy, salty, creamy, it’s an umami bomb – one of many to come – and one of the most delicious things I’ve eaten this year. Thanks, eggs and tofu (and yes, you too MSG).
But really, thank you to executive chef Mike Eggert (also of Totti's) who is fluent in the language of flavour and the brains behind the menu at this new underground restaurant, located in the basement of the historic Burns Philp building on Bridge Street. A project three years in the making by Eggert and CEO Justin Hemmes, the 240-seater’s name pays homage to Eggert’s former Good Luck Pinbone pop-up. With its live seafood tanks, Chinese-leaning flavour combos (hi, ginger and shallot), and nostalgic plastic menus, Good Luck may not be what I first anticipated when I wrote the "coming soon" story about this place ("Totti's with a spin of Tokyo” was the angle from the initial press release). That said, it may be even better.
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We've heard rumours that people visit Bar Reggio after dark, but in our hearts, this is a strictly lunch-only affair. There's something akin to time travel when you go for a long lunch here in Surry Hills. The '80s never ended, and the handshake deals and Crown Lager-swilling crowd are still out in full force in the terracotta-hued courtyard, and frantic yet endlessly accommodating waitstaff stay on for years, sometimes decades.
There's a lot to love about this classic red sauce joint, not least is that if you split the bill you can get out without hitting the $20 mark, an absolute steal in Sydney. There are also the thick Italian accents booming across the floor, a 'specials' board that has remained largely unchanged for a decade, and some of the most beautifully translucent cold cuts you'll find anywhere. Where you might pay double for half the portion at more trendy deli-style venues across town, Bar Reggio will sling you a generous, heaping plate of mortadella, hot salami and 18-month aged prosciutto for just $30. We suggest grabbing a garlic pizza, a drizzle of the housemade chilli oil and going to town.
Next up, a taste of the ocean with perfectly tender charred octopus, all purple and white and black with a simple old-school salad of iceberg lettuce, tomato wedges, curly carrots, cucumber and black pitted olives. Ah, Reggio. Never change. Food trends may come and go but the iceberg salad is forever.
Once you've finished admiring the handpainted mural of Sydney Harbour
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✍️ Time Out Sydney never writes starred restaurant and bar reviews from hosted experiences – Time Out covers restaurant and bar bills, and anonymously reviews, so that readers can trust our critique. Find out more, here.
I see the colour first. Bright, cobalt-blue and beautiful, Bondi Road’s Mexican cantina is painted the exact same shade as Frida Kahlo’s former home in Mexico City. The same home (which is now a museum) that I stayed a few blocks from in 2019. You can’t miss it. And after eating here, one thing’s for certain – you sure as hell won’t want to.
Named after the Spanish word for “mummy”, Mami’s was opened in late 2023 by Mexican-born owners Erendira and Juan Perez, who wanted to create a home-style eatery where families and friends could pop in for an affordable and yum feed. Inside is indeed homey and low-key – much of the furniture has been upcycled from things the couple found on the side of the road – but it feels cosy and welcoming. There are a handful of communal wooden tables with stools, with more seating down the back, and upbeat Mexican tunes play over the speakers. A tiled mirror, traditional ornaments and paintings of Kahlo add colour, and on one wall there are more than a dozen old photos of mums and grandmothers. It’s a fitting nod to the people in our lives who first show many of us what good food – and love – really is.
Talk about good food. Mami’s is an all-day eatery, so there’s a brunch offering – chilaquiles made with tortillas topped with sals
✍️ Time Out Sydney never writes starred restaurant and bar reviews from hosted experiences – Time Out covers restaurant and bar bills, and anonymously reviews, so that readers can trust our critique. Find out more, here.
It’s bang on 12 o’clock on a Friday arvo and we’re the first customers to enter the newly-opened Comedor, a modern Mexican restaurant in Sydney’s Newtown. And after one visit we find out it’s big – in space and flavour; it’s bright – with natural light and clever ideas; and it’s beautiful – in its interiors and its inspired menu.
Comedor means ‘dining room’ in Spanish, so it’s fitting that this restaurant, housed in a 100-year-old warehouse, has been beautifully transformed to welcome everyone to its communal tables. Our eyes are drawn to the lofty cathedral ceiling with exposed beams as we are seated by friendly waitstaff. A drink to start? Yes, please! The drinks menu features agave-based spirits like mezcal and tequila, wines and beers (cerveza). I order the Raicilla Fresca, a refreshing cocktail made with Raicilla Estancia tequila, strawberry and cucumber that tastes like summer, while my partner sips on a Negra Modelo (a dark Mexican lager).
We sit back and watch the restaurant reach capacity in next to no time. Patrons are a mix of returning customers who are warmly welcomed and locals seeking something more than the stock standard Tex-Mex fare Sydneysiders have grown accustomed to. While we’re at the timber banquette seating, others are perched on stoo
Update: Mexican joint Bad Hombres has moved from its OG Surry Hills location to Darlinghurst, so you can still enjoy the same tasty plant-based eats – now on Oxford Street. (And you can check out our guide to the Mexican restaurants in Sydney here.)
- Avril Treasure
Read on for our original write-up of Bad Hombres from 2017 by Emily Lloyd-Tait.
*****
Anyone who thinks vegan can’t be fun needs to both update their opinions from 1998 and also get to Bad Hombres, stat. What started as a Mexican Chinese mash-up from Toby Wilson (Ghostboy Cantina), Sean McManus (Neighbourhood Surry Hills) and Jon Kennedy (the Sandwich Shop) with a 60 per cent veg-powered menu has now gone the full vegan and we’re into it.
Snacks, tunes and booze are the key elements to a good time and these guys are rocking one of the best house-party playlists in town. We clock an ’80s glory run of Culture Club’s ‘I’ll Tumble 4 Ya’, Farnsie’s ‘The Voice’, Fine Young Cannibals’ ‘She Drives Me Crazy’, Dexys Midnight Runners ‘Come on Eileen’ and the Outfield’s classic ‘Your Love’. Seriously, this is an A-grade ’80s playlist and it can be yours – just look up Zangers on Spotify.
On the booze front, they’re rocking a fruity, funky, smash-tastic line-up of local natural wines that changes all the time – small batch production means they can only get it by the case from the vineyards – so maybe the tropical-fruits-in-the-sun pet nat from Pyren Vineyard’s Little Ra Ra is all poured out. There’ll be something else equal
✍️ Time Out Sydney never writes starred restaurant and bar reviews from hosted experiences – Time Out covers restaurant and bar bills, and anonymously reviews, so that readers can trust our critique. Find out more, here.
People milling around carts on busy street corners for their chaat fix of pani puri and bhel; teens cutting class from college for their fill of samosas and pakoras; office-goers woofing down vada pav with a cutting chai before they catch their train; crowds at popular beaches snacking on pav bhaji and dosas.
Mumbai, the commercial and cultural capital of India, is where street food comes into its own. It takes the best street eats from different regions of India and adds its own masala to the mix. Mumbai street food is cheap, quick and oh-so tasty. It’s also the ultimate equaliser, available to everyone from your daily wage labourers to your penthouse-living super rich. So, when the Indian diaspora in Sydney craves their street-food fix, they make their way to Sydney’s Little India: Harris Park.
It’s lunch o’clock on a Sunday and we’re outside Chatkazz, a Mumbai street-food joint that’s held its own for more than a decade. You need to know three things before you go: Chatkazz doesn’t take reservations; it is vegetarian; it’s not licensed to serve alcohol. Trust us when we say that you won't be kept waiting for long despite how busy it seems; you won’t miss the meat; and there are plenty of interesting non-alcoholic drinks to try.
We join the queue outside al
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✍️ Time Out Sydney never writes starred restaurant and bar reviews from hosted experiences – Time Out covers restaurant and bar bills, and anonymously reviews, so that readers can trust our critique. Find out more, here.
Our city has cluckloads of excellent charcoal chicken shops all over the place (you could say Sydneysiders are obsessed with them) so it’s hard to stand out in a cramped market – but Hariri Chickens in Kogarah does. I’d have to say it’s the best chicken shop in all of Sydney. I’ve eaten my way across a lot of them because my son does love a barbecue chook.
I am particularly clucky for Lebanese style-charcoal chicken – not only because of the toum, tabouli and pickles served alongside it, but because the chicken meat is always so flavour-packed and juicy. Hariri takes it up another notch – they finish the cooking of their whole barbecue chicken (after the skin is golden and crisp) by wrapping it in a village-style Lebanese bread (you know like those really thin Mountain Bread wraps you get from the supermarket?). As well as keeping the chicken insulated so it stays nice and succulent, the bread soaks up all the tasty chickeny goodness – the flavours from the skin and the juices from the chicken, so it’s this partly-crisp, partly-oozy thing that you rip into alongside the chicken. It’s an absolute masterstroke. Even just thinking about it right now, my tastebuds are keen.
As well as that, Hariri serves up all the other chicken-shop staples (chicken burgers, w
Update: Indonesian restaurant Medan Ciak has moved from its Surry Hills location – you’ll now find the bright-orange eatery on Sussex Street in the CBD, as well as in Mascot. If you’re only going to get one dish, make it their nasi Padang, which comes with a mountain of rice, rich beef rendang, golden fried chicken, vegetable curry, crisp anchovies, a boiled egg topped with sambal and chilli chips. If you think that sounds delicious, you’d be right. Plus, it will set you back $18.90.
– Avril Treasure
Read on for our original review of Medan Ciak from 2021 by Helen Yee
*****
Want cheap and homestyle Indonesian food? Head to Medan Ciak. It’s a favourite with Indonesian students and ex-pats - queues out the door are not uncommon, especially on weekends. There’s a reason for the frisson of excitement. Unlike most Indonesian restaurants across Sydney that focus on Javanese cuisine, here you’ll find the food of Medan, the North Sumatran capital known for its distinct mix of indigenous Batak, Malay and Chinese flavours.
Expect lots of pork - Batak people are predominantly Christian rather than Muslim faith - including regular cameos by Chinese lap cheong sausage. You’ll find it scattered in the nasi goreng fried rice and the cah kwe tiau – fried flat rice noodles with barbecue pork, prawns, fish cake and egg that mirrors Malaysian char kway teow.
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Whatever you do, make sure you order the barbec
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Update: A Sydney institution, Spice I Am has been knocking out delicious and authentic Thai dishes for two decades. It’s one of the best Thai restaurants in Sydney, there are great lunchtime deals, and it’s BYO. Love chilli? You'll feel at home here.
– Avril Treasure
Read on for our original review of Spice I am from 2018 by Emily Lloyd-Tait
*****
Omelette in a sour Thai soup does not sound like it should work, but, goddamn, if it isn’t a delicious revelation at number 79 on Spice I Am’s famously lengthy menu. At 82 items long, those A3, double-sided, laminated menus have been keeping flavour fossickers on their toes for 14 years. Although co-owner and head chef Sujet Saenkham has been in Sydney since 1985, it wasn’t until 2004 that he felt the city was ready for his authentic brand of Thai cooking, taken from the recipes his mother would make on their farm in Ratchaburi, south west of Bangkok. He didn’t want to compromise those flavours, no matter how many people complained about there being no zucchini in their curry, and it’s a big part of why this pigeonhole restaurant still garners patient queues after all these years.
So back to that omelette soup. Young, tender cha-om leaves (climbing wattle) are densely packed inside a tangle of golden egg, chopped into bite-sized pieces and submerged in a sour soup with a company of fat prawns. It’s richer than a tom yum, feistier than a tom kha gai and perfectly balanced – you won’t find this on suburban Thai menus.
For something t
Update: Housed in Rosebery’s The Cannery, Banh Xeo Bar serves modern Vietnamese hits with French flair. You have to order its namesake, of course: the banh xeo, a crisp Vietnamese pancake made from rice and turmeric, stuffed with pork and prawn, and served with fresh herbs and a zippy dressing on the side (you can also order it with roast pumpkin or lemongrass chicken). Add on a handful of snacks and natural wine, and it’s a good time all around.
– Avril Treasure
Read on for our original review of Banh Xeo Bar from 2018 by Emily Lloyd-Tait
*****
Rosebery is rocking to a whole new beat in 2018. The fashion outlets and car service centres are still there, but so is the Cannery, a high density snack zone that features the likes of Gelato Messina, Black Star Pastry, Archie Rose, Three Blue Ducks and Da Mario pizzeria. Right in the heart of this new dining haven is a white-tiled lunch spot lit by a pink neon sign, where Robyn in on the stereo and Vietnamese is on the menu.
Don’t you dare pre-snack because you’ll need every inch for the banh xeo. Those titular, lacey-edged, coconutty pancakes in a luminous turmeric gold envelope contain a core of pumpkin, corn, crunchy pig’s head nuggets or barbecued lemongrass chicken. Break it up, add pickled onion, carrot, fresh shiso and mint leaves, and ferry the lot to your mouth in rafts of cos lettuce. It’s a culinary chimera, scoring high marks on the light-and-fresh score as as well as the fried-and-delicious one.
The other must-order is
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✍️ Time Out Sydney never writes starred restaurant and bar reviews from hosted experiences – Time Out covers restaurant and bar bills, and anonymously reviews, so that readers can trust our critique. Find out more, here.
Growing up, sisters Rowena and Kate Chansiri used to eat a beef noodle soup made by their mum using their grandmother’s recipe. It’s a traditional street-food dish that’s slurped in Chinatowns all over Thailand, and now, they are serving it at their new unassuming eatery on 47 Cooper Street in Surry Hills. They are honouring their grandmother in another way, too. The name of their diner, “Ama” (pronounced ah–maa), means grandmother in Thai.
Ama’s beef noodle soup arrives in a pretty blue-and-white floral bowl with three types of beef. There are three thick slices of 16-hour braised salt-aged silver side, fall-off-the-bone-soft beef short rib, and round, light-coloured beef balls, as well as verdant Chinese broccoli, spring onions and crisp fried garlic.
You can choose from egg or rice noodles, and today I’ve gone for the former, which are chewy and bouncy. I’m even a fan of the buttery, subtle beef balls (though I find it helps not to think about them too long). But my favourite thing is the dark broth – it has great depth thanks to stock made from the beef bones and caramelised palm sugar, it's fragrant with earthy Chinese five spice, and balanced with vinegar. Growing up, my grandmother used to make me spag bol and pavlova. And while this beef noodle soup h
Update: Going strong for nearly three decades, cheery Lebanese diner Emma’s Snack Bar is one of our favourite cheap eats in Sydney. The best way to enjoy Emma’s is to order a bunch of plates – such as zippy, crunchy pickles, crisp, herby falafel, smoky and garlicky baby ganoush and warm flatbread – and go to town. It’s BYO, so bring along a bottle or two of your favourite vino. And there’s an excellent meat or vego set menu for $65 per person.
– Avril Treasure
Read on for our original review of Emma’s Snack Bar from 2014 by Emily Lloyd-Tait.
*****
The shock of newspaper over the windows of Emma’s on Liberty caused many to fear the worst for the cramped but convivial Lebanese restaurant in the backstreets of Enmore. We dared to hope when new lettering appeared and now we’re here to tell you that Emma’s Snack Bar is open and killing it in their new, downgraded digs.
It’s not a drastic change from the old Emma’s site. There is still the enormous central table where everyone bungs in together, but now there are tall tables on one side that don’t require a shoehorn to get into. The walls have been given a gentle lick of grey paint, there’s a new bank of windows out onto Liberty Street and like any good takeaway joint, the enormous menu board is mounted over the counter.
But low key certainly doesn’t mean a lowered bar for what’s coming out of the kitchen. A serve of the smoky, feather-light babaganoush is essential, but the spicy humous dressed with a warm chilli oil and flecked
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Update: You’ll find excellent banh cuon at this Marrickville eatery. They specialise in soft rice noodle rolls that taste as good as the ones you’ll find in Northern Vietnam.
– Avril TreasureRead on for our original review of Banh Cuon Ba Oanh from 2019 by Helen Yee.*****
Never had banh cuon? You need to. These silky rice noodle rolls are a traditional Vietnamese breakfast staple, usually cooked at little roadside stalls as swarms of scooters zoom past. The newly opened Banh Cuon Ba Oanh is about as close as Sydneysiders can get to the real deal. That includes a tiny kitchen cloaked in clouds of steam and squishy tables with ankle-high stools (no joke) that will test your flexibility. The proof is in the banh cuon and Ba Oanh delivers - expect thin layers of house-fermented rice batter expertly ladled and steamed until soft and silky. Peer into the open kitchen and you’ll likely find Ba Oanh herself, family matriarch and restaurant mascot, in amongst the action.
Order the classic version ($11) of this Northern Vietnamese dish and your rice noodles will be rolled with a rubble of pork mince and flecks of crunchy black fungus mushroom. Dunk them in the sweet and salty nuoc cham fish sauce dressing and savour alongside slices of cha que (a pale baked pork sausage seasoned with cinnamon), soft herbs and deep-fried shallots. Alternatives include plain rice noodle rolls served with grilled pork ($11) or a soft set organic egg ($4).
Bring a handful of mates and you could easily orde
Update: Forget about the name – you can sit down and enjoy your food at Cairo Takeaway – and enjoy you will. The Egyptian diner is an Enmore Road stalwart for good reason. Here, the flavours are big, the portions are generous and they serve mixed plates of your dreams. Plus, you can BYO your fave booze and people watch your heart out. Come hungry.
– Avril TreasureRead on for our original review of Cairo Takeaway from 2016 by Emily Lloyd-Tait.*****
For the longest time Enmore Road was made up of Thai restaurants bookended by Saray kebab shop at the station end and Sultan’s Table down the other. But now you’ve basically got the full UN dinner service on this half kilometre stretch of road. It manages to fit in Southern barbecue, pho, African curry, deep-fried mud crab, a cracker of a Margherita and properly spicy tikka chicken – but Middle Eastern food is definitely having a moment, with with Cairo Takeaway joining the felafel love-in.
In spite of the name you can eat in at Cairo Takeaway, and it’s a good time. They put a lot of care into assembling their mixed plates and given their popularity, there might be a bit of a wait on your food. A few minutes pause isn’t much of a cross to bear when Big Boi’s Sir Lucious Left Foot is blaring and you’ve got frosty tins of Young Henrys lager, hoppy Wayward’s pale ale or a sweet and astringent hibiscus cordial (imagine a sort of herbal pomegranate flavour) in front of you.
If you don’t eat meat the veg version has crisp, spiced caulifl
Look, it’s probably been said 100 times before, but we’ll say it again: Rocker, Bondi’s breezy and cool restaurant and bar, rocks.
Found 200 metres from Bondi's golden stretch of sand, the relaxed eatery by Darren Robertson (also Three Blue Ducks) and Cameron Northway (also Melbourne's Loti) has been keeping Bondi locals well fed and hydrated since 2017, and the good times have just kept on coming.
The menu by head chefs Stuart Toon and Ethan Smart (who are also part owners) is packed with tasty hits, like white bean hummus with pickled onion, flat bread and za’atar; fried chicken with almond buttermilk, fermented chilli honey and orange vinegar; pappardelle with beef cheek ragu, tomatoes, parmesan and pangrattato; and grilled broccoli with curry butter, yoghurt and pistachios. Can’t decide? There’s a stellar feed-me menu for $75 per person.
As well as tasty dishes and fun vibes, Rocker slings some banging deals too. First up is Rocker’s bottomless brunch, which changes with the seasons. The current rendition comes with house-made roast onion and thyme focaccia; local burrata; glazed free-range chicken; harissa-spiced roast pumpkin and almond cream and more. All paired with two hours of free-flowing Mimosas, sparkling, red, white and rosé, for $99 per person. The bottomless brunch is available every Thursday to Sunday, noon and 3pm sittings. Rally your gang.
There’s also a House of Friends event on Friday nights with $16 Margaritas – Casamigos tequila-based Tommy’s, Classic,
If there’s one thing us Sydneysiders love, it’s a ripper sandwich. And now there’s another joint we reckon you should check out, and that’s at sunny hole-in-the-wall café June’s Shoppe, which has just launched an epic all-day sandwich menu.
Part of the Applejack Hospitality group (also Rafi, Bopp and Tone), the vibrant café is based in the Wynyard Precinct in Sydney's CBD. Applejack culinary director Patrick Friesen (formerly Queen Chow) has created the new bad boys, which were inspired by the giant rainbow sandwiches from King George Deli in Tokyo.
Made with fresh, super fluffy and thick-cut Texas-style bread, June’s sambos are packed to the rafters with fresh salads, delicious fillings and house-made sauces. There are eight colourful creations to choose from, including the salad sandwich with cucumber, tomato, beetroot, carrots, alfalfa, mayo and vintage cheddar; the spicy fried chicken with comeback sauce, cheddar and gem lettuce; curried free-range egg salad with nori, Kewpie mayo and gem lettuce; and the roast free-range fennel pork with pesto, pickled chillies, provolone and rapini (a green veggie, similar to broccoli).
Pat says you should “come give it a try when you’re done hurting your mouth eating sourdough or ciabatta sandwiches".
And if you were wondering what Pat's favourite sambo is, the answer may surprise you. “I think my favourite is the salad sandwich and the broccoli salad.” See, even chefs make friends with salad. Come down to June’s and have a bite for yo
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ED'S NOTE: This review was written following the café's opening back in 2018, but it's still a top spot for breakfast and coffee.
When it comes to café breakfasts, Sydney is a hard town to impress. But when Edition Coffee Roasters opened their light, bright Japano-Nordic café in Darlinghurst, it rocketed to the top of everyone’s brunch bucket list with fine-dining inflected dishes like the mushroom pond, inspired by a dish at Noma and featuring consommé, udon noodles, mushrooms and crème fraîche.
Fast forward a few years and we’ve been gifted a second bite at the fusion cherry, but Edition’s Haymarket outpost is no carbon copy. In fact, it’s almost a complete contrast, and we’re not just talking about the fact that the CBD Edition is painted black. The pared-back layout is inspired by Japanese farmhouses, and it feels almost like you’re inside a piece of activated charcoal – like Valhalla for minimalists. It’s also leaning more heavily on the Japanese half of the concept. Sure, you can get open sandwiches (smorrebrod) on a malty, chewy rye that they bake in-house. As far as smugly beautiful lunches go, your plate of three slices topped with sweet chunks of butter-poached prawn meat just fastened to the bread with a yuzu kosho buttermilk dressing is the one to beat. Dill and fresh apple keep it light, and an extra allotment of seafaring credentials in an amber sprinkle of briny flying fish roe.
From here, the menu steers into more recognisably Japanese territory. Students slop
UPDATE: Since writing this review, Swallow Coffee Traders has been taken over by new owners Steph and Mick and become fully vegan. They are the only 100 per cent vegan eatery in the whole St George area of Sydney. To check out their plant-based menu, click here.
*****
Some inner-west devotees will tell you that once you leave the café heartland all hope for a great coffee is lost. They couldn't be further from the truth. Dare to venture beyond the confines of your regular brunch haunts and you may just uncover a hidden gem in the least likely of locations.
One such treasure is Swallow Coffee Traders in Rockdale. Nestled in a tiny nook just next to the station, this wee café sees off the hordes of morning commuters with powerful espresso shots and quick breakfast snacks. Opened in November last year, it boasts a street-art inspired mural, milk crates covered with fashionably repurposed printed hessian sacks and industrial interior that would be right at home on King Street. New café owners Angus Nicol and Jessica Hol have instead set up shop just off the thundering Princes Highway.
The beans at Swallow are Single Origin and it is clear that Hol and Nicol have more than a passing interest in coffee. Right now the order of the day is espresso but looking beyond your standard shot there are plans afoot for pour-overs, siphons and cupping – specialty extraction methods that include test tubes and Bunsen burners among other strange and wonderful paraphernalia.
On the weekend there'
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Is it a garage sale? Is it a tiny art gallery? No! It’s the entrance to Parramatta’s celebrated café, Circa Espresso. For the three of you in Sydney who haven’t heard of it, this narrow space has been exemplifying café excellence since 2010. It really doesn’t matter if we’re talking about the full-page tea menu, the refined coffee program, real-deal baked goods or the go-to, destination-worthy dish of Ottoman Eggs – people here have clearly worked hard to ensure the options are all killer, no filler.
Owner Aykut Sayan is still here, front and centre – cheerfully greeting customers, running coffees out to tables, checking in with the chefs – and it feels like you’re a guest in his home. The shop’s layout places you in the middle of a narrow room amongst the (tiny) open kitchen and coffee bar. As you sit back and watch your whole order being prepared, soak in the old-timey paintings, posters, books and artefacts that line every wall. Don’t forget to clock those ornate ceiling fans above you, too. If you venture to the back of the space, you’ll find a quiet booth for a romantic date or a less romantic business meeting.
Circa’s menu is seasonal, but always steered by flavours and textures of the Middle East. We’re talking about hearty, restaurant-level dishes at around $20 a plate. Value. Yes, you’re getting extraordinary value, especially considering the effort that goes into each individual component. Halloumi and cauliflower fritters are the opposite of mushy, and come thin a
At Malibu, which you’ll find down a Surry Hills alley, there’s just one man, Marc Aebi, taking orders, chopping fillings and waving you off with a smile and a ginormous, foil-wrapped sandwich. Pick from an array of tins holding crunchy butter lettuce, sweet beetroot, pickles, and crisp cucumbers. A green, herby mayo forms the base of your ‘wich. Beware: structural integrity could be compromised if you play too fast and loose with additions. Are you sure you need that extra avo? Even if you decide you do, your sandwich will probably still ring in under $10 (just make sure you bring cash. Your card's no good here).
What Marc Aebi can’t stick between two pieces of bread probably isn’t worth knowing and he works the matchbox-sized shop like nobody’s business, making everything fresh every morning. Don’t miss the schnitzel on fluffy white bread and baby cos lettuce, or the roast vegetables with hummus on brown bread. If you're really looking to get messy, dive into the ham, bocconcini, tomato and basil number. It's stacked sky–high and doused in a thin, creamy dressing.
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Is it possible to build a business off the back of a lamington? When it's the arctic flurry of shaved coconut embellishing a hefty cube of chocolate-coated vanilla sponge, soaked in panna cotta and shot through with crimson berry compote at Nadine Ingram's Flour and Stone bakery in Woolloomooloo, the answer is yes.
Ingram, with her community-driven, small-batch approach, has taken the most deceptively simple baked goods and raised them to cult-like status, thanks to an unwavering commitment to precision, quality and flavour. Since it was established in 2011, Flour and Stone has become a Sydney institution with queues out the door - and they’re still a regular occurrence even with an extra space added two doors down.
It’s hard to imagine how a team of 22 fit behind the tiled wall when you sneak a peek from the communal 8-seater at no. 53, the new annexe. A high table, a pair of outdoor settings and a banquette seat provide extra dining space (but nowhere near enough to sate demand). The room is decorated in colourful Dave Teer artworks inspired by Old-fashioned vanilla cake, but the real eye candy is the display cabinet packed with madeleines, lemon drizzle cake, brulee tarts, and chocolate, raspberry and buttermilk cakes.
Do not discount the savoury treats though. Spanakopita ferries a textbook-perfect spinach and feta filling between layers of delicate puff pastry; crisp iceberg lettuce plays a surprisingly significant role in the success of a chicken ciabatta sambo with
With its bustling narrow footpaths, perpetual construction projects and conga line of rattling buses, Broadway might take the cake for Sydney’s least fun pedestrian experience. Luckily, respite is now available for us – hark! Seek out the bucolic signage at Little Livi, a little cottage tucked just far enough down Mountain Street to remain a viable pit stop on a takeaway coffee rush.
Rest assured, your cuppa is in steady hands here. Ask the friendly partner/barista Amadeo Vasquez about his lateral involvement with various roasters, importers and brewers through his career, and you’ll come to understand he’s curated Little Livi’s coffee menu from a truly wide range of experience. Today’s super clean, vibrant filter coffee hails from Dukes in Melbourne, served in a bulbous glass for optimal sniffin’ and quaffin’. Bonus points awarded for Little Livi’s house blend being an actual house blend, designed by Vasquez himself. It’s rich and punchy through milk, and its syrupy honey sweetness intensifies as it cools.
Decent grab'n'go breakfast options are something of a rare find around here, so if you’re wondering why everything looks miles better than the cling-filmed banana breads of your past, it’s because partner/chef Daniel Leyva once headed the kitchen of the Bridge Room (RIP), and this fine-dining pedigree shines through in the visuals of every edible thing under the roof. An abundant pastry cabinet features artfully stuffed croissants, bagels (by Brooklyn Boy Bagels) and hou
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When you’re dining in a hurry, it can be easy to slip into the pitfalls of mediocrity. While a fridge-cold sandwich shrunk in plastic wrap from a sad display is still a very real lunch possibility in Sydney's other CBD, the tides are turning in North Sydney thanks to a recent influx of dining destinations. Take Hawkers Village, the dizzying food market proffering a taste of Asia, or neighbouring Glorietta, a pizza and wine bar brought to you by ex-Tetsuya’s and Frankie’s chefs. Now, the team behind the Grounds of Alexandria is joining the fold with Lobby Boy.
We all know this brand specialises in generous servings of fresh, wholesome food and perfectly roasted coffee in beautifully imagined spaces – and Lobby Boy is no exception. Brushed charcoal walls, forest-green banquettes and marble tables in a soaring light-filled atrium isn’t necessarily what we’ve come to expect from “the coffee place down in the lobby”, but it’s clear here that no expense has been spared. As with the other venues, there is real luxury here, though it’s less technicolour Instagram dreamland, and more pared-back, polished and grown-up. The effect is transporting; you’d hardly know you were on a bustling intersection (unless you’ve paid for metered parking...set that timer).
Like the fit-out, the menu is considered and tailored to all manner of occasions, whether you’re dashing to work or have knocked off for a long lunch. They take a seriously (possibly overly) decadent approach to the croissant, stuf
You’ve heard of confit duck, of course, and confit garlic or tomatoes, but confit tofu? That’s a new one. Should you add said block of spongy bean curd – marinated overnight in mushroom stock and slowly cooked in olive oil – to the kimchi toastie at Brighter Coffee? It’s debatable. Not so much because the tofu itself wants for anything in particular, but because that toastie is a thing of beauty on its own.
The kimchi is made in house, more a fresh and fragrant ferment than a pungent lactic acid bomb, and it’s sandwiched between two pieces of Iggy’s miraculous sourdough in the company of sweet tomato passata and a combo of nutty Gruyère and mild Gouda cheeses. Much like the other five items on the Stanmore café’s (very) short, entirely vegetarian menu, the toastie is a variation of ‘stuff on bread’, and it might not even be the best of the bunch.
That title might go to Where the Wild Things Grow, which isn’t a psilocybin hunter’s guide, but what co-owners Ben Richardson and Junji Tai call their mushrooms on toast. Here, a plate-length slice of Iggy’s (or Nonie’s next-level gluten-free bread) gets a light swipe of mushroom purée, made from reducing mushroom stock to the consistency of Vegemite and blitzing it with cashews and truffle pâté. Layers of various sauteed fungi get stacked on top – field mushrooms, buttons, woodears – and elegantly finished with saffron-stained enoki strands and shiitakes seasoned with koji. Shiso, sage and dried rose get a little bit lost amidst al
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