Snack Bar: Nab Free Rice Paper Rolls and Vietnamese Coffee, and More Sydney Food News This Week

What’s on around town

• Marrickville favourite Ester Spirits is the ideal Saturday date, made even better with La Plancha. From 4.30pm on Saturdays, the Little Caterer team captains a grill out front. Choose from grilled skirt steak dressed in salsa verde, lemony chicken, pickled octopus or vine-wrapped halloumi. Each plate comes with dips, salad and bread – ideal with anything from Ester’s drinks menu. Bookings encouraged. 

• Barangaroo’s Vietnamese restaurant Annamese is shouting 300 people a rice paper roll and Viet coffee on Tuesday September 22. From 11am.

• Dine at The Gopher on a Tuesday to nab a pie and a pint for $28. Choose from a slow-braised beef and Guinness serve or a fisherman’s pie with a potato top, plus any of the Manly bar’s tapped beers.

• Lennox Hastie has collaborated with Kiwi cookware company Ironclad Co on a cast iron dutch oven. The Fire Set is made from recycled iron, is triple-seasoned and hand-polished to finish – and is as at home on your hob as it is on a barbeque, woodfired oven or campfire. The four-part set is available for pre-order, shipping from September 28, with a three-generation guarantee (100 plus years) if anything structural fails. Plus, each set arrives with five exclusive video recipes from the Firedoor chef. 

• Saké in The Rocks has a new $39 express lunch. The seven-part set includes hiyayakko (cold tofu with toppings), kingfish ceviche and pickled cucumber, plus tempura, miso soup and your choice of donburi (teriyaki salmon or short rib). Then, a slice of Nihon cheesecake to finish. Bookings encouraged.

• There is just one week left of Something Something Bistro, the Oxford Street pop-up from third-gen Chinese duo Gaspar Tse (of Hotluck Club) and front-of-house legend Nance Liong (Lee Ho Fook Sydney, ex-Momofuku Seiobo). Find snacks (like siu mai doughnuts), larger plates (like scallion noodles and Sichuan sang yu), four house cocktails and a tight selection of wine. Thursdays and Fridays, from 5.30pm, until the end of September. 137 Oxford Street, Darlinghurst.

• Negroni Week runs from September 22 to 28, but some Sydney bars are celebrating all month. At Apollonia, order a Negroni on a Thursday night and you might receive a caricature by local artist Nelson Matoma. The portrait is yours to take home, with 20 available weekly between 5.30pm and 8.30pm. While at The Dry Dock there are six versions of the sweet, bitter Italian cocktail pouring, with DJs playing Italo disco sets on Thursday nights. 

• Hit Surry Hills brewery Yulli’s on Wednesday September 23 or September 30 for the final two Turkish menu takeovers, in collaboration with chef Ayse Moonen. The set menu is $48, and Oncum Yilmaz will be DJing. Bookings encouraged for sittings at 6pm and 8pm.

• Co-working space The Commons has added a happy hour to the mix: any cocktail ordered at the in-house bar comes with unlimited fries, from 4pm on Thursdays and Fridays. Go for classic salt or lean in with salt and vinegar, nori and sesame, or chicken and tarragon; with sauces spanning pineapple barbeque and both truffle and black garlic aioli. Exclusive to The Commons flagships in Martin Place and on Melbourne’s Collins Street.

• Circular Quay’s Pearl Dining is making room for the menu hits from the recently closed Lotus in The Galeries. Expect duck fried rice, crispy eggplant and Lotus’s signature dumplings throughout the residency. Plus, local lobster served nine ways and a $35 express lunch menu.

• Middle Eastern restaurant and bar Zanobia has opened in the harbourside Streets of Barangaroo precinct. Expect the same menu – spanning mezze, salads, honey halloumi, charcoaled meats and more – as Zanobia in Leichhardt and North Strathfield. 100 Barangaroo Avenue, Barangaroo.

What we covered this week

• Tenjo, Redfern. The Olympus team is opening a 100-seat Japanese restaurant in the former Lottie space, atop The Eve Hotel in Redfern.

• Four new Sydney cafes. Spring is here, and so is a flash little coffee van, a sibling for a Petersham favourite, a Marrickville outpost for a local roaster and a new kid with pineapple buns.

• Calamansi, Cremorne. A Masterchef alum opens a Southeast Asian wine bar and restaurant just north of the bridge – and people are returning multiple nights a week for the Peranakan-style chicken curry.

• Petit Lapin Patisserie, Kogarah. Find the giant croissant on President Avenue, enter the new spot for golden viennoiserie, silky cheesecakes, little layered mousse cakes and, yes, croissants.

• Four new casual venues to look forward to in spring – all from independent teams. Expect New York-style Reubens near the beach, a local brewery’s new taproom and Thai salads and grilled meats on Crown Street.

• Razzie’s, CBD. This newcomer is powered by memories of In-N-Out Burger and LA-style chilli dogs. Visit for surprisingly juicy smash burgers and proper chilli con carne.

• Where Chefs Eat: Aenza’s Joy Liu drives to Bankstown and back for one specific pho. Plus, a croissant so good she orders two, un underrated Sydney bar and a date spot with an excellent steak. 

• Il Baretto, Newtown. The 27-year-old pasta favourite opens a second dining room in the inner west – and the team’s returning to its roots with original recipes, a long-serving chef and classic bowls under $30. 

• Eggette, Haymarket. This new spot is for extra-crisp Hong Kong egg waffles filled with choc chips, red bean and classic Hong Kong flavours like Ovaltine, Milo and Horlicks.

You might’ve missed

• Mother Chu’s Taiwanese Gourmet, Haymarket. Find “thunderously crunchy” Chinese doughnuts and other homestyle classics at this family-run institution. 

• Ame, Darlinghurst. The Ito chef’s next big restaurant is hitting an Oxford Street corner soon, with a Peruvian Japanese menu leaning into ceviche, sushi and anticuchos. 

• Scandi cardamom buns are baking all over town. These are Sydney’s best.