It can be expensive eating in the Sydney CBD. If you’re travelling through Sydney and are spending time in the city, but don’t want to have to eat greasy food court fare, here are some of my favourite cheap and stylish places to eat within walking distance of Pitt Street Mall.
I didn’t intend for them to all be asian, but that’s how it worked out (the bonus for me is that this makes it easy to avoid gluten!)
If you are in that part of Sydney known as the Inner West, these are some of my favourite places to eat. Go on… make a day of it.
Cornersmith
Illawarra Road, Marrickville
A simple menu of poached eggs on toast and ploughman platters that changes depending on what seasonal produce is available. Every time I eat something from Cornersmith, I find myself going home and trying to recreate it – beetroot pickle, pear and ricotta muffins, and quince and clove ice cream. I think that’s the best compliment I can give this place – the food inspires you to create and to keep eating well. Try to ignore the hipsters.
Bourke Street Bakery
Mitchell Street (off Victoria Road), Marrickville
More laid back and less crowded than the Surry Hills original. They have different breads on different days, which encourages our household to mix up our bread buying routine. My favourite take home treat is the sour cherry and fennel bread.
Addison Road Organic Food Market, Sundays - 8am-3pm
Addison Road, Marrickville
Great chai. I have a friend who makes a breakfast gozleme here a weekend ritual. My favourite thing to do is to get a delicious fruit ice block or the really fresh corn fritters and sit on the grass and watch the miniature horse rides.
PHD Vietnamese Restaurant
Illawarra Road, Marrickville
Considered by most to be the best Vietnamese restaurant on this strip. Especially the Pho. I’m rating Queyen Restaurant next door lately, too - great vermicelli rice noodle salads.
Zhenghao Restaurant
Enmore Road, Enmore
The only place so far in the Inner West where I’ve found xiao long bao. The fried lamb dumplings are really just incredibly good.
Black Star Pastry
Australia Street, Newtown
This is where you go in Sydney when you want to buy someone a birthday cake, okay? This one had sugar balls, roses, figs, quince and pistachios on top. That many toppings on a cake is just pure decadence.
Everleigh Farmers’ Market, Saturdays - 8am-1pm
Carriageworks, Wilson Street, Everleigh
You can eat for free here with all the different tastings on offer. Don’t be shy. The smoked trout with pickled red onion is my favourite. You will meet all the dogs and see all the flowers. It’s that kind of market.
Big Brekky
Stanmore Road, Petersham
Their french toast is so big I have nicknamed it cake toast. Great corn fritters and a fantastic big breakfast that has merquez sausages, potato gratin and a pear relish that I just want to order as a side on everything.
This summer is going to be the summer I go swimming. My reluctance to get in the water probably has something to do with the fact that I’m not a very strong swimmer, but I’ve been thinking about going to adult swim classes, and Gordon’s Bay is a very sheltered bay that is great for snorkling. Maybe all I need is a snorkle and some flippers.
I signed up with an SCA style vegetable box scheme last week with food connect. I’m getting really sick of my erratic cooking patterns, and thought this might be a good way to get into a good routine while also eating lots of delicious things. I have been really craving vegetables lately, and am excited at the prospect of having a selection of seasonal, but otherwise potentially random vegetables delivered to me once a fortnight, and then being challenged to make delicious meals out of them.
So the next month or so will probably be an ode to vegetables. My blog is going to be rather foodie for a short while… but at least I’ll be updating!
In my first box on Monday I get chinese broccoli and beetroot. I love beetroot: in cream, in vinegar, in chocolate cake (!) … grated, roasted, or pureed. I love how red it makes your hands and fingers when you cut it and how versatile it is. But I have never made a beetroot soup or a beetroot rissotto. So I am looking forward to making one or the other this week, depending on how I feel.
It feels so good to be cooking a lot recently. I didn’t cook for a year, and now that I am back to a normal, healthy routine that makes me feel good and nourishes me, I’m finally starting to feel like myself again.
On Saturday evening Dave and went to Coogee and walked from there around the cliffs to Clovelly. There are few things I like better than scrabbling up and over rocks, and I haven’t done it in a long, long time. We stopped for a while at Gordons Bay, looked at crabs scuttling away from us in every direction, and took photos. By the time we were finished, the sun on the water was low and silver.
It was a lovely day.
Next time I will go swimming.
