A joint-venture Hungarian restaurant involving three-hatted Stanmore fine-diner Sixpenny, and a Woollahra cafe spin-off from the two-hatted Ursula’s in Paddington, are among some of left-field projects planned at the pointy end of Sydney dining.

Talk of the new venues spread faster than Sydney’s 2012 panna cotta plague at Monday’s Sydney Morning Herald Good Food Guide Awards. Sixpenny chef-owner Daniel Puskas confirmed the upcoming Hungarian restaurant project had been green-lit and will launch in early 2025. His team will also open a separate wine bar, near Sixpenny, in March.

“It’s on Percival Road, a couple of doors down from the pub,” Puskas says of the incoming wine bar-restaurant site, once a butcher’s shop.

Keen to involve key staff as equity partners, Puskas and business partner Chris Sharp have long toyed with branching out with new venues. Sixpenny head chef Tony Schifilliti and restaurant manager George Papaioannou will be partners in the yet-to-be-named wine bar, with Puskas adding that it will lean toward Europe, and Italy specifically.

The Hungarian restaurant project is a joint venture between three-hatted Sixpenny and newly anointed one-hat Marrickville restaurant and winner of the Good Food Guide’s inaugural Bill Granger Trailblazer award, Baba’s Place.

Puskas can’t reveal the location until the new year, but a site has been locked in for a February launch and he’s excited to tap into his Hungarian heritage. It’s a land-locked country, but we’ll be doing a little more seafood.”

Baba’s Place co-owner Alex Kelly confirmed Fred’s head of pastry, Carley Schidegger, will join as head chef. It’s a strategic appointment, given the strength of pastry in Hungarian culture.

“One of the things we’re looking at is a cake trolley,” Kelly says. While many of its dishes will sit in “tradition alley”, the restaurant will also explore the idea of “Australian-Hungarian”. “There’ll be a real focus on service,” Kelly says. So expect staff in uniforms.

Over in Woollahra, the recently closed Luxe cafe has a promising new tenant. Fresh from claiming two hats at Ursula’s, chef Phil Wood has announced his team has snared the courtyard space at Queens Court, opposite the Woollahra Hotel.

Named after his three-year-old daughter, Cafe Cressida will launch in summer after a redesign, and will open for breakfast and lunch daily (and three dinners).

“We love the Woollahra neighbourhood, and we are very excited to have the opportunity to be part of the community,” Wood posted on social media.

Fresh from securing a chef’s hat at Monday’s awards, Loulou Bistro at Milsons Point is another of the award-winning restaurants to join the expansion trail. A spin-off venue will open in February 2025 at 1 Elizabeth Street, part of the precinct around the Martin Place stop on the new Sydney Metro.

Loulou Martin Place – a 130-seat bistro and bar spilling out onto Elizabeth Street – will open next to sibling Petit Loulou, a kiosk-style cafe and patisserie selling freshly baked French butter croissants, desserts and cakes, rotisserie chicken baguettes and nicoise salad.

Chief executive at Loulou owner Etymon Projects, Adam Petta, says visitors to Loulou Lavender Bay will notice similarities at Loulou Martin Place and Petit Loulou “as well as quite a few distinctly CBD-style touches”.