Sydney’s 10 dishes so far: comfort, joy, repeat

I am frozen by indecision whenever I get to this list. Or just anytime someone asks me what my favourite anything is. It depends! On so many things! The food, of course, but also setting, mood and company. For example, the mussels-topped omelette at Piqu was exceptional, made even better by chitchatting with a good friend as we slurped. The zingy shiso tomatoes at Amuro, with a post-work saké tasting flight. Primary’s silky einspanner at 7am, which I had after a sleepover with a mate.

All great. My favourite dish so far this year follows the same trend. It was pure comfort – memorable for taste and texture, but mostly because of how it made me feel. The following 10 dishes did the same thing for the Broadsheet team. Happy eating, Sydney. Lao osso bucco from Piqu, Newtown I’m not a huge stew fan, if I’m honest. But if your stew is a genius marriage of sticky Italian-style oxtail and Laotian or lam, and you load it up with a

whole tree of makrut lime leaves and a cricket pitch worth of dill? I will order two serves and eat the lot. A million points to chefs Jihwan Choi and Nicola D’Angela’s excellent cooking at this unassuming little pan-Asian paradise, and a billion more for the Vulfpeck playlist. – Alexandra Carlton, freelance contributor Tteokbokki from Kim’s Bop, Glebe How one man does it all I’ll never understand, but chef Byungjae Kim is doing it damn well. The best thing I ate this month was, hands

down, the tteokbokki at Kim’s Bop. My only complaint? It’s listed a side dish. I’m ordering that saucy plate as a main and calling it a day. Dare I say it: it’s the best tteokbokki I’ve ever had, and I’ve been to South Korea. – Gabriella Dolfo, sales and partnerships manager Pandan kaya chiffon from Fond Patisserie, Tallawong The pandan kaya chiffon cake at Fond Patisserie is built on an impossibly light, fragrant pandan sponge – grassy and floral rather than one-note sweet. Then it’s

finished with a lusciously light pandan cream, piped kaya and toasted coconut flakes. The chiffon holds its structure without drying out, truly a difficult balance at this level of lightness. What stands out is the precision: every layer tastes deliberate, like someone who grew up with these flavours decided to honour them with skilled technique. My slice disappeared before I registered the full range of flavour, and I’ve been thinking about it ever since. – Ismat Awan, freelance contributor Apple pie from Logan Brae Orchard,

Blackheath While an apple pie is a pretty humble best-thing-eaten-all-year, there’s a real science to these ones. The individually sized pies don’t have the baby-food-textured filling of a Macca’s number, or the heavy-handed sweetening you find in a pie trying to disguise tired apples. Logan Brae Orchard’s apples are outstanding, so bakers simply rough-chop them, toss them in sugar and cinnamon, wrap them in a no-frills crust, whack them in the oven and call it a day. In simplicity lies perfection. People travel for these

pies – and there’s nothing to do other than situate yourself in a spot with a view of the valley, slide your treat out of its paper bag and eat it carefully, trying not to burn your mouth. It’s just a pie and a view that makes you feel both small and part of something beautiful. And for those two things, I’d make the trek every day. – Pilar Mitchell, freelance contributor Wagyu steak from 20 Chapel, Marrickville It’s hardly a surprise Australia dominated in

a recent ranking of the world’s 101 best steak restaurants. At the same time, it’s easy to have beef with such lists. Surely ranking something as straightforward as steak is like splitting hairs? Out of sheer bloody curiosity, I visited number 59, Corey Costelloe’s 20 Chapel in Marrickville, for a vibe check. I don’t know what the distinction between 59 and one is, but holy cow. Blushing inside and perfectly charred out, that Wagyu stirred something primal inside me. The sides and condiments – grilled

corn puree with manchego, jalapeno hot sauce – were no afterthought either. Where there’s smoke, there’s fire. – Dan Cunningham, national food and drink editor Sticky-date pudding from The Bat & Ball, Redfern What if a dessert tasted like a hug? I’m convinced that’s the pitch that led to the creation of this excellent pub’s sticky-date pud. And look, this is not your nanna’s sticky date (no offense, grandma) – it’s served swimming in miso butterscotch sauce with a daisy chain drizzle of custard. Naturally,

it’s topped with a maraschino cherry, because no one does retro kitsch with as much aplomb as the B&B team. I’ll take 10, and a thermos full of the sauce to-go. – Lucy Bell Bird, national assistant editor Granita with mascarpone soft serve from Mapo, Darlinghurst My life has become a whole heap better since Mapo Gelato arrived on Oxford Street. Not just for the one-scoop, two-flavour cones of gelato, but for the newest addition: granita. The flavours shift with the seasons, and I still

think about the ice-cold nectarine granita I ate standing on the footpath on a summer’s afternoon. But granita is not just for summer. Not at all. Almond. Watermelon and lime. Raspberry. Espresso. Honestly, they’re all good. No, excellent. Especially with the mascarpone soft serve on top – optional, but mandatory in my books. Granita – for rain, hail or shine. – Gemma Plunkett, freelance contributor Rockmelon Negroni from Bar Bruno, CBD I’m in my slow-sipping era, and the Rockmelon Negroni at Bar Bruno has a

very firm grip on me. Instead of that classic, bitter Negroni punch, it’s a soft, sun-drenched mix of juicy rockmelon, olive leaf-infused gin, a house vermouth and a lovely lone olive. It’s the perfect sweet’n’salty situation, and I added it to my favourites immediately. So clever, so smooth and exactly how I want to feel for the rest of 2026. – Lucy Christopher, freelance contributor Prawn toast from Tam Jiak, Sydney Fish Market I didn’t think prawn toast could surprise me, but then I met

Tam Jiak’s. It lands like a standard half-square pocket – crisp sandwich bread sealed around a springy prawn mousse filling, with salted duck egg butter on the side. It’s up to you how much you swipe on, but I recommend going heavy. A thick smear of the golden, lightly orange butter brings you a grainy texture from preserved duck eggs, where the yolks are traditionally cured in either brine or charcoal. The flavour is funky, sitting perfectly alongside the light grease of the fried bread.

Don’t order it to share. – Bineeta Saha, freelance contributor Seven-vegetable juk from Bonjuk, Haymarket This bowl of juk – Korean rice porridge, at a new Chinatown destination – is the closest I’ve ever come to understanding the “hug in a bowl” metaphor. Cliched, yes, but the only description that’s going to work. The texture is slightly soupy, very silky, the white grains of rice still intact. They’re flecked with potato, onion, carrot, zucchini, broccoli and mushroom, all of it topped with little piles of

crushed seaweed and toasty sesame seeds. I was having a day and then this big bowl came along, hedged by fresh kimchi and a vinegary chilli paste, and brought me right back. It’d cure anything I reckon, from tummy stuff to the winter sads and fresh heartbreak. – Grace MacKenzie, Sydney food and drink editor

Sydney food, 2026, Piqu, Kim’s Bop, Fond Patisserie, Logan Brae Orchard, 20 Chapel, The Bat & Ball, Mapo Gelato, Bar Bruno, Tam Jiak, Bonjuk, tteokbokki, granita, sticky-date pudding, prawn toast