Six New Potts Point Venues for Gelato, Wine and Mexico City’s Hottest Tacos

You can count on Potts Point for an excellent meal, regardless of what you’re looking for. There’s the ever-excellent Teta’s and the laneway faithfuls Room Ten and Pina. Primary and Algorithm for caffeine. That heaving Paradise-Caravin-Piccolo corner, of course, and the restaurant stretch from Grape Garden to Ezra to Lady Chu to The Apollo to Cho Cho San to Fratelli Paradiso to Fei Jai. Phew.

Proving there’s room for more, the following six newcomers have arrived in 2011 this year. 

Taco & Vino

Gaonera tacos star at this moody new restaurant on leafy Kellett Street. The style – invented in 1968 at Mexico City’s Taqueria El Califa de Leon – is simple: paper-thin slices of beef kiss a grill before landing in a soft corn tortilla. Salt and lime on top, and you’re laughing. Here, the team from Chippendale’s vibey taqueria Radio Taco is using Aussie beef – grain-fed rib eye and Wagyu scotch fillets – and serving the tacos simply, as intended. Opt for the costra to add a layer of stretchy Oaxacan cheese. There’s a ripper tuna tostada too, and an easy-drinking red wine the team made in Adelaide.

La Buvette

The trio behind Bar Copains, Bessie’s and Vin-Cenzo’s have, by all accounts, opened another winner – this time a boozy little French spot on Challis Avenue. Book one of the nine bar seats wrapping the skinny little kitchen, or rock up for the spread of curbside seats for walk-ins only. Start with bites of choux piped till they’re plump with warm comté custard, then dine on classic bistro plates. Crème caramel in an eggcup to finish, maybe, or the choux pastry swan with its delicate, sweet white-choc wings. 

Two Spoons

Looking for scoops past midnight? All yours if you drop by this new gelateria, from 20-year-old student Lisa Yuan. It hit Darlinghurst Road with flavours like Snickers (crunchy with roasted peanuts and house-made peanut butter), a yoghurt-based raspberry cheesecake, and a few boozy options like Baileys, Aperol Spritz and bacio and rum. Expect gelato that’s thick and stretchy, but not too sweet, till late.

Full Proof

The only thing better than finding a good cup of coffee after 3pm is finding one that arrives accompanied by a deeply golden, fluffy, just-fried doughnut dusted in cinnamon sugar – that’s the foolproof formula behind this laneway spot from a mother-daughter duo. The rounds are made using a sourdough starter affectionately named Karen, and include classics (cinny, jam-filled numbers) and the more out-there (herby chicken salt). Everything’s made in-house, and word is cocktails are on the way – though you’re sorted with Allpress coffee till 7pm, five days a week.

Caravin Deux

This teeny wine haunt is a follow-up to the two-storey favourite just 180 metres away – and it leans a bit more casual. The walk-ins-only bar is moodily lit, with a wine fridge and open kitchen wrapping the walls. There are only a few spots to sit inside, with a collection of cherry red tables outside. The hot seat will be at the window, where the table extends inside and out. The curated wine list is complemented by cocktails, with the range of snacks joined by a mix of larger plates if you want to dine longer. Plus, find $14 Martinis and Negronis, $10 vinos and more during happy hour, four days a week.

Pasta Shop

This newcomer arrived in autumn, as exactly what it says on the tin: a shop for pasta. But among the carbs in question is the famed bowl of Spaghetti Machiavelli. The bowl of garlicky butter-slicked spaghetti is swirled with prawns, mushrooms and chilli – and it was the dish to order at now-closed CBD power dining room Machiavelli. The founder’s daughter leads this Potts Point kitchen, and in addition to the star dish you’ll find generous slices of traditional lasagne, fat tubes of rigatoni sauced up with a hot vodka sauce and a baked gnocchi dish. Plus, everything’s under $30 – mamma mia!

Additional reporting by Howard Chen, Ben Hansen and Callum McDermott.