• Korean department store Kmall 09 brings 2000 square metres of Seoul to western Sydney. The two-storey complex is tipped to be the largest Asian supermarket Down Under, and packs in a fleet of Korean eateries – including the first Aussie location for a popular Korean chain.

• First look: It’s a sunny afternoon and people are strolling down the street, waving to the local butcher. This isn’t Pontypandy, it’s Paddington – and they’re greeting the team at family-run butcher Field to Fork.

• First look: The Hook forms “a little Bermuda Triangle” of neighbourhood bars, all delivered to the world by drinks nut David Spanton. Head in for live jazz piano, theatrical shucking and grilled oysters served four ways.

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• First look: Fior, the Jane team’s good-times Italian diner, opens in the Shire. It’s a family-friendly, group-ready 120-seater offering antipasti aplenty, half a dozen pastas and a roving gelato cart.

• Now open: Fei Jai, the beloved Potts Point restaurant, brings its Cantonese charm to Rose Bay. Expect all the favourites (like a fluffy crab omelette and handmade dumplings), plus weekend yum cha.

• Find Negronis, vodka gnocchi and UK garage music at Frankie Cadillac, the Surry Hills sibling to Bootleg Italian. The vermouth is made behind the bar, and there’s a four-part sampler if you can’t pick just one from the 15-strong Negroni menu.

• Pastry pivot: Alexandria bakery Mia Dolci is reborn as Da Orazio Pasticceria, with cannoncini and maritozzi aplenty. Plus there’s a Bondi pop-up too.

• Now open: Sandy's serves up casual poolside fare at Urbnsurf. There are hefty hash brown-filled burritos, hotcakes and the tacos “Sydney was lacking”.

• First look: Chuck & Sons is the brewery and taproom from the “godfather of craft beer”. Hahn, James Squire, Kosciuszko and Malt Shovel are all Chuck Hahn’s handiwork, and now he's offering pilsners and prawn po’ boys from a rooftop kitchen in St Peters.

• The “Fendi of fish shops”, Uncut Seafood Delicatessen, fires fresh catch over a lava grill in an oceanside neighbourhood. And there are no hot chips in sight.

• First look: Melbourne’s Kariton Sorbetes arrived in Sydney to immediate fanfare. Lines snaked down a busy stretch, waiting for scoops of ube halaya, Milo dinosaur and Vietnamese coffee custard. Plus, a vegan taho, where tofu soft serve meets panna cotta and warm oolong syrup.

• First look: Bar Lettera is the all-day North Sydney opening making a strong case for hotel restaurants. Head in for a brekkie of locally foraged mushrooms, a power lunch or leisurely dinner.

Additional reporting by Lucy Bell Bird, Lucy Brewer, Aimee Chanthadavong, Dan Cunningham, Callum McDermott, Pilar Mitchell and Kai Page.