Snack Bar: A Jumbo Cinnamon Scroll Hits an Inner West Bakery and More Sydney Food News

Published every Thursday, Snack Bar is your bite-sized guide to everything happening in Sydney food and drink, including new menus, events, pop-ups and special offers. Plus, we round up every new restaurant, bar and cafe we covered over the previous seven days.

What’s on around town

• Martha’s is the bakery that hit teeny inner west suburb Wareemba one year ago – and it’s celebrating its first birthday with a limited-edition jumbo version of its ever-popular cinnamon scroll. The beauties are available to pre-order now, for delivery from September 23 onwards.

• Crown Street’s Nour is celebrating its tenth birthday this month, with a menu dedicated to the best dishes of the last decade – and curated by exec chef Ibrahim Kasif. Expect Ben Williamson’s falafel crumpet with a soft-boiled egg, and Paul Farag’s woodfired coconut basbousa. Till September 13, bookings encouraged.

• Bourke Street Bakery has added a slow-cooked goat pie to its menu, with all proceeds raised from the baked good donated to the Red Cross, to support relief efforts in Nepal following the recent floods and landslides. Available until sold out.

• Olympic Meats is collaborating with Grifter, releasing a Hellenic-style lager to celebrate Marrickville’s Greek roots. Olympic Beer will be exclusively pouring at both the dining room and the brewery, after a gyros-fuelled launch party at Grifter on Sunday September 20. From midday till 3pm or sold out, walk-ins only.

• Mucho Tequila & Mezcal Festival takes over Centro 86 on Sunday September 13. Head down the stairs for three hours of tastings, with more than 30 producers from across Mexico being poured by agave pros. Plus, $13 Margs, $10 Palomas and $8 beers. Free entry, 3pm till 7pm. 

• 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.

• Newcastle’s Merewether Surfhouse is set to become Merewether Pavilion. The team behind Burleigh Pavilion, Terrigal Pavilion and The Tropic have got the keys, and will be trading as is until the new year – before a “significant” renovation.

• Good Measure pops up in two Sydney venues. Find the Melbourne cafe-wine bar’s signature Mont Blancs at Single O in Surry Hills on Sunday September 13, from 8am till 3pm. Then, swing by Enmore’s Bar Demo from 1pm on Monday September 14 for the team’s specialty pours and McMeasure Muffins while vinyl spins.

• Vin-Cenzo’s is hosting a Darlinghurst block party to celebrate its first birthday. On Sunday September 20, Melbourne institution Tipo 00 will be collaborating in the kitchen, and Giorgio De Maria is on wine duty. Book quick for the lunch service, or arrive from 3pm for the snackier block party.

• Ragazzi’s got a few spring menu newcomers to know about: a green pea maltagliati (silky lasagne-sheet-style pasta), a sardine mafaldine stuffed with currants, and an artichoke, honey and ricotta ravioli. Bookings encouraged.

What we covered this week

• Seven new Sydney spots for lunch under $20, including a rump steak with fries, Thai rice bowls in the CBD and a few good-looking sandwiches.

• Kiddo Coffee, Surry Hills. Hong Kong coffee culture meets Thai heritage at this new Sydney cafe, where you’ll find extravagant drinks and pineapple buns.

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

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

• Coming soon: 15 new Sydney restaurants, bars and bakeries to look forward to in spring.

• 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.

 You might’ve missed

• House of Suns, Springwood. This roadside microbakery in the bush pops up one morning each week with caramel layer cakes, passionfruit alfajores and more filling its sunny yellow shelves 

• L’Massif Cave, Surry Hills. This new natural wine bar is inspired by the standing bars of Tokyo and the small team’s appreciation of natural drops. Pop in and pick your colour, then let them do the rest.

• Six new Potts Point venues for gelato, wine, Mexico City’s hottest tacos and the return of a Sydney-famous spaghetti.