When Did Glebe Point Road Get This Good?
Words by Grace Mackenzie · Updated on 20 Apr 2026 · Published on 20 Apr 2026
On the outskirts of Sydney’s inner west, Glebe sits with waterfront green spaces on one side and Parramatta Road on the other. The Sydney University grounds sidle up to its perimeter too, and UTS is a short walk away. It’s readily connected to the CBD and Newtown, and close to major arteries taking you across the bridge, south and west. Locals are from all walks of life – there’s a strong arty energy and a mix of students from Australia and abroad. Social housing is as prominent as million-dollar-plus terraces, and there are lots of young families. So why hasn’t its dining scene kept up with the buzz of its surrounds?
Glebe Point Road is lined with reliable, long-running spots: the cherished Sappho Books, Cafe and Bar, along with The Wedge, Dirty Red, Glebe Point Diner and The Little Guy. There are takeaway-geared eateries serving Japanese, Colombian, Thai, Pakistani, Vietnamese and Mexican. But despite all this, the street has remained quieter than its inner-west neighbours.
Bars haven’t bred like they have in Enmore, and new additions haven’t been coming hard and fast like in Newtown and Marrickville – until now.
Take a walk up the 1.9-kilometre main drag and you’ll see “Just Leased” stickers slapped across empty shopfronts and builders working on fit-outs. In the last year, the stretch has welcomed an exciting roll of new venues, all independently run by passionate people. Dumpling grocers, Korean canteens and Thai-Japanese matcha cafes – and more than one reinvention of a historic space.
Here, the newcomers fuelling the area’s comeback share why they hit go on Glebe Point Road.
Dumps World
Self-taught cook Dee Zhang found a home for her funky dumplings, heat-and-eat noodles and nourishing “post-babes” meals at the midway point of Glebe Point Road. Dumps opened in early February, a few metres from fruit and veg favourite Galuzzo’s.
“We chose this spot because it’s next to Galuzzo’s and Sonoma and Foodworks,” she says, also noting it’s close to her home in Ultimo. “This little spot is feeding the community. Glebe was kind of dying … but we want to bring the vibes back. People [walk] past, snooping their head in, ‘What’s going on here? What are you guys?’”
In the two months since, Zhang’s dumps – in flavours that reflect the inner west’s multiculturalism – have caused a stir in the neighbourhood, regularly selling out. And she has a program of creative workshops, dumpling masterclasses, guest-chef nights and more in the works.
Brune Bakery
By comparison, the couple behind new French bakery Brune travel 30 minutes each way from south-west Sydney.
Estelle Brunet and Daniel Le taught themselves how to make classic buttery croissants as good as those in Brunet’s French hometown of La Rochelle, as a way to carve out time together while their newborn baby slept. A successful market stall followed and then the hunt for a permanent space.
“We looked for six months in our area and couldn’t find anything that matched exactly what we wanted. And then we find this spot and we liked it, and the market is very nice – Glebe Market is amazing,” Brunet says. “We love the Glebe locals. We are from Revesby, and here, in my head, felt like it’s a city, it’s big – but it’s not. It’s like a little town. I know all the locals now, they’ve been here forever.”
Jamaican Patty Bakehouse
Another new bakery on the strip is Jamaican Patty Bakehouse. Chris Skuce moved onto Glebe Point Road in the backend of 2025, bringing his sunshine-yellow Jamaican patties with him. He laminates the crumbly pastry with 27 layers of butter, then fills it with a deeply savoury, fiery beef recipe, passed down from his grandfather. Or maybe a jerk-style chicken, or coconutty, meat-free Jamaican curry.
“[Glebe’s] an eclectic area where I thought [Jamaican patties] would be embraced, cos it’s basically unknown in Australia,” he says. “It’s a bit bohemian, and accepting. That was my main reason why I chose it. Plus, it’s central. It’s not specific to one food group – it’s quite diverse. You’re not out on a limb competing with 10 shops doing the thing that people go to that area for. Plus, I managed to get a good deal from the landlord.”
Pre-Covid, Glebe Point Road hummed with a lot more energy. “It’s a complete... change to that. But we’re starting to drag a few more people in. I’m a specialist, it’s one item. So they come to me, they’ll buy a drink from the Colombian guy next door – the more of us here the better.”
Kim’s Bop
For the last month, Byungjae Kim and Emily Tarran have been serving homestyle Korean dishes in a skinny slice of the street closer to the water. He’s running the one-man kitchen, she’s running the floor – and they’ve already got regulars.
“We were originally looking at Marrickville, because we already had a customer base [from our market days]. But we just couldn’t find something that was affordable,” Tarran says. “[Glebe’s] shocked us in such a good way. It was a risk, cos we didn’t really know Glebe. What we’ve learnt is that it’s very community orientated. Everyone’s very proud, and they want to support the local businesses. Even if they haven’t come in to try our food – we’ve had so many people just pop their head in and say, ‘Oh, I’ve seen you’ve just opened, good luck’.”
They’ve had a steady stream of locals who’ve lived in the area for decades and visitors who’ve wandered up the hill after deciding the flash new fish market was too busy. Plus, a growing base of students and tradies. All settling in for house-made kimchis, bouncy perilla seed noodles and bibimbap with punchy Korean miso.
“It’s rare to see this amount of diversity, in all different aspects, co-existing in this sort of ecosystem,” Tarran says. “It’s so amazing. The diversity and quality of food, it’s helped us to be able to open. People have a taste for all these different flavours because of what is already here.”
Mamuki
Proving there’s appetite in the area for a cafe, the new Mamuki outpost is regularly at capacity. Panidtha Saard’s Enmore Road cafe nearby is known for its lengthy and varied matcha menu – which spans traditional, fizzy, coconut-water-based and extremely photogenic pours. That’s what’s in store here too, just off Parramatta Road.
With a green striped awning, a sage-green double door and two huge windows looking onto the street, the shop is a study in Wes Anderson symmetry. When Broadsheet’s Lucy Bell Bird visited, groups of people ordered matcha clouds, “soft matcha”, matcha yuzu fizz and matcha with fresh orange – and there was only one table free.
“I strike up a conversation with the girl next to me who moved to Sydney from Taiwan a few weeks ago,” Bell Bird wrote. “[She] is already on her second visit to Mamuki. Whoever said it was hard to meet people in Sydney clearly hasn’t spent an hour in this pocket of zen.”
Goode Manors
Badde Manors was a Glebe institution. Opening in 1982, it quickly became a hangout for locals, artists and students alike – and was a massive contributor to Sydney’s cafe culture. It was pure charm: sun-yellow facade and hand-tiled floor pieces, winding interiors with wooden booth seating and a fireplace. The all-vegetarian menu had Hungarian influences, the heritage of its owners Robert Sebes and Judy Backhouse. The pair sold it in 2004, and then it closed in 2025 – but on Friday April 17, brothers Nectar and Andrew Malanos reopened it as Goode Manors.
A lot of the charm remains (the bright facade, the layout and the arty details), but it’s no longer vegetarian. Taking on a local icon requires conviction and tenacity – but it’s also a vote of confidence for the area.
Darling Glebe
Darling Mills was a pioneering farm-to-table fine diner in the ’90s, with produce supplied by the owners’ own Darling Mills Farm. Now, the subterranean sandstone space is Darling Glebe, a brasserie captained by chef-owner Jeff Schroeter (The Savoy London, Royalton Hotel New York, Bistro Moncur, Bayswater Brasserie).
The restaurant fit-out embraces the site’s history, retaining the original convict-chipped sandstone and vaulted ceilings while adding heavy velvet drapes and a Martini bar.
“We want to honour it for what it is,” Schroeter says. “A culinary icon of the city’s hospitality industry … Welcome back those who loved it then and invite a new generation to fall in love with its spirit now.”
About the author
Grace MacKenzie is Broadsheet Sydney’s food and drink editor.
MORE FROM BROADSHEET
VIDEOS
04:33
Five Minutes With Doom Juice, the Slightly Satanic Sydney Wine Label
01:00
The Art of Service: There's Something for Everyone at Moon Mart
02:18
Revving for Ramen: How Sydney's Rising Sun Workshop Fuels Connection Through Food
More Guides
RECIPES
