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Last week I went to Sydney for the first time in 13 years. When I left to move to Italy in 2011 I imagined I’d be back to Australia soon after, running amok through the streets of Sydney and Melbourne, cooking and eating and drinking. I wasn’t. In fact It took me ten years to finally really return to Australia. I did come back once, in 2015, for the wedding of the year in Brisbane. They had great cheese.
When I arrived back in Australia this time last year I had plans to be in Sydney shortly after. To spend some time there doing pop-ups, seeing friends, cooking, drinking and exploring. Frustratingly Covid put a huge ringer on those plans and border closures ensured I was locked down in the Vegas.
Getting to Sydney was a trip that was well overdue. In my mind I have always held it in such high regard. A gastronomic capital of the Southern Hemisphere, the big smoke with the cool food kids of Australia all coming together to touch tats and drink natties. It was good to finally join the flock, eat some food, and visit some places I’ve been watching for a while. It was a busier few days than I had anticipated so sadly I couldn’t see everything I wanted to as a first stop. I know there are countless other things to eat and visit and drink in Sydney and I will get through them.
The scene in Sydney is excellent. The variety and quality available across the board is world class. Sure it doesn’t have the density of a city like New York or London, but it does have the passion and more than that it has a population that loves to eat and drink and live. It has a population that appreciates what it has to offer which can endlessly inspire creativity and culinary goodness.
I was limited in where I could visit in the time I was there. I focused close to where I was working and staying, mainly around Surrey Hills. One small section of a small suburb in a very, very big city.
I am aware that the city isn’t quite where it was pre-pandemic. However, if last week was what the city feels like when it’s waking up and stretching it’s exciting to think of what it will be like when it’s running at full tilt.
This is by no means a comprehensive or exhaustive exploration of what there is to eat and where there is to eat in Sydney. It just a broad sweep of things I ate over a few days in one very small area.
I ate some good things. I ate some bad things. Overall, it’s a good place.
As a point of reference I was staying at the bottom of Crown St, near Cleveland Avenue.
Bakeries
Humble Bakery
50 Holt St, Surry Hills NSW 2010
Get a pink finger bun. It’s pre-buttered, don’t worry. Questionable until you eat it and realise the fatty salted butter ties everything else together. A point of genius and brilliant balance in the form of a takeaway finger bun. An internally soft dough with a chewy crumb, lightly speckled with soaked raisins topped with whipped mascarpone and coconut. The elegance and wonder of nostalgia. If I could eat one thing the moment I arrive in Sydney it is this. Croissants offer good development throughout, a result of effective and temperature controlled lamination but they are slightly over baked in the drying phase. Too dry, almost biscuity. If it’s intentional it’s an interesting choice and certainly not bad. However, unexpected and not the best in show. Buy two finger buns instead.
Lode Pies & Pastries
487 Crown St Surrey Hills, NSW 2010
I imagine you will find something in here that will somehow entirely change your life or you will find nothing at all. If you wait in line admire how long the line is. Or choose not to. Marvel at the length of conversation between each customer and staff member. Or choose not to. It will become apparent very quickly. Or it won’t. When the time comes take photos of the menu. It’s important to fit in. When the time comes take photos of the pastries. It’s important to fit in. Order one sweet and one savoury item. They will come in a pink box. There will be a doily. The doily will feel as if it came straight from the embroiderer. There is a magic in the consideration of each and every element of the experience. It feels excessive, because it is. The pastries sit on the doily throne. Eat them both. The sweet item will be entirely fine however lacking in the moreish elasticity you might expect from this standard of patisserie. There is no doubt technique has been applied. It’s very nice to look at, yes, absolutely. It looks great on instagram. However, it’s heavy and dense and bready. The savoury item will be overly complex and have too many competing flavour profiles fighting for attention. If there is parmesan shaved onto it the parmesan will be of wonderful quality, aged and from a reputable producer. It will overwhelm everything else, electric and animal in the mouth. You will go back at some point and try again, both sweet and savoury. After the second time you will not return.
A.P Bakery
Paramount House Hotel, 80 Commonwealth St Surrey Hills, NSW 2010
On top of Paramount Hotel sits one of the most exciting bakeries in Australia at the moment. The buttermilk croissant tastes delightfully like soured brown butter with textbook lamination and crumb, and it is the least boring croissant I have had in years. Fig and almond tart was perfectly executed and delicately balanced, the late season figs landing softly on the palate offset by (what might normally be considered too thick a pastry casing1) a thick, perfectly textured pastry and a dollop of whipped mascarpone finished with olive oil and rosemary. The classic ham and cheese croissant is worth visiting for, in and of itself. An education in how to combine simple ingredients to create something wonderful. Everything looks worth eating. They also serve brunch (I didn’t stay). I will be going back to eat through the baked goods.
Bourke St Bakery (O.G)
663 Bourke St, Surrey Hills 2010
Everyone knows of or has been to or has read the cookbook or heard the stories of the Bourke St Bakery. It’s an idyllic little corner shop location in one of the most liveable suburbs in the world. Do not get confused when you are there. You will wait in line. When you walk in you will be presented with cabinets in front to the left and the right of you and bread cascading down the walls and into the window. Breathe and block everything out. You have one goal. Just one. Behind the counter are the hot pastries to your right as you stand are the sweet treats in the refrigerated cabinet. Do not look elsewhere. You want a Lamb merguez sausage roll and ginger brûlée tart. All you need to know about Bourke Street Bakery is that you should order the Lamb merguez sausage roll with extra tomato sauce and a ginger brûlée tart for dessert. I was unaware until recently. A blonde haired boy gave me the hot tip. It is a rare treat to find a sausage roll that has the right kind of supple and loose consistency internally with a generous amount of filling, still being able to maintain its integrity through the bite and the pastry. The ginger brûlée tart is a beautiful piece of pastry. Delicate and moreish yeh holding a firm note and bite through the biscuit like pastry. Very good. Very good.
Snacks
Henrietta
Shop 1/500 Crown St Surrey Hills, NSW 2010
You will see signs for Charcoal chicken. Charcoal chicken(!) And a fashionably decorated restaurant, big glass windows, everyone having a good time. Don’t go inside, head to the side shop and order takeaway. A chicken wrap. Late, post dinner. A second dinners dinner. A chicken wrap to write home about. A chicken wrap to take home, if it makes it home. Buy two. Get some chips on the side (I didn’t and regretted it).
Surrey Hills Charcoal Chicken Shop
664 Crown St Surrey Hills, NSW 2010
At the bottom of Crown St stand and admire the ramshackle sprawl of mismatched coals in the rotisserie bbq. Towards the end if the night all the shelving comes off and the ribs go directly on the coals to char and finish and smoke. Don’t be tempted. It’s late, they are messy and too thin to be much more than gristle and bone. Order a chicken roll extra mayo, extra chilli. Chicken roll. Chicken roll. Chicken roll. Chicken roll. Chicken roll. Extra Mayo. Extra Chilli.
Rico’s Tacos
15 Meagher St, Chippendale NSW 2008
In the heart of Chippendale, when lost on your way to get to the White Rabbit gallery, you’ll find a corner shop built with chipboard, with plastic seats, a taco press, and frozen hash brown with chipotle salt and salsa roja. The salsa was a little wetter than traditionally found but held great acidity and a dark smokey earthy quality. The hash brown was as standard as they come but elevated above its station by the sweetness of the chipotle salt and the fact it was swimming in salsa. Don’t be frightened. Yes they have plastic chairs and chipboard counters. You are in safe hands. If the fish rolls out of your fish taco on its way to your table, the waiter has you covered. He’ll give his fingers a quick wipe and catch that fishy boy or girl and get it right back onto that taco it should never have tried to run away from in the first place. Masa tacos hand-pressed in house. While simple, there is a sense of authenticity in the election of the tacos. Skip the torta. Order the tacos. Stand outs were the fish, bean, chorizo. Buy the hash brown. Buy two.
Shwarmama
Shop 2/106-112 Commonwealth St, Surry Hills NSW 2010
Be prepared for it not to be open at times it should be open. How many times in Australia can staff shortages ruin the opportunity on a Friday night to be satisfied by a shawarma? Too many. It’s just too many. Try and steal a seat outside, don’t be intimated by prams or the steepness of the hill, it evens out. Stare at the meat cooking on the rotisserie, packed together daily2, bulbous, covered in charred edges and glistening fat, imperfect in every way. Don’t veer, order a beer and the shawarma. Don’t mess with the chips, you won’t need them - there are some in the wrap.
Good Ways Deli
Shop 1/20 Cooper St, Redfern NSW 2016
Wander down through Redfern, past the paperbarks and into Good Ways Deli. Sandwiches and coffee. Rolls baked in house. It is a sandwich shop selling lamingtons (buy one) and Anzac biscuits (buy two). Weekend breakfast rolls are one part hangover cure one part bacon. The sandwiches cut deep, are colourful and well balanced. If you have a friend wander down and watch the Bunnies train. Or don’t just enjoy the sun through the window.
Ardi’s Block to Grill
579 Crown St, Surrey Hills NSW 2010
Ardi’s has 5 stars on google. That is no small feat. In fact, these days it’s a near impossible feat. Ardi is an outright total fuckin legend. Ardi’s is a butcher shop and grill. He works directly with some of the best farmers in Australia to provide dope cuts of great, well managed, well treated, long life beasts3 (unless they are short life baby beasts). Order a burger, some chips, and sit out the front and enjoy it. The quality of the meat is outstanding, juicy and fatty, the right balance - not over cooked, not overworked, ground rough and cooked hard on heat. Not a smash burger. It’s tied together with house pickled fennel and a sauce reminiscent of a romesco but probably not a romesco. Ardi worked 7 days a week until recently, now it’s down to 6. Closed on Wednesday.
Restaurants
La Salut
305 Cleveland St, Redfern NSW 2016
From the outside you see it as somewhat of an uninspiring pub. The problem is, if you are anything like me, the last 12 months in Brisbane has destroyed any semblance of affection you once held for pubs. The affection at one point ran deep, but Brisbane has stripped it, burnt it and doused it in bleach. La Salut is the corner restaurant in a pub on Cleveland St. Next door to the restaurant is a noteworthy bottle shop. Don’t buy the Canary Islands volcanic wines. In fact, don’t listen to anyone who tries to convince you that they are the next big thing. They aren’t. It’s not worth it, it’s not worth it. Order the kingfish crude (we did twice) and the octopus and the lamb tongue. Only have one of the manchego, tomato and anchovy snacks, the emulsion is too strong, drowns out any flavour around it, anchovy included. Good to whet the appetite though. Order the quail, we did but the kitchen forgot about it. Let me know how it is.
Papa’s Pizzeria
Undisclosed Location
If you can find the address take wine. The access door will be locked so buzz in. The front door will be open. Don’t take the stairs but don’t wait for the lift. Read everything as a symbol. There are no signs. In the door and upstairs it’s important to greet everyone. Don’t spend too long looking at the oven. The pizziolo is busy. Elbows like Rick Danko4. Watch out. There is magic in this somewhere. Sometimes there is a guest chef. The Margherita bangs. Eat as many as possible. If the big mac is on, don’t hesitate. Lastly, remember, there is nothing wrong with pineapple on pizza.
Disclaimer - I have been a guest chef at Papa’s Pizzeria.
Cairo Kitchen
81 Enmore Road, Newtown NSW 2042
Be prepared to wait. People spill out onto the street out the front of Cairo kitchen. They are here for exactly what is described in the name, some kind of kitchen from Cairo. Pita, pickles, falafel, tahini, chilli, coal fired meats of all sorts (but no weird ones sadly, no bits and bobs, odds and ends as you might hope). Sit at the counter if you can, definitely order sweet potato chips. Don’t order a pita. Order a plate. Falafel is fresh but you have to catch it at the right time so that you don’t get the ones that have been sitting under the heat lamp waiting for the rush. Ask for the fresh boys when you order. Point at the guy standing over a bowl of oil frying. He is standing next to the counter. If you don’t point at least firmly gesture ‘those ones.’ Don’t look to closely at the back bench, try to ignore the deep fryer tucked in the corner overflowing with frying oil next to the sink. They need the extra fryer, cauliflower won’t fry itself. Good pickles, celery was a standout, good peppers, good hummus, great tahini, great falafel. Don’t order meat, it sits off the coals too long and dries out. Once you have finished your first bowl of sweet potato chips order another.
Poly
Paramount House Hotel, 80 Commonwealth St Surrey Hills, NSW 2010
We had snacks at the bar, not many as it was a stop off in between meals and drinks. I’ve heard a lot and read a lot about Poly. It is good. Very good. Expensive, but good. I’d prefer it if I was invited. The wine list runs deep with good cuts and strong vintages of the lovely lads and ladies from Europe. Well executed cocktail and service. The snacks we had were moreish, often live fire based and delivered in a beautiful manner. I will eat there again, properly and I look forward to the day I do.
Huberts
15 Bligh St, Sydney NSW 2000
I’ve wanted to visit Huberts for a long while. The rebuilt Chinese karaoke restaurant made new and old as a French style bistro with a multi faceted approach to entertainment. A cinema out back, a stage for jazz, two bars, a dining room and a eating area to eat and drink. Impeccable service, even if the wine list lacks and veers too far into the territory of old school boring tradition. Unexpectedly the most wonderful things on the menu should not blend together but they do, wonderfully. Get the pate en croute, the kimchi gratin and the confit mushrooms in peppercorn sauce. Everything else is very good, yes, however, these three are strangely enticing and decadent and together form a weird and wonderful experience.
Regazzi Wine & Pasta
1 Angel Place, Sydney NSW 2000
It was full. I didn’t get in.
Bars
Odd Culture
266 King St, Newtown, NSW 2042
Deep wine list of good cuts and bold vintages. Don’t eat. Stop in. Drink a bottle of a few glasses. Challenge yourself, live dangerously. It’s a great stop off full of Australian and European natty fun. It fits the mould and fits it well. Some wild, reasonably priced bottles. Some rare, not-so-reasonably priced bottles. No confirmation of staff knowledge or understanding but the depth of the list is an indication of care somewhere. It’s a big, beautiful open kitchen. I didn’t eat, I was put off by the way in which I saw one of the chefs eating behind the counter, dipping bread into the butter and then eating it nonchalantly, licking his fingers and wiping them on his shirt5.
Bar Planet
16 Enmore Road, Newtown NSW 2042
Gin martini extra dry with a twist. It’s a martini bar and they are not playing.
Dean & Nancy Level 22
Level 22, 2 Hunter St, Sydney 2000
Drink classics in NY style midcentury decadence. Marble and gold and rattan chairs. On paper I’m not selling it but it has a beautiful view, service of a rare standard and world class drinks. It feels like an homage to the lost hotel bars of a former time. Drinks curated by the guys from Maybe Sammy. It is excellent. When I visited there was a 70 year old man in a tuxedo DJing lounge bar classics and having a wonderful time. Drink classics.
Golden Age Cinema & Bar
Paramount House Hotel, 80 Commonwealth St Surrey Hills, NSW 2010
Beautiful, oftentimes busy bar next to a boutique cinema. Fresh twist on a negroni was not unwelcome. Crisps on the table and secret gigs that open up from the walls. Mazzy Star covers appear retro to 20 year olds. Charming. People are young on the weekends, older during the week.
Bondi RSL
118/120 Ramsgate Ave, North Bondi NSW 2026
Yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah, I know, everyone loves the Bondi RSL. I’d never been though so the very fact that you can sit and drinks jugs of commercial beer over looking one of the most beautiful beaches in the world, in the sun, outside, was an absolute revelation. I mean come on. It’s heaven there. It’s not cool kid instagram like Icebergs. But it is very very very much a full bodied part of Australia.
Oftentimes when baking almond based fruit tarts the structure of the shell casing is too thin. The focus is always on the filling instead of the balance of textures and flavours across the palate. A thicker casing however, runs the risk of drying out the mouth when someone eats the tart. So there is a risk and necessarily a balance that needs to be struck. That balance takes skill. It takes care. It takes an understanding of how it is that someone experiences eating something. This tart is fucking excellent.
I know we all have an image of what kebab (and in this instance shawarma meat) meat looks like. Now understand the truth. The majority of kebab meat you see in a kebab shop or any form, rotating infant of the heating elements, dripping, fat, sweating and breathing heavy is made in a factory somewhere in Poland. It’s not always good, you can read about it here. Kebab meat is made by the tonne. Something extraordinary, like 95% of all kebab shop meat is made in a factory in Eastern Europe. Cheap meat, full of hormones, processed and sold off, the remnants of the skin, the fat, the offcuts, pulped together with meat glue to form frozen rounded kebab meat. Perfect for slipping onto that metal pole and forcing to dance, slowly, slowly, slowly around the heating elements day after day after day. The point I’m trying to make is that if you ever see an oddly shaped, imperfectly constructed kebab twirling around on that pole the odds are it’s been made in house. The chances are it’s made every day. I would go as far as to bet, to lay down money, that this kebab is worth a treat. Eat it.
Please note by beast I mean animal.
Rick Danko was a notoriously good (and wild elbowed) pool player. He was “A laconic, world weary veteran of the road” (Rick Danko Obituary, The Independent 13th December 1999). A bass player who played at times a 1973 Gibson Ripper Bass with a sincere, ecstatic enthusiasm expressed through the almost childlike movement of his wild elbows. A movement that seemed entrenched in his very being. Intentional and exact in its shape and form. Rick Danko and his elbows created magic, shaped beauty. See it in full force in the opening sequences of one of the greatest films ever made The Last Waltz
Look… Really… I mean… I get it. Chefs have to eat. It’s an open kitchen though. Everyone is watching and even if everyone isn’t watching someone is watching, I was watching. I’ve done it. Of course. Starving through service, suddenly realise you haven’t eaten all day, are on the verge of fainting from dehydration and you need to get your blood sugar up. The bread is right there. The butter is right there. And it is room temperature. You glance up to check if anyone is watching and smoosh it into your face to quench something, anything to make the night go faster, to numb the pain down the back of your legs crawling through your shins. Can’t smoke. In service. Something, anything would help… It’s a long night ahead and it hasn’t yet begun. You eat more bread. I get it. In an open kitchen, in a packed venue though it might just be easier to make sure you make it to staff dinner. If you don’t make it and you find yourself starving and in need of one of the culinary worlds greatest gifts just make sure you crouch down, hide yourself, go into the cold room if you can, have some self respect. If you don’t you might find yourself being chewed out by your sister for being a grot. Just like I was.
Words by Daniel Wilson
Daniel has a Masters in Food Culture from The University of Gastronomic Science in Pollenzo, Italy. He is a writer, a chef, and a recovering restaurateu