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We often think of beef pies and chops as iconic Aussie meals – but what if we analysed the menus of pubs around Sydney? What would they show us about the meals that typify contemporary Australian eating? Time Out has done just that – crunching the data from 150 pubs and clubs around Sydney to rank the most commonly served meals, as part of our Price of a Parmi 2026 project. Here they are…
The chicken schnitzel is the leading menu item at bistros across Sydney. Yep, this dish that was originally popularised by Austrian cooks is the most classic contemporary dish at Sydney pubs. And it’s even more popular when you consider that chicken schnitzel forms the base of another one of the top-five most common menu items on Sydney pub menus – the parmi. Italian-American-style dish chicken Parmigiana ranked fourth when it came to most common meals.
We also ran the equivalent analysis of Melbourne pub menus, and interestingly, the parmi – sorry, “parma” in Melbourne – took the top spot. It’s even more popular than a plain schnitty on Melbourne menus.
What other dishes made the top-five spots? A classic passed down to us from England, fish and chips (usually battered), ranked as the second most commonly served dish in Sydney (and also Melbourne) pubs, according to our analysis. Followed by the burger, of course – with the cheese burger the most common burger type on Sydney menus these days. Then another English staple, bangers and mash, ranked in 5th place – much higher than in Melbourne pubs.
Rump steaks are the 6th most popular menu item these days in Sydney (again, much higher than in Melbourne), followed by the Caesar salad, chicken wings and, in 9th place, an entry we found a little more surprising: salt and pepper squid.
Rounding out the top 12 most classic meals were the steak sandwich, nachos and the Margherita pizza.
When it came to the Melbourne menus analysis, bangers and mash, steaks and Margherita pizzas ranked lower down and – unlike in Sydney – Bolognese made the list of top eight.
So if we’re looking at what makes for a classic Aussie meal these days, there’s influence from the pub capital of the world, England, but also from Austria, Italy, Mexico and the US. These days you’d also have to say that there are many Asian dishes that typify Australian cuisine, of course – pad Thai, butter chicken, dumplings, laksa and bánh mi, for starters – but we don’t typically go to pubs to eat these things, considering the incredibly high quality of Thai, Indian, Chinese, Malaysian and Vietnamese restaurants across Sydney.
These are most common meals served in Sydney pubs in 2026, according to Time Out’s analysis:
- Chicken schnitzel
- Fish & chips
- Cheese burger
- Chicken Parmigiana
- Bangers & Mash
- Steak (usually rump)
- Caesar salad
- Chicken wings
- Salt & pepper calamari (AKA squid)
- Steak sandwich
- Nachos
- Margherita pizza
To see the equivalent Melbourne meals list, click here.
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