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I Can’t Stop Thinking About

Where we recognise the dishes that drive us crazy, in the best possible way.

Ever eaten something – a sandwich, a bowl of ramen or a piece of fried chicken, say – and spent the next few weeks fantasising about when you can do it again? Yeah, us too. That’s why we started “I Can’t Stop Thinking About”, a series that lets us rhapsodise about our favourites in great detail. We’re not being lead by cuisine, price or anything else. The only prerequisite is that each dish (or drink) is wedged firmly in our hearts and minds.

I Can’t Stop Thinking About: Firepop’s Olive-Oil-Splashed Panna Cotta

I Can’t Stop Thinking About: Firepop’s Olive-Oil-Splashed Panna Cotta

Whether you’re a panna cotta sceptic or swear you’re truly too full to consider dessert, this restorative meal-ender will emphatically change your mind, writes Lee Tran Lam.

I Can’t Stop Thinking About: Bistro Grenier’s Maple Syrup Pudding

I Can’t Stop Thinking About: Bistro Grenier’s Maple Syrup Pudding

This baked-to-order, sticky, deeply caramelised dessert is an “untouchable” menu item – for good reason.

I Can’t Stop Thinking About: Ante’s Tagliatelle With Fermented Shiitake Mushrooms

I Can’t Stop Thinking About: Ante’s Tagliatelle With Fermented Shiitake Mushrooms

Danielle Alvarez says order two. We say order extra bread to mop up the sauce. Whatever you do, don’t sleep on this essential Sydney dish – it’s an umami masterclass that goes ridiculously well with sake.

I Can’t Stop Thinking About: Park Bong Sook’s Seafood Pancake Is Crisp, Tangy and Unlike Any Other

I Can’t Stop Thinking About: Park Bong Sook’s Seafood Pancake Is Crisp, Tangy and Unlike Any Other

Broadsheet’s Howard Chen grew up on pancakes, but when he first tried Korean haemul pajeon, it was both familiar and foreign. He became an instant fan – then found Sydney’s best.

I Can’t Stop Thinking About: The Ludicrously Large $17 Lasagne at The Bat & Ball Hotel

I Can’t Stop Thinking About: The Ludicrously Large $17 Lasagne at The Bat & Ball Hotel

There’s a maximum of 144 lasagne slices available in Redfern each night. And if you manage to get your hands on one of those saucy slabs, you’ll never be able to look at a pub schnitty the same way again.

I Can’t Stop Thinking About: Kariton’s Scoop of Turon Gelato

I Can’t Stop Thinking About: Kariton’s Scoop of Turon Gelato

A dessert of champagne-coloured swirls laced with chunks of jackfruit and citrusy saba banana, with crunchy fried pastry atop, took one Broadsheet writer back in time.

I Can’t Stop Thinking About: This Laksa Lemak, My Favourite Lunch for 15 Years

I Can’t Stop Thinking About: This Laksa Lemak, My Favourite Lunch for 15 Years

Malay Chinese Noodle Bar’s family recipe has remained unchanged since 1987. It’s creamy, but not heavy. Spicy, but not fiery. Savoury, sweet, complex – perfect.

I Can’t Stop Thinking About: Domo 39’s Sakana Bento, a Seafood Odyssey of a Lunch in St Peters

I Can’t Stop Thinking About: Domo 39’s Sakana Bento, a Seafood Odyssey of a Lunch in St Peters

The Japanese treasure box dish has one Sydneysider in a lunchtime chokehold, with its bed of koshihikari rice and a dazzling array of grilled, fried and pickled toppings.

I Can’t Stop Thinking About: Soul Dining’s Clay-Pot Rice With Toothfish

I Can’t Stop Thinking About: Soul Dining’s Clay-Pot Rice With Toothfish

The buttery grains of koshihikari rice are glossy and perfectly level in the black clay pot, where a juicy piece of crisp-skinned fish – piled with trout roe – sits on top. And Broadsheet writer Pilar Mitchell’s dreamt about it since she first ate it.

I Can’t Stop Thinking About: Cut Lunch Deli’s Otherworldly Bacon, Egg and Cheese Sanga

I Can’t Stop Thinking About: Cut Lunch Deli’s Otherworldly Bacon, Egg and Cheese Sanga

As a usual B&E avoider, this sandwich shop’s take on the morning staple caught me by surprise. Confirming: it took me to breakfast-sandwich heaven.

I Can’t Stop Thinking About: Poly’s Smoked Beetroot, Fried Garlic and Labneh

I Can’t Stop Thinking About: Poly’s Smoked Beetroot, Fried Garlic and Labneh

This is pure vegetable alchemy, transforming the limp, floppy thing found in fish’n’chip shop burgers into something totally different and unexpected. The fire-powered process takes 48 hours but, for this obsessed Broadsheet editor, it’s absolutely worth it.

Ten Chefs and Restaurateurs on the One Sydney Dish They Can’t Stop Thinking About

Ten Chefs and Restaurateurs on the One Sydney Dish They Can’t Stop Thinking About

The pie Kylie Kwong says is an exemplar of comfort and technical knowhow. A clam dish Peter Gilmore reckons is sensational. The bibimbap O Tama Carey “loves, craves and always wants to eat”. And the home-style soup that envelops Lennox Hastie like a hug.

I Can’t Stop Thinking About: AP Bakery’s Aleppo Pepper and Asiago Scroll

I Can’t Stop Thinking About: AP Bakery’s Aleppo Pepper and Asiago Scroll

It may have come out of left field, but the infatuation was instant following my incidental dalliance with the delightful pastry disc. The pepper invigorates the tastebuds, as all good chilli should, but it’s a mellow jab rather than a powerful right hook. And let’s just say I’m not above using my tongue to hoover up any rogue sesame seeds.

I Can’t Stop Thinking About: Poor Toms’ Negroni Australiano

I Can’t Stop Thinking About: Poor Toms’ Negroni Australiano

Orange, ice and no need to be precise – that’s all this ready-to-pour all-Aussie Negroni calls for. It’s bang-on. And after cracking my first bottle, one led to another, which led to me Negroaning at my desk the next morning.

I Can’t Stop Thinking About Westwood’s Fermented-Garlic Honey Pizza

I Can’t Stop Thinking About Westwood’s Fermented-Garlic Honey Pizza

This savoury-sweet pie is the Newtown pizzeria’s pizza de resistance (sorry).

I Can’t Stop Thinking About: Jovi’s DIY Cheeseburger

I Can’t Stop Thinking About: Jovi’s DIY Cheeseburger

Boost your joy quota during this seemingly never-ending locky d by getting your mouth around one of these immensely excellent and juicy cook-and-eat burgs by one of Sydney’s best burger makers. (Bonus: it takes less than 15 minutes to make).

I Can’t Stop Thinking About: Pina’s Egg-and-Sausage Roll

I Can’t Stop Thinking About: Pina’s Egg-and-Sausage Roll

The hefty breakfast burger comes on a soft bun smeared with aioli, a wide-load, beef patty that’s draped with melted cheeseburger cheese and topped with a runny fried egg. Bring it on (and pass me a serviette).

I Can’t Stop Thinking About: Small Talk’s Focaccia

I Can’t Stop Thinking About: Small Talk’s Focaccia

This isn’t a focaccia for sandwiches or one with fancy toppings. To paraphrase Bridget Jones’s Mark Darcy: I like it very much. Just as it is.

I Can’t Stop Thinking About: Restaurant Leo’s Cauliflower Gratin

I Can’t Stop Thinking About: Restaurant Leo’s Cauliflower Gratin

Dig a spoon in this gooey, two-cheese dish and tentacles emerge, stretching as if resisting its final destination (my mouth). Bad luck, amazing, delicious dish – you’re all mine.

I Can’t Stop Thinking About: Three Blue Ducks’ House-Made Vegemite

I Can’t Stop Thinking About: Three Blue Ducks’ House-Made Vegemite

I decided it was time to break my silence on the fond relationship I’ve formed with a cafe-made Vegemite spread because in these crappy Covid times, it’s an inexpensive, easy-to-obtain comfort food people need to know about – and you don’t even need to leave the house to get it.

I Can’t Stop Thinking About: Alex ‘N’ Rolls Pork Banh Mi

I Can’t Stop Thinking About: Alex ‘N’ Rolls Pork Banh Mi

The owners of this inner-west hole-in-the-wall begin preparing its succulent pork at 3am each morning. Their banh mi has been compared to one in Vietnam that Anthony Bourdain called the best in the world. I reckon it’s better.

I Can’t Stop Thinking About: Totti’s Woodfired Bread

I Can’t Stop Thinking About: Totti’s Woodfired Bread

This puffy creation offers diners a delicious choose-your-own adventure – and leaves this fan with no choice but to stab it.

I Can’t Stop Thinking About: Jilat Jilat’s Malaysian Chicken Curry Pie

I Can’t Stop Thinking About: Jilat Jilat’s Malaysian Chicken Curry Pie

The pastry is extravagantly buttery and the filling is a delightful umami bomb – and then there’s the chicken-gravy dipping sauce. (And don’t even get us started on its structural integrity.)

I Can’t Stop Thinking About: The Chicken Parma at The Unicorn Hotel

I Can’t Stop Thinking About: The Chicken Parma at The Unicorn Hotel

A crisp chook disc slathered in sauce, ham and cheese that makes losing at trivia bearable.

I Can’t Stop Thinking About: Marta’s Bianca e Mortadella

I Can’t Stop Thinking About: Marta’s Bianca e Mortadella

Mortadella, folded within a hunk of woodfired bread and splashed with olive oil. Whoomph.

I Can’t Stop Thinking About: Flour and Stone’s Spanakopita

I Can’t Stop Thinking About: Flour and Stone’s Spanakopita

Unlike the spanakopita I make at home, this limited-edition Greek vegetarian pie is (incred)-edible.

I Can't Stop Thinking About: Nour's Baalbek Fried Eggs

I Can't Stop Thinking About: Nour's Baalbek Fried Eggs

This runny egg dish is shaking up brunch one perfect mouthful at a time.

I Can’t Stop Thinking About: The Lasagne at Gardener’s Lodge

I Can’t Stop Thinking About: The Lasagne at Gardener’s Lodge

Like the lasagnes of my childhood, but better.

I Can’t Stop Thinking About: The Vegan Burger at Mary’s Circular Quay

I Can’t Stop Thinking About: The Vegan Burger at Mary’s Circular Quay

It’s a rock’n’roll junk food experience that’s as satisfying as an act of teenage rebellion.

I Can’t Stop Thinking About: Ramen Goku’s Yasai Ramen With Kelp Stock

I Can’t Stop Thinking About: Ramen Goku’s Yasai Ramen With Kelp Stock

This bowl of noods is a big boy, and only $14.90, people.

I Can’t Stop Thinking About: Lankan Filling Station’s Toasted Godamba Roti

I Can’t Stop Thinking About: Lankan Filling Station’s Toasted Godamba Roti

This Sri Lankan melted-cheese roti is sticking it to boring Sydney brunches.

I Can't Stop Thinking About: Alberto Lounge's Trippa Alla Romana

I Can't Stop Thinking About: Alberto Lounge's Trippa Alla Romana

I can’t believe it’s not butter chicken.

I Can’t Stop Thinking About: Don Peppino’s Garlic Bread

I Can’t Stop Thinking About: Don Peppino’s Garlic Bread

If garlic bread is considered daggy then take me to Daggy Town.

I Can’t Stop Thinking About: Penny’s Cheese Shop’s Grilled-Cheese Toastie

I Can’t Stop Thinking About: Penny’s Cheese Shop’s Grilled-Cheese Toastie

We’re calling it – this is Sydney’s best toastie.

Other Series

At Home: Cook

At Home: Cook

World Class Content 2017

World Class Content 2017

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