Top 5 Lunch with a View
I’ve been accused of featuring the eastern suburbs too heavily, but I can’t help it if there’s a concentration of great eats (and drinks) in that part of town. So I’m delighted to be celebrating something that the northside (my home turf) has in abundance – great eats with great views! Time to enjoy a […]
Top 5 Mod Asian
Australia has a long tradition of Asian food, with the Chinese restaurant a mainstay in every suburb and country town beyond living memory. In the late ‘70s, Thai and Vietnamese entered the mix and, over time, more Japanese and Korean restaurants followed. Initially they were clusters of ‘cheap & cheerful’ ethnic restaurants in specific suburbs […]
Top 5 Middle Eastern
Sydney’s always been a great place to eat the food of the Eastern Mediterranean – delicious shared feasts of dips, salads, flatbread and charcoal-grilled meat – less expensive and healthier than a lot of other offerings and mainly along Cleveland Street in the city and in the south-western suburbs. But there are also a band […]
Top 5 Chinese
Looking for more great Chinese food in Sydney? Try my Top 5 Dumplings & Noodles. Top 5 Chinese China is a huge country, with as much regional diversity as Europe. But for too long, Chinese food in Sydney meant Cantonese, the food of Hong Kong and Guangdong province, the ancestral homeland of many Aussie-Chinese. More […]
Top 5 Fast Food
I love language almost as much as I love food and I enjoy combining the two, discovering what the original meaning of food words tells us about the history of that food. Lately I’ve had cause to think about two terms often used synonymously: ‘Fast Food’ and ‘Junk Food’. For the word geeks out there, […]
Top 5 Pizza in Sydney
This may be the most contentious Top 5 I’ll ever write … so please consider it a mere introduction to the many places serving excellent authentic pizza in Sydney today! For me it starts with a thin, slightly charred crust. I generally prefer pizza bianca (without tomato), but rosso (with a smear of Italian San […]
Top 5 Italian Restaurants in Sydney
I love all things Italian. And Sydney is more spoilt for choice than ever before, with so many places serving authentic Italian food, lots of it regional. Our offering covers the full spectrum, from cutting-edge-modern to Nonna-style-traditional, from big-night-out to grab-a-bite-on-the-way-home. We have great pizze, pasta, gelati and so much more – and I love […]
Top 5 Japanese Restaurants in Sydney
In the past 20 years or so, Japanese food in Australia has moved from exotic to mainstream, with sushi bars in every food court turning out healthy fast food. But beyond sushi, there are also excellent restaurants offering the full range of Japanese cuisine – from casual izakaya-style (the Japanese equivalent of Aussie pubs), via […]
Top 5 Food Films
Top 5 Food Films (and a wonderful cinema) I love food, I love cinema, I love being in a place with a great vibe … so how special is it when all of these are rolled into one experience!? Enter Golden Age Cinema and Bar, a wonderful use of historic Paramount House – that elegantly […]
Top 5 Restaurants in Italy
I love Italy for its wonderful regional diversity, friendly, hospitable people who know how to enjoy life and its simple, delicious food and wine. Every time I go I make new discoveries, so I’d never dare to propose a definitive list of Italy’s best restaurants … instead these are the five I currently can’t wait […]