The January Hit List: Monopole, Kid Kyoto, Chi by Lotus, and More

The Potts Point bar has switched its dark, inner-city digs for a new, light-filled CBD location – and its well-sourced collection of 500+ wines has also made the move. Like Anna Vu’s sketch of 2014 Jean Foillard Morgon Cuvée 3.14 on the wall, Monopole’s approach to drinks is personable, friendly and deeply knowledgable (sommelier Nick Hildebrandt has countless awards as proof). Co-owner Brent Savage caters to the office crowd with an inventive tuna salad that outshines anything eaten in a corporate cubicle.

Dining status: open for walk-ins and bookings.

This izakaya sits in a corporate end of town, but the vibe is more “loosen your collar” than “let’s workshop that PowerPoint presentation”. It offers sake masterclasses for team-building exercises and greets the weekend with Bottomless Spritz Saturdays. The menu is also playful (think tempura jalapeno poppers with kombu cream cheese). You can bring the party home: Kid Kyoto’s Yama Yama cocktails and Sake Chicken dinner box are available for takeaway.

Dining status: open for takeaway, delivery, walk-ins and bookings.

The owners of Banksia Bakehouse (Chris Sheldrick, Aileen Zhang, Hannah Kim-Sheldrick and Josh Kim) have put their supplies of Pepe Saya to fine use. Their croissants are made with a third more butter than regular ones – and it’s a successful move, especially with the feathery light “twice-baked” almond croissants. In January, a cinnamon scroll hybrid hits the counter; it’s topped with milk icing and toasted pistachio sprinkle. There’ll also be a zingy finger lime special, with meringue cookies and curd made from the native citrus.

Dining status: open for takeaway and walk-ins.

Lotus Dining group’s latest venue takes inspiration from Beijing’s “Ghost Street”: a lantern-lit restaurant strip offering 24/7 access to mouth-numbing crayfish, bubbling hot pot and much more. Chef Chris Cheng’s menu might lean on the smoke and char of shaokao (Chinese barbecue), but he keeps it local by seasoning king oyster mushroom skewers with native salt and pepper and deep-frying clusters of saltbush to dip into spicy mayo.

Dining status: open for walk-ins and bookings.

Dedicating your business to a traditional cut of Tuscan T-bone steak might seem niche, but this venue has made it work for years. Sommelier Alice Massaria’s acclaimed wine list is another plus: her 300+ bottles focus on Italian and local drops and highlights the female winemakers behind your pours. Like what you’re drinking at Bistecca? Its negroni, Bisteccacello and select bottles are available for delivery.

Dining status: open for walk-ins, bookings and drink deliveries.

In June, this bar was named Australia’s “Best Beer Venue”. It’s the second time Beer and Brewer magazine picked Bitter Phew as the country’s best spot to order a schooner, tinnie or bottle. The ever-changing craft beer on tap always spotlights interesting booze: like 3 Ravens Brewery’s Salted Caramel Shake IPA, or the Total Eclipse of the Hop XPA by the nation’s first female-owned brewing business or something inevitably interesting by Wildflower, which produces beer made from wild yeast collected locally (co-owner Topher Boehm compares this process to “catching dreams”).

Dining status: open for walk-ins and bookings.

This cocktail bar is bringing in 2021 with bottomless tacos and margaritas – hangovers be damned. If welcoming in the new year with Baja fish tacos or mojo potatoes doesn’t work with your plans, you can test-drive this bottomless brunch menu any weekend instead (and FYI, brunch extends until 5pm here). Or drop by another time for the Caribbean spiced king prawn skewers, jerk chicken quesadilla or pumpkin empanadas. Pablo Galindo Vargas and Liber Osorio’s venue offers plenty to drink, too — the menu dedicates two pages solely to rum.

Dining status: open for walk-ins and bookings.

This farm-to-table cafe is a big believer in cultivating your produce. The menu showcases ingredients from owner David Allison’s Hawkesbury River farm, and you can buy mushroom-growing kits from the display fridge. Head pastry chef Daria Nechiporenko presents extra reasons for visiting; try her strawberry and mulberry tarts (made with from Stix farm fruit) or the nine-layered Russian honey cake from her homeland. Pro tip: you can get her assorted dessert pack delivered to you.

Dining status: open for walk-ins and delivery.

When Trisha Greentree was growing up, her Filipino mother would add fish sauce to the Bolognese. Accordingly, there’s nothing middle-of-the-road about the chef’s own approach to Italian food. It’s inspired and thoughtful: think strozzapreti with pistachio pesto, trevally crudo dressed in blood orange and makrut lime or her surprise addition of berries and beans to tagliolini with prawn and mozzarella. She’s recently become executive chef across this wine bar as well as sister restaurant Fratelli Paradiso (with Frank Guest now 10 William St.’s head chef), but her produce-showcasing approach lives on. And the tiramisu, which Greentree inherited when she took over, remains.

Dining status: open for walk-ins and bookings.

Kenji Okuda is so dedicated to making miso that he wakes up every three hours to check it at night. Like Koku Culture’s vegan kimchi and the shiitake miso base, it’s a condiment that’s carefully made from scratch (and worth taking home). This cafe won’t just help power up your pantry, its menu has appealing items to try: like the popular salmon green tea noodle salad, matcha cakes, Totoro-adorned coffees and wok-fried eggs that hint at the chef’s time at Billy Kwong,

Dining status: open for walk-ins and takeaway.