Manly Daily’s Top 10 northern beaches’ best restaurants of 2017
We’ve done the hard work and spent 2017 trying 49 northern beaches’ restaurants, cafes, pubs and clubs. Here’s our pick of the Top 10 eats of the year.
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HAKAN’S
Breakfast is anything but boring at Hakan’s, where the breakfast wheel spins and lands on Turkey. Look beyond egg, bacon rolls, freshly squeezed juices and raw treats, other dishes are well worth investigating. Foodie fans will find that the breakfast-branchy menu is healthy. Here the bowls of brown rice porridge are gluten-free and pepped up with more unusual ingredients like tahnini, pekmez (a molasses-like syrup) walnuts, almonds, grated apple, ginger and flaxseeds. These days no self-respecting menu is complete without smashed avo. Hakan’s smashes these green babies with heirloom tomatoes, sprinkled with nigella seeds and cokelek (a yoghurt-cheese). The downside? Go early, Hakan’s closes at 12.30pm
22 Victoria Pde, Manly
Contact: 9976 5733
SANDY BEAR
Sandy Bear is primed and ready for summer. This recently renovated cafe on Clontarf Marina is new to the ebb and flow of the beaches’ cafe scene. And what a location. This bright, breezy and very outdoorsy cafe is right on the water. There’s bacon and egg rolls, pastries, muesli and a fancy avo on sourdough combo for breakfast. Sandy Bear’s version, the Santorini Bear, has tomato, grilled haloumi, radish, truffle oil and chilli flakes. Lunch time offerings include gourmet sandwiches, burgers and battered John Dory with chips. Our pick is the fatoushsalad with fried chick peas, falafels and haloumi. Bring your pooch, or water craft, because once you’ve had the avo on toast, you can step off the side steps and straight out onto Middle Harbour.
Clontarf Marina, Sandy Bay Rd, Clontarf
Contact: www.birdandbear.com.au
COYA
Cromer? Yes, this suburb’s not normally a go-to destination for foodies. That was until Coya came along. Restaurateur Ash Selah has put this little corner of suburbia on the culinary map. He blends Middle Eastern and modern Australian food with big flavours, a riot of colours and a potpourri of unusual ingredients. Black tahini, freekeh, shanklish (a sheep’s milk cheese) dukkah and pomegranate sit along familiar ingredients like rosewater, hummus and harissa. Selah also loves to experiment and is always tweaking the seasonal menu. This fine-diner is gaining industry clout too. It picked up the best NSW new restaurant award at the Restaurant and Catering awards in September.
63/61 Carawa Rd, Cromer
Contact: www.coyacromer.com.au
CLAREVILLE KIOSK
Clareville Kiosk pulls off posh and fancy without being posh and fancy. Although you can’t see Pittwater, Nathan Boler’s restaurant nails casual and beachy with a serious two- or three-course menu and a six-course degustation that keen foodies will drive all the way from Bondi to sample. Head chef Tom Gillett (ex Michelin-starred Fera at Claridges) and his team serve up dishes like beetroot-cured trevally with pomelo and grapes or 12-hour pork belly with fennel puree and peaches. Come on Wednesday or Thursday night and it’s BYO. Alternatively, check out the Facebook page for specials.
27 Delecta Ave, Clareville
Contact: www.clarevillekiosk.com.au
SOTTO SOPRA
Foodies counted down the days until Sotto Sopra’s glass door swung open. That finally happened in February when Alessandro Pavoni and his team unveiled their latest venue. This Italian trattoria is as hot as its wood-fired oven. Don’t saunter in for a takeaway pizza, Sotto Sopra is not a pizzeria. Instead it’s classy and glassy with curved, floor-to-ceiling windows, tiled table tops, zinc pendant lights, concrete polished floors and an elevated kitchen. Come for shared feasts, homemade pasta and dishes like the wood-fired eggplant parmigiana. It is topped with smoked cheddar, San Marzano tomato, basil oil, mint leaves and colatura di alici, an Italian version of fish sauce.
316-324 Barrenjoey Rd, Newport
Contact: www.sottosopra.com.au
ARTHUR’S
Manly new boy Jason Wright hasn’t missed a beat since opening his glass-fronted oyster bar and sustainable seafood restaurant. Wright doesn’t do boring. With a nod to Australia’s first Governor and plenty of memorabilia (Arthur’s is named after Captain Phillip), the former Scottish Rising Star Chef of the Year is always looking for innovative ways to turn dishes into something that little bit different. Granny wouldn’t serve dainty crumpets with maple-cured Ora king salmon, radish and hazelnut bearnaise. Wright would. And take that old favourite, fish and chips. Wright’s slug of dark rum and sparkling mineral water in the batter turns it into the best deep fried fish we've had in a long time.
46 Pittwater Rd, Manly
Contact: www.arthursmanly.com.au
SALE PEPE
Industrial Brookvale is throwing off its tradie hi-vis mantle and turning into a concrete playground for foodies. It already has two boutique breweries, an artisan distillery, a fancy sourdough bakery and New York burger joint. Now you can add pizza to the growing list.
Tucked away is a great little find, if you know where to look. Sale Pepe is in a side street business complex and right under the vehicle access ramp. Ignore the location, inside is the real treat, it’s cosy, cheery and busy with book groups, date nights and family groups. Sardinian Enrinco Sini and Sicilian Claudio lo Pinto certainly know a thing or two about woodfired pizza and fresh pasta. And it’s BYO. Thanks boys.
44/9 Powells Rd, Brookvale
Contact: www.salepepe.com.au
SHANDAR TANDOORI
The pursuit of happiness is actively encouraged in this Freshwater curry house.
Shandar Tandoori’s website declares that it’s a ‘no frown zone’. Butter chicken, vindaloo, chicken tikka masala are smiley-face dishes for all homesick expats. There’s a touch of Bollywood about the decor. Last year the place had a makeover and now sports colourful mandala panels on the ceiling and dangling lights. The food’s neither too hot and spicy, nor is it greasy. Go for the vegetarian eggplant, potatoes tossed with onion masala sauce and earthy lamb saag. It’s big smiles all around in 2018 when Shandar Tandoori clocks up 30 years, that’s quite an achievement, and a lot of butter chicken.
16/1-3 Moore Rd, Freshwater
Contact: shandartandoori.com.au
SUBURBIA
Doug Fraser left the steaks searing on the grill at Barbuto in Narrabeen to bring an innovative concept to Manly. Suburbia is newish (it opened in September) and almost vegetarian. With its whitewashed exterior, hand-torn banana leaf wallpaper and blonde wood furniture, the space channels cool California. One red-hot restaurant, Gjelina, blew Fraser away in Santa Monica. Back home Fraser has sexied up baked eggplant with Korean miso, f sesame seeds, buffalo mozzarella. Suburbia doesn’t push carnivores off-side. The meaty option is top quality fried chicken. Wings, Marylands and thighs are brined, slow-cooked, coated in 30 spices and deep-fried. Enjoy them by the bucket full, as a takeaway burger, or with one of the sides and a sauce. One to watch.
49 Sydney Rd, Manly
Contact: www.suburbiamanly.com.au
SANKAKU IZAKAYA
We’ve ticked off both Marco Cha’s Japanese eateries this year and loved them. If you’re a fan of Sankaku Sushi, his Seaforth eatery (or Waka in Manly), then you’ll appreciate quality of the food, the creativity and the precise attention to detail at Sankaku Izakaya. The Newport restaurant is more of a dining experience than Seaforth. The seafood-dominated menu is a little different too with a number of dishes that aren’t on the Seaforth menu. New to Newport are the charcoal chicken and shallot skewers and a beef version, wagyu kushiyaki and calamari karaage. Old faves like the signature kingfish carpaccio are there and so are fresher than fresh sashimi platters.
376 Barrenjoey Rd, Newport, 9979 3030
Contact: sushisankaku.com/