What’s on around town

• Nab 30 per cent off your bill at Martinez, the CBD’s answer to the French Riviera. Book via the special link, then enjoy a happy slice off your bill for any dinners between Tuesday and Friday throughout July and August.

• Bookings are open at Postino Osteria, the breezy Italian joint coming to the old One Penny Red digs in Summer Hill.

• Danielle Alvarez is in the Two Good Co kitchen this month. The Darlinghurst cafe will serve her fiery tuna melt; a pumpkin and coconut soup with roti; and brown butter blondie till the end of July.

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• Shell House is bringing back The Hits, its eight-week pasta series. Each $25 serve is available for one week only, from Monday to Saturday, and there are $10 glasses of wine if you fancy too. This week it’s pappardelle bolognaise, and next is salsiccia conchiglioni.

• Sundays at Chiswick are going retro. On Sunday dinners until August 4, vintage vinyls will be spinning behind a rotating menu of classics – think beef Wellington and slow-cooked prime ribs. Book in from 6pm for the $60 two-course menu.

• Free lunch alert: The Char is teaming up with Maldon on a wintry chop salad. It’ll be on the menu throughout July, but on Saturday July 6 the first 100 are free. Head into the Bondi store from midday to grab your serve.

• Calling all Leos and Virgos: eat free on your birthday at Promenade Bondi Beach. All you have to do is dine with a table of four or more pals and pick a set menu (starting at $79 per person) – and the birthday babe eats free. Bookings essential.

• Extra! Extra! The Swill newsstand is popping up at Messina HQ in Marrickville. On Friday July 12 and Saturday July 13, the Swill Mag team will have all the issues, merch and strawberry highballs for happy sipping. Oltra will fire out slices, too.

• Thursdays at Rushcutters Italian joint Marta means a $33 bottomless menu. A selection of pizzas and pastas will hit the table until you’re all full.

• Yo-Chi is back with Tribute Tuesday, its initiative that sees hard-working members of the community acknowledged each week with free swirls of frozen yoghurt. On July 9, all aged care and disability workers can head in for a froyo on the house. Keep your eyes on the brand’s feed for who’s up next.

• Apollonia is now open on Sundays – and there’s 25 per cent off the bill until the end of August. A nice way to round out your weekend.

• Cho Cho San is celebrating a decade on Macleay Street by giving away a $1000 voucher. All you have to do is dine on the $95 banquet menu in July.

• To celebrate World Chocolate Day on Sunday July 7, Max Brenner is launching a jazzed-up vanilla slice. Choc puff pastry sandwiches a layer of both vanilla and, yes, chocolate custard.

• Winter staycay: check in at Crown Sydney between now and February 28, 2025, with the Table for Two offer to enjoy a night in a Harbour Bridge or Opera king room, $250 dining credit, bottle of bubbles on arrival and buffet brekkie the next day. Prices start at $799 per night.

What we covered this week

• The best bars 2024 has delivered (so far). There’s a newbie from an authority on tequila, a mid-century-modern saloon, and a piano bar that’s devoted to bivalves and bubbles.

• The Bentley Group’s CBD wine bar Monopole enters a swish new era. It’s now a French heavy-hitter with a duck burger and mille-feuille – both destined to become Sydney favourites.

• Now open: Kajiken, the Michelin-recommended noodle chain from Nagoya, is all about abura soba. The broth-less bowls bring chilli oil, rice vinegar and other condiments to the mix – and there are already queues down the street.

• First look: Ommi Don, an ex-Aria chef’s Taiwanese takeaway, opens number two in Redfern. Head in for plentiful don with house-made golden kimchi.

• Wedges with sour cream and chilli rule at 20 Chapel, Corey Costelloe’s fresh digs. Opening to a booked-out weekend, it’s driven by a team of friends with Rockpool cred.

• Sophie McComas-Williams can’t stop thinking about Domo 39’s sakana bento. The Japanese treasure box dish has her in a lunchtime chokehold, with its bed of koshihikari rice and dazzling array of grilled, fried and pickled toppings.

• Fresh tables: all the restaurant, bar and cafe openings we got excited about in June.

• Coming soon: a Sepia alum is heading up North Sydney’s new four-part dining precinct. The quartet will nod to dining in Los Angeles, Tokyo and Italy. And there’ll be a surprising new style of bakery.

You might've missed

• First look: at the too-cute Mogu Mogu. A married team joins in on Sydney’s major onigiri (Japanese rice balls) moment. Choose from 12 ready-to-go options – like nanko-ume plum with shiso or marinated onsen egg – plus a few flash made-to-order options.

• First look: one inner west brewery welcomes Fortune, an in-house pizzeria. The “neo-Neapolitan” pies are ideal alongside a schooner of Serpent’s Kiss – and for a limited time, there’s a free lager with a margherita on Fridays.

• At Lilium Lair in Brunswick Heads, a fourth-gen Italian chef (with Michelin cred) made a “heart choice”. The kitchen’s a family affair, it flits from day to night, and the wine’s from the team at Bar Heather.