Now Open: Lucky Pickle, the Surry Hills Sandwich Shop With a Winning Chicken Katsu, Has Opened Its First Outpost in Pyrmont

In Pyrmont, a few blocks back from the water’s edge, weekday lunchers can sit outside and soak up the sun while they munch on well-crafted sandwiches. The new hangout is the second Lucky Pickle, the sandwich shop in Surry Hills known for its chicken katsu baguettes.

“The new courtyard is a huge, beautiful space, offset from the street completely,” owner Daniel Grieves, who took over Lucky Pickle in 2020, tells Broadsheet. “We share it with the vet next door.” (Meaning you’re likely to have pooches to pat while you wait.)

The menu is the same as at Surry Hills – a duo of staples joining a seasonal pair – which are also all available as bowls. As expected, the bestseller in Pyrmont is the chicken katsu, where fried chicken is layered with cabbage, sesame, mayo and a house-made tonkatsu sauce that blends Worcestershire and tomato. “It’s been on the menu since Surry Hills opened in 2013,” says Grieves. “It’s still easily the most popular. Because of its simplicity, you can eat it every day. It doesn’t punch you in the face with a thousand different flavours.”

Runner-up is the pork belly beauty: a duck-liver-pate-smeared roll topped with pork, lathered in mayo and sriracha, then stuffed with house-pickled carrot and daikon, and fresh cucumber. The current seasonal options bring a new take on the chicken katsu, where crispy chilli oil is added in for good measure, and a meatball sando complete with house-pickled onions and cucumbers. Experiments for spring and summer are underway.

The single menu newcomer is a salty-spicy serve of house-cut fries. The chippies are seasoned with shichimi togarashi, a blend of seven spices, orange peel and sesame. Alongside? A dollop of sriracha mayo. There are also plans to bake the bread on-site by October, if all things go well.

Like the food, the design of the Lucky Pickle’s Pyrmont outpost is simple: concrete floors, a wall of exposed brickwork framing the sandwich counter, and a few shelves to hold take-home jars of house-made pickles. The sunshine-soaked outdoor courtyard is paved and has seats and tables for around 20 people, separated from the street by a fence.

“I inspected a lot of properties [when searching for a second venue space],” says Grieves. “I’d never been to Pyrmont, and I was surprised. I love the area and the space.”

Lucky Pickle
52B Harris St, Pyrmont

Hours
Mon to Fri 10am–3pm

luckypickle.com.au
@luckypicklesydney