Hot List Update: Darlinghurst’s Favourite One-Man Show Is Added

The Hot List is the definitive guide to Sydney’s most essential food and drink experiences, updated weekly. Learn more.

This week’s Hot List Activity

• Added: Joe’s Table
• Most trending restaurant: Neptune’s Grotto
• Most trending bar: Letra House
• Most trending cafe: Single O

Not your average Joe

It’s always sad when Sydney loses a beloved institution, but a silver lining is that we get to enjoy seeing what its alumni get up to next. Some of Sydney’s most iconic Thai restaurants like Darley Street Thai, Long Chim, Sailors and Longrain may have closed over the years, but their disciples now own and operate some of the city’s finest next-gen Thai diners. Like Annita Potter at Viand, or Narin Jack Kulasai over at Porkfat. They spent years collaborating in these kitchens, and now they’re managing their own teams.

And then there’s Joe Kitsana.

Kitsana worked as a chef at Longrain when it opened in 1999, and later moved on to Sailors. But unlike his contemporaries, when it came time to open his own place, he decided to go it alone. Like, seriously alone. As in, Kitsana cooked everything, cleaned everything, got every bill and took every booking. He wasn’t just front-of-house or back-of-house. He was just the house. It was 2016: Joe’s Table was born, and anyone who fell for Joe’s fell hard.

In late 2023, when Joe’s Table moved into a (slightly) bigger space, long-time lovers of Kitsana’s borderline performance art of cooking up excellent Southeast asian food while darting from table to table to clear plates were concerned. Would Joe’s lose its dinner party vibe? Would the new space look too nice? Would one extra employee – a kitchenhand – ruin the one-man show of it all?

No, nope and no way.

Joe’s Table is as Joe’s Table as it’s ever been and, if anything, the added seating capacity more than cancels out the help of an extra set of hands. The food – from those signature spring rolls to the garlic dumplings and a mind-boggling array of curries – is as great as ever. Even though sometimes you have to be a smidge patient in waiting for them (on the flip side, a meal here can really zip by super efficiently, it’s really a coin toss).

And it still, in spite of being next to William Street – the most uncharismatic stretch of road in inner Sydney – manages to have an immaculate vibe.
Joe’s Table may not be a one-man show anymore, but it still feels completely one of a kind. The first time you go to Joe’s, it’ll probably be for the novelty of watching one guy pull off every job involved in running a restaurant himself. Every time after that, though? You’ll be back for the food. And the vibe. And Joe.

broadsheet.com.au/hotlist/sydney
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