March 29th, 2016 | by Lee Tran Lam | published in Favourites, Latest, Restaurants | 5 Comments »
So I’m still in a life-altered daze after eating at Noma Australia – even though my visit was a month ago. It might seem like wild overpraise to think that one meal could radically affect my oxygen levels and offer so many moments worth freeze-framing. But this isn’t a restaurant where plate after plate is […]
March 1st, 2016 | by Lee Tran Lam | published in Favourites, Latest, Restaurants | 1 Comment »
Ghostboy Cantina was one of the 2016 venue openings I was most wired about, and it’s proved to be worth the calendar countdown. Owner/chef Toby Wilson set himself a launch date of Chinese New Year, which meant he found himself dodging lion dancers and Chinatown crowds in setting up his Haymarket taqueria and, as you’d […]
January 24th, 2016 | by Lee Tran Lam | published in Latest, Restaurants | Leave A Comment »
2016 is more than just working out how much wriggle room you have with your New Year’s resolutions (all our good intentions will totally kick in tomorrow, right?), but a box-fresh January also means a year of new openings to look forward to. Here are some places to get excited about. –Toby Wilson’s “not shit” […]
December 31st, 2015 | by Lee Tran Lam | published in Favourites, Latest, Restaurants | Leave A Comment »
So I’m writing this literally hours before 2015 is about to wind up, so I hope you don’t mind if I do a little time-tripping via memory lane and drop some of my culinary highlights of 2015. One of the most-amped-up openings of the year was The Paddington in (non-spoiler alert) Paddington. Given that it […]
December 1st, 2015 | by Lee Tran Lam | published in Favourites, Latest, Restaurants | Leave A Comment »
Two Chaps in Marrickville is one of my favourite places for dinner right now. You’re given such an insanely generous amount of food that you wonder if the waiter might secretly be your grandmother – you know, the kind that sees empty plates as their arch-enemy. The set menu here is rustic, Italian and such […]
October 12th, 2015 | by Lee Tran Lam | published in Bars, Favourites, Latest, Restaurants | Leave A Comment »
The name Dead Ringer might evoke mirror images and carbon copies – so it’s ironic that this new Surry Hills bar is unlike anything else around in Sydney. But its one-of-a-kind impact is what makes it so great; and, like Automata, it’s one of my favourite places to open this year. Dead Ringer is by […]
September 29th, 2015 | by Lee Tran Lam | published in Favourites, Latest, Restaurants | Leave A Comment »
You’ve already seen the raves blowing up your Instagram screen. Automata may have only opened recently in Chippendale, but the restaurant is already straight-out-of-the gate awesome. It’s like an incredible time-lapse trick, the way Clayton Wells’ solo venture for The Old Clare Hotel has fast-tracked itself to greatness so quickly. My friend Shannon even announced […]
September 11th, 2015 | by Lee Tran Lam | published in Latest, Restaurants | Leave A Comment »
We walked into Rosso Antico Pizza Bar in Newtown with plenty of in-built enthusiasm – when Jamie Nimmo of The Stinking Bishops gives a place a good scorecard, you want to fast-track your visit there. (Not only did he rate it well – “Finally, some good pizza on Enmore Road” – but ended up staging three visits in one […]
August 3rd, 2015 | by Lee Tran Lam | published in Latest, Restaurants | 1 Comment »
Lotus Restaurant at The Galeries isn’t just a good spot for recovering from Muji-Browsing Fatigue, it’s a fine choice if you’re plain hungry, too. This 270-seater restaurant is the blockbuster-sized sequel to the tiny dumpling bar of the same name down at Walsh Bay, but doesn’t feel like a cynical franchise at all. In fact, […]
June 27th, 2015 | by Lee Tran Lam | published in Latest, Restaurants | 2 Comments »
Michael Rantissi has so many great ideas that he’s basically had to create a sequel to his much-loved Kepos Street Kitchen. Kepos & Co in Waterloo is his new spin-off: it recently opened footsteps away from the chef’s other restaurant. Both venues have flavour-vibrant menus evoking Mediterranean coastlines, but Kepos & Co takes a “more […]