Sydney Eat Street: 10 places to try in Concord
WITH an array of eateries and outdoor dining opening along Majors Bay Rd, Concord is luring foodies to the inner-west’s latest food hub.
Eat Street
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WITH an array of eateries and outdoor dining opening along Majors Bay Rd, Concord is luring foodies to the inner-west’s latest food hub.
Take a tour of the area’s best eateries right here with The Sunday Telegraph’s Eat Street. Are you hungry for more inspiration? Follow us on Instagram.
For a chance to feature your food picture in The Sunday Telegraph, tag #SydneyEatStreet.
CUCINA ESPRESSO
WHETHER it was helping out in the kitchen, family gatherings at the dinner table or the annual salami and tomato sauce making days, brothers Rocco and Carlo Calautti will tell you they grew up around food.
For Carlo, cooking was his calling and while he soon mastered the Italian marinara-based breakfast classics he began reinventing traditional fare such as a baked eggs, swapping out tomato sauce for warm ricotta and spinach (uovo ricotta spinaci) or a creamy white sauce with porcini mushrooms and black truffle (uovo cotto).
While they have produced an unquestionably impressive menu, it’s a genuine commitment to their customers that makes them a standout.
Not just friendly service and a quality cup of coffee from local roasters, The Little Marionette, but also quirkier things such as “The Joe”, an off-the-menu roll named after a regular’s special order.
Although Cucina Espresso is successful in its own right, Rocco is quick to point out that it’s only one part of the greater community.
“For us to be successful, everyone here needs to be busy and successful,” he says, understanding most people aren’t going to eat the same thing everyday so he’s happy to recommend his fellow proprietors.
“We know though after you taste something in this cafe, particularly Carlo’s baked egg dishes, you’ll be back to taste it again.”
— 89 Majors Bay Rd
PARI PASTICCERIA
A SHOT of espresso and slice of cake may get you back up and running, but for pastry chef Paolo Gatto it was an encounter with kale and toasted granola that got him going.
After 22 years in the hospitality industry, Paolo needed some fresh inspiration — and a bit of a break — so took on a three-month stint as a personal chef in Los Angeles.
When he wasn’t in the kitchen, he was out exploring Southern California’s dynamic food scene, discovering his next venture would be to reconnect with the flavours of Sicily.
Paolo had already worked at fine-dining restaurants in Sicily before owning eateries around Sydney, including the popular Five Dock restaurant Gatto Matto Trattoria and the more casual version, SUD in Concord but now inspired and re-energised, he returned to Sydney.
Together with his wife Rita, they opened PaRi (the first two letters of their names) Pasticceria, a lovely white and sky blue pastry shop and cafe, its shelves lined with more than 100 different Italian sweets, including custard filled profiteroles, colourful tarts and cannoli of all sorts.
A highlight though is the brioche and granita, common in Sicily.
It looks innocent enough, served together with a spoon on the side, but for the full effect use a hands-on approach and pop the top of the sweet bun, tear off a bite sized piece then dip it into a layer of sweet whipped cream ultimately reaching the chocolate, coffee or pistachio flavoured frosty cold granita.
Delizioso!
— 83 Majors Bay Rd
FRATELLI & CO
RIDING his BMX bike into town to pick up a pizza from the local Italian eatery, seven-year-old Rob Galati probably never even dreamt that someway he would own that restaurant.
Even after he and his brother Dan sold their successful CBD cafes and opened up an eatery close to their homes in Concord, it still wasn’t on their radar that was until the owner approached them to take it over.
Reluctant at first, Rob notes that he and Dan saw it as “an opportunity for us to go back to our roots”, referring not only to the neighbourhood where they grew up but also their Italian heritage, particularly the food.
They refurbished the restaurant, turning the cavernous closed rooms into an open and sun-drenched space, they brought in chefs and staff from Italy and developed a menu that would reflect the country’s various culinary regions such as Northern Italy’s Asiago cheese, which is stuffed along with silverbeet in a prosciutto wrapped chicken breast.
On the pasta front, which is made fresh daily is their ravioli di zucca, fresh pasta pockets filled with roasted pumpkin puree and topped with sage butter.
It’s sized for sharing but you’ll be hard pressed to give any away. But if your party is set on a communal meal, there’s the metre-long pizzas or multiple tiers antipasto share boards that include sliced meats, zucchini flowers, arancini balls, fried calamari and much more.
— 110 Majors Bay Rd
CONCORD SEAFOOD
PEPPER mills on the bench, extra virgin olive oil on the salmon carpaccio and steamed barramundi on request — this isn’t your typical fish and chips shop, but then again, these are your typical fishmongers.
From the tender age of 14, twin brothers Tim and Mat Halligan started off scrubbing and scaling in this local shop, ultimately buying it from their former boss.
They’ve since made it their own, putting some flare into presentation, and adding a bit more variety to both their fresh fish selection, one that is practically catered to the midafternoon rush of mums grabbing dinner fixings prior to school pick-ups, and the evening hours which tend towards prepared meals such as the BBQ Aussie prawns, Tasmanian salmon sushi and the BBQ sea scallops marinated in their signature sauce, a recipe they first learned 15 years ago.
— 69 Majors Bay Rd
BAYWOK
WHILE the hot and often humid weather in Thailand may not be to everyone’s liking, the abundance of tropical fruits and vegetables such as papaya, guava, leafy greens and chillies found in Thai cuisine thrive in that climate.
While much of that produce is available during Aussie summers, it’s tougher to replicate come winter much less suit the types of dishes we crave in the colder months.
“Australians are accustomed to seasonal foods,” says Baywok’s head chef Pannathorn ‘Aon’ Soonthonpipit, noting a demand for warm soups and thick curries come sweater season.
To accommodate this demand, Aon works with whatever is plentiful at the markets that week and features it in one of his delicious weekly specials, such as the honey pepper chicken with steamed broccoli, a vegetable that peaks towards the end of winter or the warming elements of ginger.
Of course mainstream dishes such as Pad Thai and seafood laksa always on the menu, but take a lead from the chef and enjoy what’s in season.
— 61 Majors Bay Rd
MUST TRY
PISTACHIO GELATO
EVEN when the temperature drops to single digits, there’s still a queue for a scoop of this award-winning gelato.
Choosing a flavour is tough enough, but then there is the choice between a cup, cone, served with a shot of espresso in an affogato or encased in fried pastry dough with cannoli — all of which taste stellar with the fresh pistachio gelato.
— -18 Meno Diciotto Gelateria; 93 Majors Bay Rd
TELLA BALL SHAKE
IMAGES of decadent desserts have dominated Facebook and Instagram feeds for what seems like decades, but none more so than the original Tella Shake — a brioche style doughnut filled with Nutella, perched on top of a Nutella milkshake, which itself was launched via social media in 2015.
Fast forward a few years and the chocolate hazelnut spread has been reimagined into everything from Pasta-Tella — fettuccine noodles made of sliced crepes to the Tella-bab — mounds of chocolate and fruit inside a doughnut pita. Other iconic sweets such as Tim Tams and Golden Gaytimes have been added to the menagerie, but the original Tella Shake still reigns supreme.
— Tella Balls; 92 Majors Bay Rd
OTT BURGERS
THE outrageous burgers of Mister Gee’s food truck, have landed a storefront on Concord’s eat street serving up the best fried chicken and dry-aged beef patties to ever slide between two buns.
The menu is written in chalk and subject to change at any moment which for people like competitive eater Issac Martin, aka @Issac_eatsalot, is practically a dare, but considering that Issac ranks Happy Ending Burgers in his top 5, “hands down” that’s a challenge he’ll gladly accept.
— Happy Ending Burgers; 55 Majors Bay Rd
SOUL BOWL
THE familiar old skool hip hop and R & B tunes will lure you into this funky cafe but it’s the varied menu ranging from beef burgers to beetroot salads along with a slew of fresh juices and smoothies that will keep you interested.
For something nutritious and delicious, go for the Soul Bowl, a vitamin-laden dish of avocado, labneh, pumpkin, corn, quinoa, kale, poached egg and a choice of smoked salmon, grilled salmon, chicken or lamb.
— Toco Fresh; 85 Majors Bay Rd
MUNOUSHEE’S BIG BREAKFAST
THE “big brekkie” label pops up on many a menu, but it’s not until it’s brought out on board can you really make that claim.
While they’ve built a following for their Lebanese breakfasts of baked bacon, baked eggs, grilled haloumi, freshly baked Lebanese bread with a yoghurt dip, zaatar oil dip, green olives and veggies their zaatar, cheese & meat pizzas, pies and falafels are worth coming back for lunch.
— Munoushee on Majors Bay; 39b Majors Bay Rd