For the past two years, maybe more, the Good Food team has been watching Victoria Cross Station come together from our office in North Sydney. It’s only slightly overstating things to say that the recent opening of the metro line was a seismic event.

Easy access to Chatswood, Barangaroo and Sydenham is nifty, sure, but what North Sydney has also long needed is a good burger for lunch, plus more coffee, noodle and banh mi options (Destination Roll, we love you, but your lines can be very long).

So it’s a big hello and welcome to Victoria Cross’s new food vendors. Earlier this week, we made the five-second-long trek across the street to find six of the best things to eat and drink. (No doubt, part one in a series.)

Batch brew, Only Coffee Project

When you need a hit of caffeine, and you need it fast, Only Coffee is the go-to. There’s an ever-changing line-up of four batch brews on tap: three hot and one cold, using hard-to-find beans from the likes of Sey Coffee (a New York-based micro-roastery) and Kawa (an organic roastery in Paris). The cold brew ($4.50) is smooth, lacking any bitterness, but there’s also some fancy pourovers with tasting notes of “moon drop grapes and fairy floss” priced between $16 and $25. While staff are up for a chat, it’s a small venue better suited to grab-and-go. For a leisurely coffee, head upstairs to the Two Good Coffee van. Bianca Hrovat

Pork banh mi, Marrickville Pork Roll

Pro tip: arrive before noon, otherwise you’re destined for an epic wait. There’s the big guy, the crackling pork option, but the signature $11 pork banh mi not only delivers excellent value and a perfectly balanced meat-to-pickled-daikon-and-carrot ratio, it’s light(ish) enough that it won’t put you to sleep. If you like chilli, it’s generously flecked with the hot stuff, too. North Sydney already had a couple of excellent banh mi options (we’re also big fans of Eat Fuh), and MPR just makes the area even better for Vietnamese sandwiches. Sarah Norris

Chicken nuggets with habanero mayo at Mary’s

At peak times, the wait for a Mary’s Burger (juicy grass-fed beef, lettuce, cheese, tomato and that thumping house sauce) at its Circular Quay location could be too long for one lunch break. But now you can scan a QR-code at the door, place your order over an app, and grab a cold brew at Only Coffee while you wait. Technology, hooray. Pre-ordering is coming soon, so you can request that $22.50 burger-with-fries from your desk.

After a week, I already have a standard order: hold the chips, order the burger by itself for $19, and add a $12 serving of chicken nuggets to the bag. The two-bite-sized pieces of fried chook have more in common with Japan’s craggy karaage chicken than McDonald’s “bells and boots”, and I’m a huge fan. This is a lot of food for lunch, sure, but consider how great those nuggets will taste later in the day when you remember you have half a box of leftover fried chicken in the fridge. Sorry, carrot sticks (and nutritionists). There’s a new afternoon snack in town. Callan Boys

Strawberry matcha, Top Impression Bakery

The viral strawberry matcha trend has finally made it to North Sydney with the arrival of Top Impression. Its version (for $8) has a thick layer of vibrant pink strawberry jam and strawberry pieces on the bottom, and I can confirm it’s made to order and delicious. To sweeten the deal, they’re regularly bringing out freshly baked goods such as fruit cruffins and coconut rolls. Bring cash for a 10 per cent discount, or a friend to take advantage of their daily specials: free croissants or coffees when you spend more than $20. BH

Grilled hake don, Dopa Donburi & Dessert

You can’t eat karaage every day, and for those times you want something healthy and filling, this generous-sized dish is the go. And while you wouldn’t call it cheap, at $16.50 it’s a couple of bucks less than most of the other rice bowls here. To get maximum enjoyment out of your lunch, begin by busting the soft-boiled egg and stirring it through the rice topped with shredded dried seaweed. Then break off a hunk of grilled hake fillet and scoop it up with the rice . SN

The O.G, ToroToro Ramen + Tempura

It’s a good thing that tiny ToroToro has a few outdoor tables, because ramen might be the least desk-friendly dish on this planet or any other. Flecks of broth on your keyboard. The cheap plastic spoon that can barely hold two noodles, let alone soup and a fermented bamboo shoot. The lukewarm temperature. Ergh.

But when it’s a hot bowl consumed seconds of leaving the kitchen, few things are more satisfying. Torotoro’s $20 “O.G” pork broth tonkotsu is a deeply creamy beast, loaded with chashu pork, nori, garlic chips and a custard-y ajitama egg. If you could only eat one bowl of noodles in North Sydney, I would still recommend Sou Ramen Lab’s ultra-comforting “Ritchi Ritchi” chicken number, but that’s a silly hypothetical. I, for one, welcome these new ramen options. CB