Some of the best Sydney food experiences can be had for the least amount of money. Take that old favourite, fish and chips. Nearly all Sydney beaches have a fish and chip shop nearby where, for a few measly dollars, you can buy a box of battered fish, perched atop a nest of freshly cooked and seasoned potato chips and crowned by a piece of lemon. The only thing left to do is to liberally douse the whole thing in vinegar, head to the beach and start eating.
Or, if you’ve been out on the town and need something to soak up all the drinks you’ve had, then what’s required is a visit to Harry’s Café De Wheels in Woolloomooloo, a sort of trailer-cum-diner, where pies smothered in tomato sauce have been keeping people happy since 1945.
That’s the casual, fun ephemeral side of Sydney. But it’s not the whole story. Sydney is one of the most serious food capitals of the world, a city that can rightfully take its place next to the great culinary capitals of Europe or Asia. The difference is that where those cities tend to be specialists, exploring the native cuisines in endlessly fascinating ways, Sydney is an unabashed generalist, flirting with many different styles and influences.
But then, it couldn’t do anything else, given that its migrant history has brought more than 50 distinct culinary traditions to the city.
For many people, the breadth and depth of Sydney’s culinary achievement comes as a surprise. “If you don’t know much about Sydney, you tend to think it’s far away from everywhere and you think, ‘what could Australia have that’s so special’?” explains Joanne Saville. “What Sydney has had for a long time is access to the food cultures of so many different countries.”
Saville is the co-editor of the Sydney Morning Herald Good Food Guide, which makes her one of the most influential food critics in the country - the Good Food Guide is the publication that awards the coveted ‘hats’, the local equivalent of Michelin stars. That means Saville has to know every nook and cranny of Sydney’s kitchens. She explains that the food culture has been profoundly affected by Sydney’s multiculturalism; the city has been a magnet for migrants, attracting everyone from the Italians in the 1940s, to the Vietnamese in the 1970s to a global, cosmopolitan elite in this decade. “With that has come access to food and ingredients from around the world.”
Normally when migrants arrive in a city, their cuisine becomes an add-on to whatever it is the city offers. So Rome may well have a Chinese takeaway or two, but the fundamental culinary bedrock remains Roman cuisine. In Sydney, on the other hand, there wasn’t much of a local cuisine of any sort when the great waves of 20th century migration were happening, so as every new cuisine arrived, it fed into the general mix. But given Sydney’s climate, heavy foods began to lighten up, emphasising flavour and freshness over rich sauces. “In the last 10 to 15 years we’ve seen a real blossoming of ‘Australian’ food, which I supposed would be contemporary cuisine that draws on the ingredients of the world,” explains Saville, adding that it’s possible to find everything from Italian small goods to French bread to fresh Asian greens and tropical fruits in Sydney. On top of that, local chefs are globetrotters, who love to travel and bring back ideas. “Calling Sydney’s food ‘international cuisine’ is tricky, because that term makes you think you’re going to get a bit of everything,” she says. “It’s not just a matter of saying ‘let’s have a menu with an Italian-based dessert’. People are working with an understanding of different cuisines and then putting them together, in a harmonious way. In fusion cuisine, you get a melding together of two things - but what happens here is that each element becomes something distinctive.”
So, how do you plunge in and explore this sublime culinary world? Saville says if you’re a serious foodie, head for a restaurant that has been awarded two or three hats.
Less expensive and impressive, but equally surprising, are the many small restaurants in Surry Hills, which offer excellent wines by the glass and café style eating. But you can also explore beautifully done traditional cuisine. “If you want to get
a sense of the food cultures of Sydney, there is Chinatown in the city,” says Saville. “Right alongside that is the Haymarket area in Campbell Street. It’s a mini Thai town, with a string of very exciting Thai restaurants.” She says there’s also a strong Korean/ Japanese restaurant scene around World Square in the city, “so you can plunge into Asia in the middle of Sydney”. For Italian food, she advises a trip to Haberfield, where you can find tempting, fresh food in the least pretentious of surroundings; Petersham for Portuguese food, including tarts that equal anything found in Lisbon; and Auburn for Turkish food.
But if you want something you definitely can’t find anywhere else, then head for a seafood restaurant, many of which can be found on Sydney’s waterfront strips, because nothing beats a glass of crisp white wine, with some lightly prepared fresh seafood, while looking out over the water.
And if all else fails, grab that fish and chips and head for the beach. There is, quite simply, nothing like it.