A guide to Leichhardt

Bar Italia is one of the busiest places to eat in Leichhardt, with lines out the door and a room full of hungry punters squished together on benches and tables. Choose wisely and you can eat here for under $15, there's excellent gelati for dessert, and if you've taken a punt on a date you're not sure about, it's loud enough to hide the awkward silences. 

This popular dog park has plenty of space for canine shenanigans. You can work on your dog’s obedience issues at the regular Sunday morning dog classes, and Café Bones offers treats for both dogs and humans, and pup-friendly sitting arrangements.

Located in a spacious, light-filled heritage warehouse, Art Est is an independent art school in Leichhardt with four dedicated teaching studios, an art gallery and a large ceramics studio. There are a range of creative classes for adults, teens and kids to try out here, as well as quirky art exhibitions like the annual Woof! Art Prize – the unauthorised canine companion to the Archibald Portrait Prize.

Capriccio stays true to its osteria roots, serving simple Italian dishes and a selection of wines. No fuss, just quality food paired with a glass of the good stuff. Diners can sit inside and enjoy the spacious design or in the courtyard, which looks as if its been stolen from a Tuscan postcard.

Golden Gully isn’t exactly the neighbourhood bar you might expect. They've gone all-out Australiana here, but in a way that doesn’t feel hokey or contrived. Think emerald-green wainscoting and stylish gold light fixtures, dried natives in vases, vintage-looking posters from nearby breweries and framed black-and-white photos of the bush. And with some exceptions, all the booze is home-grown, too.

Leichhardt's branch of indie chain Palace Cinemas houses eight auditoria, all licensed, and an impressive foyer with a lounge bar and café on site. It plays host to some of the best annual film festivals such as the French, Spanish, Greek, German and Italian. 

Boomalli was founded in 1987 by local artists set on challenging the status quo. They drove a new understanding of the urban Indigenous art movement in Australia. They continue to showcase the incredible work of the foundational members as well as emerging and mid-career Aboriginal artists whose language groups exist within the NSW state boundaries, with a strong focus on regional creatives.

It’s a small operation here. A handful of seats by the windows and a gleaming glass display case is pretty much it, but we aren’t here for décor, we are here for cake. At Penny Fours they have the sticky bun of your dreams and mini lemon meringue tarts with sweet, marshmallow-y peaks on top that linger in our dreams. 

They nailed the atmosphere part of the brief with this open, honest, simple space that ticks all the boxes of a good small bar. Kick back in a spacious sandstone terrace that lifts you just above the bobbing heads of passersby and prepare to stick around for longer than intended. The staff know their business, and that business is cheese, beer and wine.

This friendly restaurant is a go-to place for long, late lunches, intimate dinners, glasses of wine at the bar, cocktails, and of course – grappa, the fragrant, grape-based Italian spirit and popular digestif packing a high alcohol percentage.

It’s all aboard for a one-way trip to public transport geekery at the Sydney Bus Museum, which has a huge collection of vintage buses kept at the hundred-year-old Leichhardt Tramshed. This quirky, niche museum is open on the first and third Sunday of each month.

Like many neighbourhood gems, from the outside the Carpenter is unremarkable. But, from 7am to 3pm, this warehouse conversion café draws clued-in customers inside. The menu offers hotcakes, truffle eggs, steak sangers, and the mandatory poached eggs and smashed avocado with subtle depths.

Steam power once revolutionised the modern world, and now 300 years later it is being used to change the way we think about the humble muffin. Young guns Jack and Danielle were doing such a roaring market trade in their steam-baked muffins that they decided to open their own permanent premises. Now you can get your hands on their savoury, sweet and gluten free muffins all week long.

There was a time when we'd hop the train and schlep to Lakemba for a plate of Jasmin's falafels. But you only need to go as far as Leichhardt for this Lebanese takeaway with a cult following.