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If you were after BTB Kirribilli’s history, you could thumb through property records and old floorplans – or you could try the cafe’s excellent potato scallops. They’re battered and fried until they resemble a geological wonder, the ridges and rocky surfaces catching crusty flakes of salt and hiding a welcome reserve of malt vinegar.

The tart tang sharpens your tastebuds and electrifies each crunchy bite. And if this activates childhood memories of stepping into a fish and chip shop, then you’ve hit on this site’s previous incarnation: selling the catch of the day and other seafood staples. It was formerly known as By the Bridge and BTB Kirribilli’s owners, Adam Brcic and Cameron Votano, kept part of the name when they took over in 2017 – as tribute to the old space and their connection to it.

“Cam’s dad used to run a fish and chip shop in this location,” says Brcic. The scallops are a “sneaky” shout-out to BTB Kirribilli’s past life by chef Daniel Backhouse (who previously worked at two-hat restaurant Berowra Waters Inn).

This ultra-crunchy dish isn’t the only thing that makes this spot by the Harbour Bridge and Milsons Point station noteworthy. The Sydney Morning Herald Good Food Guide recently named BTB Kirribilli as one of the city’s 20 best cafes, singling out the menu’s inspired use of native ingredients, which are mainly supplied by Indigenous social enterprise Bush to Bowl.

Even the drinks taste like the country’s wide-ranging terrain: there’s wattleseed syrup that sweetens the banana smoothie (in place of conventional cinnamon sprinkles and honey drizzles) and lively lemon aspen in the pub squash (this souring agent will reset the palate of anyone expecting the industrialised sugar hit of supermarket fizz).

These ingredients are a reminder of what the landscape tastes like. The bubbly sarsaparilla, for instance, is flavoured with the plant of the same name. “We grow a native form of it here,” says Brcic.

After a lifetime of throwing soft drinks into shopping trolleys, I’d forgotten that this beverage – like the kola nut that originally powered Coke – actually came from something you could harvest. “Bush to Bowl just sent it to us and said, ‘Hey, we can grow this, is there anything for it?’” says Brcic.

After many experiments, the BTB Kirribilli team created fizzy sarsaparilla. When poured into your glass, the resulting drink has an earthy, medicinal flavour: like many native ingredients, it’s rich in vitamin C and its complexity takes a few sips to get used to. It’s bold and reviving.

There’s a strong Australian accent to everything on the menu: the char of red gum bark intensifies the tomato relish flavouring the bacon and egg roll, the summer salad is plated with cumin and lemon myrtle yoghurt and emu skewers are presented with macadamia satay sauce (light-hoofed native animals are “softer on the environment” than soil-damaging livestock herds, after all).

Although Indigenous ingredients aren’t in every dish, they’re something BTB Kirribilli keenly showcase where possible. This direction was adopted in 2019, with support from Winsome Matthews, a cultural custodian and former chairperson of the NSW Aboriginal Justice Advisory Committee. They’ve also collaborated with her on NAIDOC fundraising dinners at the cafe.

Sustainability is a strong focus, too: the kimchi is fermented with warrigal greens instead of typical cabbage, because it’s fast growing, native and available all year round. It’s a must in the three-cheese toastie (the sunny yellow mustard pickles and optional tomato slices are also welcome additions).

This sensationally good sandwich is also a telling snapshot of the Australian dining landscape and the many cultures that have contributed to it. Along with Binnorie cheddar from the Hunter Valley and Warrnambool cheese from down south, Marrickville’s Paesanella buffalo mozzarella also oozes from each slice. Paesanella was founded in the 1950s by Italian migrant Umberto Somma, who’d hand-shape mozzarella in his Hawkesbury River shed at 7am and sell it door to door until 11pm.

The other ingredients have long histories, too: kimchi has sustained Koreans for 3000 years, while Indigenous Australians appreciated warrigal greens long before Captain Cook used it to combat scurvy.

You could enjoy the toastie without knowing any of this, but it’s another reason why BTB Kirribilli’s menu is worth savouring.