Darlinghurst

Dimitri’s first started as a lo-fi little pizzeria on Crown street; in 2019, it moved up to Oxford Street. The new digs feature an Italian-made woodfire oven, a bigger dining room, plus a dedicated small bar upstairs. The toppings here are a riff on Dimitri’s flavour-over-tradition approach.

This is the godfather of Italian dining in Sydney. Beppi’s has been ticking-over with the same consistency, fit-out and leather-bound menus – hand-carved by the late Beppi Polese himself – since 1956. Immortal dishes include clams and mussels with garlic, olive oil, white vino and tomato; and zucchini flowers stuffed with ricotta, basil and mushrooms.

This takeaway-focused old-school sandwich shop makes some of Sydney’s best (and biggest) sangas. But you don’t need to take our word for it – the lengthy queues that form outside it every single weekday at lunchtime should tell you how good these sandwiches are.

Enter this extravagant cafe in a corner art deco building – featuring a striking Keeley Baird (from Something More Design) fit-out and a mural by artist Andrew Dennis – for truffles, caviar and a toastie that has to be seen to be believed.

The successor to Chippendale's Freda's channels the spirit of the original late-night haunt into a buzzing sit-down bar and diner in the heart of Sydney's nightlife district.

Drink, dance, shoot pool and snack on Eastern Europe’s finest.

A Miami Vice themed bar with an appropriately tropical cocktail menu to match.

Wall-to-wall books on design make this one of Sydney’s true specialists of the genre. You can find back issues of high-end mags such as Monocle and Creative Review, but that’s not all – there’s also a raft of merchandise for sale by witty design crew, Good Fucking Design Advice.

An essential part of Sydney’s LGBTQI history. Visit for a comprehensive range of literature, magazines, DVDs, erotica and some very sexy calendars.

This colourful store sits on the CBD end of Oxford street, with enough variety to give designers, artists and literary types plenty of inspiration (or procrastination).

This is Sydney's most popular gelato shop, and it's not even close. But it's well deserved adulation: even though it's since become one of Australia's best-known gelato brands; the flavours, the quality of ingredients and the exacting attention to detail have, if anything, improved over the years.

It stocks 150 plant varieties – the majority of which are indoor and shade-friendly. And if you’re lacking a green thumb, it’ll help you keep your new purchases thriving.