Carla Grossetti

Whether your pick is a fiery laksa with plump prawns and honeycomb-like tofu, nasi lemak with coconut rice, funky sambol and crispy anchovies, tender and comforting Hainanese chicken rice or hot AF chilli crab, Malaysian food has got it going on. Time Out Sydney's critics, including Food & Drink Editor Avril Treasure, have slurped (and scooped) their way around town – and here's where to get your roti on, Sydney-style. Want more? Check out the most delicious Indonesian restaurants in Sydney. After a bargain bite to eat? Here are the best cheap eats in Sydney. Or if you just need a drink, these are Sydney's coolest bars.

Poetica skews primal – you realise it as soon as you walk into the airy dining room and see all the meat and seafood in the glass-fronted dry-aging cabinet. It's clear from the get go: vegos, this isn't one for you. Pairing the protein with some old-fashioned funk from fermented and pickled vegetables is also one of the North Sydney restaurant’s hallmarks. Both speak to Connor Hartley-Simpson’s experience: as head chef at the two Michelin-starred Gastrologik in Stockholm, three Michelin-starred Quince in San Francisco and The Charles Grand Brasserie & Bar, in Sydney. Here, Hartley-Simpson takes the unpretentious idea of pairing woodfired meat and seafood with pickles and runs with it. The overarching idea for the newish bar and grill by hospitality group Etymon Projects was for the hearth to be at the heart of it. The open kitchen is an integral part of the space and the woodfired oven and Josper grill the focal point. The theatre of the flames and glowing embers grab our attention throughout the meal. But our focus also regularly shifts to the chefs cooking food over an open flame. Or laying a piece of fish over the grill. There’s also an adjoining 40-seat bar that opens out to its own covered terrace. The cosy alcove is all baby blue and steel hues with a focus on stone and copper accents. It has its own dedicated menu of moreish morsels like fried olives with goat’s cheese, spiced pork crackling and Poetica’s signature fries. Start your evening here with a Poetica Martini:

The rainbow freedom flags festooned around the terrace at The Waratah remind those visiting Sydney for its annual Mardi Gras that they will be warmly welcomed here. The newly renovated bar is just a few feather boa lengths from the main parade route, where revellers take to the streets each year to celebrate gay pride.  But it’s not just the LGBTQI+ community The Waratah pays its respects to. The menu reads like a love letter to Australian producers, with multiple pages of its menu dedicated to a revolving list of hero producers that change with the seasons. The two-storey terrace has been given a very careful nip and tuck that is in line with its 1950s heritage. It’s the first venue for Pollen Hospitality co-founders Cynthia Litster and Evan Stroeve (Australian Bartender of the year 2021 and ex-Bulletin Place, The Baxter Inn, Re and Shady Pines), who already have their eye on a second venue in the CBD. A table on the terrace at The ’Tah, as it’s affectionately known, is considered prime real estate for people-watching long after the last of Mardi Gras’ dancing queens have dispersed. The Waratah’s proximity to St Vincent’s Hospital makes it a popular place for emergency responders and medics to meet up after work. Oxford St and the Australian Museum are also nearby and both are brimming with tourists, who make up a major part of Darlinghurst’s colourful fabric. The striking space designed by Farago Han Studio (Atlas Bar, Singapore; Time Hotel, New York) features everything fr

Hatch at Humphrey’s Hotel in Sydney’s Hurstville is not exactly a secret. It’s been open since December 2023. But the pub at One Hurstville Plaza has quickly been embraced by denizens of the suburb as its new community hub. Although there is a dizzying number of restaurants nearby, the 350-seat venue feels a bit like a playground where you can choose your own adventure. You can carve off to Humphrey’s, the all-weather terrace and sports bar that has capacity for 220. Or you can frock up for a fine dining experience at Hatch, which has space for 60 inside the elegant dining room, and 22 on the terrace. There’s also a swish private area that seats up to 20 people. Third-generation hospitality hotshot Mitchell Waugh of Public Hospitality Management Group (also Paddington's The Royal Hotel and Glebe's The Toxteth) is behind the concept, which was created after doing market research in the high-density suburb. The feedback from food-obsessed locals was that they didn’t want to have to leave their suburb and commute into the city to enjoy elevated bistro cuisine. And thus the plan for Humphrey’s was hatched. Hursty, as Hurstville is affectionately known, has, up until this point, been best known for everything from its no-frills yum cha to cheap and cheerful banh mi and Korean fried chicken. Diagonally across the way from the entrance to Humphrey’s Hotel is a barber that offers an $11 buzz cut. Hurstville Train Station is a mere minute’s walk away. And there’s an underground Japane

The ocean views are an obvious reason to visit Bobbys, the new restaurant that's docked at the waterfront in South Cronulla. But locals are beelining for Bobbys for more than its blessed location. For starters, the new beachfront restaurant embodies the beach club spirit of Ibiza, emphasising fun Euro vacay vibes while also conjuring up its very own version of contemporary Cronulla cool. Cronulla locals live their lives around the rhythm of the ocean, which is packed with people year-round. Take the Sunrise Yogis who congregate at the base of the nearby headland. Members of the Cronulla Gropers who swim in the ocean all through winter. And the surfers who jump in the riptide so as to be deposited at the peak of the wave known as The Point. With Bobbys, owners Adam and Kylie Micola have gifted the community with a restaurant that matches the neighbourhood’s laid-back lifestyle and is worthy of its location. Chef Pablo Tordesillasis (ex-Totti’s, Otto) is on the same wavelength, with a strong focus on Mediterranean flavours and seafood. The venue named after Adam’s dad, Bobby, is divided into two spaces – the restaurant and bar, and the beach club. The beach club is more informal and flexible: designed for coffee and a grab-and-go breakfast, or an Aperol Spritz and snack in the sun post-surf. The restaurant and bar space are more formal and an advertisement for sunny escapism, with the silvery light of the sea and sky animating the views. The waves are gentle at South Cronulla,

The arrival of a higher-end dining option such as Husk & Vine Kitchen & Bar in Parramatta is big news: it’s the sort of swank restaurant the area was waiting for, confirming the suburb’s status as being ‘on the move’ and adding to the rejuvenation of the city’s west. The restaurant is located on the ground floor of Skye Hotel Suites, the suburb’s first five-star hotel offering luxury boutique apartments, and the dining demographic ranges from locals looking for something fancier than Neil Perry's Burger Project next door to international visitors doing business in Sydney's second CBD.Fun fact: the name and fit-out of Husk & Vine was inspired by the discovery of the ruins of an 1800’s-era hotel unearthed during the building's development. It’s worth stopping to admire these relics of Parramatta’s colonial heritage on permanent display outside the restaurant. The g+a-designed space is a nod to the area’s convict past  with a soaring metal grid-like structure containing sandstone rocks and relics. This in-your-face design element is softened by the use of timber, leather, linen, flower-filled vases and ambient lighting.Nab a banquette and observe head chef Ashley Brennan (ex Sugaroom) preparing dishes in the open kitchen from a menu that reflects the multicultural demographic of the neighbourhood: think homemade pasta and Middle Eastern flatbreads and the signature lamb shoulder with harissa, okra and chickpeas, which is cooked in the beech wood-fired oven that is the centrepiec

The Chefs Gallery Instagram feed is filled with lusty pictures of noodles captured mid-slurp, under-the-radar dishes like dongpo (Chinese-braised pork belly) and sweet, emoji-inspired buns filled with custard. You'll want to order it all and fill your boots at the Chef's Gallery, one of the bright spots on Parramatta's newest eat street.It’s where everyone from business types to bloggers, couples and mop-haired students converge for the by-the-book handmade noodles and dumplings. As fans of the franchise will attest, watching the chefs pull noodles and pinch dumplings into plump little parcels behind the glass-walled kitchen is a big part of the fun. The experience of dining at Chef's Gallery is also made better by the waiters, who enthusiastically rattle off an impressive repertoire of dishes they'd recommend.  Order the star attractions, starting with the steamy won tons that are plumped with ginger-scented pork and shrimp, and glazed with a sweet and spicy Shanghainese sauce. The signature duck fried rice has a pleasing hint of mandarin, and is flecked with slivers of glazed and braised duck, sautéed vegetables and a wee bowl of chilli bean paste on the side so you can up the fiery attitude.When the san choy bao emerges, the chicken is hot and salty in a ginger-zapped soy sauce – a welcome contrast to the parchment-crisp iceberg lettuce leaves that you pack with meat, fresh chilli, basil and batons of cucumber. If you want to add some cute to the Insta feed, order the Pigg

PappaRich is designed as a modern version of the traditional Malaysian kopitiam (coffee shop). But it's not just the sugary coffee that diners at the Parramatta outlet are queuing for: this is where to get your nasi lemak and laksa fix in what is now Sydney’s second CBD. The eatery, located outside the bus concourse, is crowded with commuters, local business people, and a significant number of Malaysian Australians, which is always a good sign. Given there are now seven PappaRich outlets in Sydney, it seems they’ve hit on a formula for success – affordable, no-frills hawker-style food and drinks. The high-ceilinged space meets the PappaRich design brief: it’s all dark wood panelling and splashes of gold and green, with framed photographs adorning the walls, a galley-style kitchen that offers ringside seats of the roti master at work, and bare tables with boxes of cutlery and a notepad and pen so you can attend to your own order. We do as the waiter suggests and mark off the roti canai and curry sauce, nasi lemak and chicken rice: classics all round. The Hainanese chicken has been so gently poached it trembles to the touch and is served in a dipping sauce fragrant with chilli, ginger, sesame oil and soy sauce. What we love about this dish is the gelatinous texture of the chicken skin, which is offset by the crunch of fresh cucumbers and a beautifully textured bean sprout salad. The chicken is served with a mound of fluffy warm rice, but is let down by the accompanying chicken