The inner western suburb of Petersham is officially Sydney’s ‘Little Portugal’ and home to the best Portuguese shops in Sydney.
Petersham has the largest Portuguese community in Australia and hosts Bairro Portugues, an annual street festival celebrating the Portuguese cultural heritage of this colourful suburb. Along a short strip of New Canterbury Road you’ll find everything you need for a vicarious Portuguese gourmet tour. There’s a butcher, baker, deli, café, liquor store and authentic flame-grilled Portuguese chicken shop. Here’s where to stock up on Sydney’s best Portuguese food and drink. See the video below to make your own Portuguese piri-piri sauce.
Sweet Belém
Sweet-tooths all over Sydney head to Jose Silva’s bakery for Sydney’s best Portuguese tarts made with buttery puff pastry, fresh eggs and milk, hand-filled and baked on site daily. But it doesn’t end there, the traditional breads (perfect for pregos), chouriço & cheese brioche, and pies (including bacalhau) get rave reviews. The range of lesser-known traditional Portuguese sweets, such as queijadas and guardanapos, are fascinating!
Charlie’s Deli
Carmelo (“Charlie”) Santoro opened Santoro Deli in 1980 with his wife Carmela, and changed the name to Charlie’s a few years later because that’s what everyone called it. Today siblings Sam, Ang and Lucy continue their parents’ legacy, providing locals and food-loving visitors with bacalhau, piri-piri sauce, Portuguese cheeses, groceries and gorgeous terracotta servingware along with friendly service and cooking advice.
Portuguese Spanish Butchery
Hailing from Madeira, Orlando and Ivone Camacho’s family has been running Sydney’s best Portuguese butchery for over 30 years. Alongside the fresh meat, there’s special churrasco cuts, house-made Portuguese and Brazilian sausages (like alheira, morcela and morcela de arroz), a great selection of smallgoods and a small range of specialty Portuguese, Brazilian and Spanish groceries. Plus friendly advice from Orlando himself!
Frango’s Chicken
With Portuguese charcoal chicken outlets on almost every corner, it’s hard to know where to head to for the ‘real thing’. Look no further than this unassuming diner opened in 1989 by the Angolan-Portuguese Fernandes family. There are now 6 more stores from Penrith to Camden, all basting delicious charcoal-grilled chicken with the family’s ‘secret’ piri-piri sauce, created by Grandma Fernandes in Angola.
Petersham Liquor Mart
Whether you’re after a vinho verde to quaff with your caldo verde, some aguardente to flame your chouriço à bombeiro, or a bottle of Madeira or Port to serve alongside dessert, you’ll find Sydney’s best range of Portuguese wines and spirits here. There’s a good range of Brazilian cachaca, Mexican tequila and mezcal, and Spanish wines and spirits too. Worth a browse to discover something a little different.
Lunas
What do Portuguese eat for breakfast? Get on down to Jose Silva’s casual Petersham diner to find out. There’s the best Portuguese steak sandwiches (a.k.a. pregos) with piri-piri mayo, and grilled sardines on corn bread topped with molho verde (green sauce) and lightly pickled onion. Or go the egg and sausage route with scrambled eggs flecked generously with chunks of chouriço. Dinner weekends too.
Now you know where the best Portuguese shops in Sydney are, find details of the next Bairro Portugues festival here and join in the celebration of all things Portuguese.
Updated 04 Jan 2025
