Dimitri's Pizza, Darlinghurst

So you like your pizzas puffy and blistered with a caramelised char? Me too. At Dimitri's Pizza in Darlinghurst, they churn out brilliantly floppy pizzas made with sourdough bases, finished in an Italian-made woodfired oven.



The best table is by the kitchen, offering a front row view of all the pizza making action. There's something almost sensual about watching a pizzaiolo gently coax the dough into shape, then strew it with toppings before plunging it into the fiery cavern of the woodfired oven (I told you it was sensual).


Marinara pizza $18 with stracciatella +$10
tomato, confit garlic and oregano

The classic marinara is simplicity at its best: a humble tomato sauce with confit garlic and oregano. We upgrade ours with stracciatella, made from torn mozzarella soaked in cream. It adds a milky decadence to this tomato pizza, interspersed with alternating hits of jammy garlic cloves and fresh basil leaves.

The pizza edges are the best bit, brilliantly bubbled around the edges with all the right shades of char. The base is soft and floppy because of its thinness, perfect for folding over while you try and eat this demurely with your fingers (who am I kidding? Just get right in there).


Funguy pizza $23
Mushroom, mozzarella, truffle oil, chilli and basil

The pizza menu is reassuringly short - just eight options to choose from - but owners Ken Williams and Drew Huston aren't tied to the usual toppings. They're not afraid of a few puns either, like the funguy pizza with mushrooms and truffle oil (boom tish).


Cream of korn pizza $23
Wood oven smoked and creamed corn, mozzarella and pickled jalapenos

The cream of korn pizza wins over my tastebuds tonight though, because, CORN. It's a party of juicy sweet corn kernels sliced straight off the cob, made even tastier with stretchy molten mozzarella cheese and the gentle heat of pickled jalapenos.


Bee sting pizza $23
Tomato, sopressa, mozzarella and hot honey

Things get even wilder with the bee sting pizza. That's slices of sopressa - an aged salami - drizzled over with warm honey.


Sopressa salami pizza with mozarella and hot honey

It's not as strange as you think. Pork goes brilliantly with sugar - think roast pork with apple sauce or Chinese char siu barbecue pork. Here it adds a mellow richness to the cured pork.


Smoked eggplant $16
with charred cherry tomatoes, olives and parmigiano 

It's not all pizza either.

The smoked eggplant is terrific, its buttery soft flesh permeated with smoky undertones, sauced up with blistered cherry tomatoes and a cloud of parmigiano cheese.


Cheese and tomato $16
housemade stracciatella and mixed heirloom tomatoes 

We get in on more housemade stacciatella action too, dolloped generously over a medley of mixed heirloom tomatoes. Tomatoes, basil, mozzarella and extra virgin olive oil. Is there a more iconic taste of Italy?

Drinks? There's definitely a focus on boutique beer breweries, including half a dozen beers by Marrickville brewery The Grifter. Happy hour used to run 5pm-7pm but looks to have been shortened to 6pm now. There's a pretty decent selection of wines too, includes orange/skin wines and nine wines available by the glass.





Dimitri's Pizzeria
215 Oxford Street, Darlinghurst, Sydney
Tel: +61 (02) 8068 4247

Opening hours
Wednesday to Saturday 5pm til late


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Lankan Filling Station, Darlinghurst

It's open. Lankan Filling Station is now trading at its new home in Darlinghurst. Expect lacy crisp hoppers, spicy curries and cooling coconut sambols at this narrow and buzzy eatery. It's a long overdue opening for O Tama Carey, who left her head chef role at Berta in 2014. Fans were first teased with Lankan Filling Station at its Brickfields pop-up in July 2016. Two years (and one drawn-out gas connection) later - with intermittent appearances at Carriageworks Farmers Market - Lankan Filling Station has a permanent abode. And I couldn't be happier.


Lankan Filling Station

The dining room is long and skinny, bookended by a bar and the open kitchen. On the day we dined we spied Carey, Jemma Whiteman and Pasi Petanen on the pans. Shelves stacked with gigantic jars filled with spices provide both colour and an easily accessible pantry.


Hot butter cuttlefish $18

The Short Eats section of the menu is where you'll find all the snacks, everything from crunchy murukku chickpea chips to crab cutlets (crab balls) to pan rolls, potato or beef fillings wrapped in a crepe and fried like a giant spring roll.

Whatever you do, make sure you order the hot butter cuttlefish, a Sri Lankan Chinese dish that's like salt and pepper squid on crack. Tender cuttlefish. Crisp batter. And a mouth tingling hit of chilli and spices. It's all jumbled together with onion, shallots and long chillies then bathed in butter. This is the kind of dish you could eat with a bowl of plain rice and be deliriously happy.


Egg hopper set (1 plain and 1 egg) with pol sambol and seeni sambol $18

But here, it's the hopper that reigns supreme. String hoppers, a kind of pancake made from steamed rice noodles, are a Sri Lankan breakfast staple but we skip these in favour of the appam hoppers, bowl-shaped crepes available individually or as a set with sambol sides.


Egg hopper set (1 plain and 1 egg) with green pol sambol and kata sambol $18

We find the hoppers here are a little thicker in consistency compared to say, X Dream or Amma's Modern Kitchen in Toongabbie, but it means the lacy frill around the edges is louder in crunch, and stays crisp for longer.

You can use cutlery to eat these but the traditional way is to use your hands, tearing them apart and using the fermented batter crepe to scoop up curry, sauce and sambol.

The sambols are all terrific. I'm keenest on the green chilli pol sambol but there's much to like about the dried chilli kata sambol, sweet onion relish seeni sambol and the red chilli pol sambol too. The faint saltiness of the shredded Maldive fish against the freshly grated coconut is what makes pol sambol so addictive.


Goat in a black and dry curry with sweet spices $18

We order the black and dry curry with goat - the kitchen alternates cooking this curry with goat and mutton - and are rewarded with a deeply aromatic curry heavy with black pepper and cardamom.


Prawn in a fiery red curry soured with tamarind $20

The prawn curry isn't half as fiery as we expect, nor particularly sour with tamarind, but it's terrifically tasty, balancing sweet and tangy savouriness with just-cooked prawns.


Eggplant with tomato and tamarind $12

We devour the eggplant too, caramelly to the point of sticky. These are fried with tomatoes, onions, curry leaves and a heap of mustard seeds that add another dimension of crunch. Our table is loaded with so many dishes it feels like we're having a banquet.


Strawberries with rose syrup, long black pepper and whipped coconut cream $10

While we're still deciding on dessert, the kitchen sneakily sends out two sweets on the house. The strawberries with rose syrup is a daily special, and what looks like a simple dessert at first glance grows on me with each spoonful. The rose syrup sauce is mellow, spiked with the intriguing complex flavour profile of long black pepper. Add fresh sweet strawberries and a cloud of whipped coconut cream and it's hard to resist going back for more.


Watalappam baked jaggery custard $12

I'd been about to order the watalappam when it lands on our table too.


Watalappam baked jaggery custard with cashews and sesame seeds

The baked jaggery custard is smothered in a thick blanket of crushed cashews, toffee shards and sesame seeds. With your first spoonful you'll notice a comforting hit of cardamom. It's a combination that reminds me of the flaky Indian dessert, soan papdi (if you haven't tried it, get a packet from your local Indian grocer. It's amazing).


King coconut sorbet $6

The sorbets and gelatos aren't made inhouse but they are produced in arrangement with RivaReno Gelato. I'm outvoted on the spiced jaggery gelato that's said to taste like chai, and settle on the king coconut sorbet instead. It's almost floral in taste and not overly sweet, made from what we expect is king coconut water. There's a ginger and turmeric gelato too.

Buffalo curd with kithul palm treacle $8

We order the dahi, a fermented curd made with buffalo milk. There's a marked sourness to the curd, not unlike natural yoghurt, tempered by the subtle sweetness of kithul palm treacle. A sprinkle of toasted buckwheat lends nuttiness and crunch.

Milk hopper with jaggery and coconut milk $8

And of course we  had to order a milk hopper. Or two. Milk hoppers are delicious not just for the inclusion of jaggery cane sugar but the generous dollop of coconut cream as well. Heaven.



There are still so many more dishes we've yet to try. We need to make our way through the fish curry, the potato white curry and the dhal. If the staggering choice is all too much, you can order the $60 banquet that includes dessert as well as unlimited plain hoppers. Stop by and fill up soon.






Lankan Filling Station
58 Riley Street, East Sydney
Tel: +61 (02) 8542 9936

Opening hours
Tuesday to Friday 12pm-10pm
Saturday 10am-10pm
Sunday 10am-4pm

Gure Txoko Basque Club, Sydney

Knock on the green wooden door and wait. It’ll slowly swing open with a creak, granting you entry into Gure Txoko Basque Club. Gure Txoko, which means “our corner” in Basque, began as a male-only social club in 1966. These days everyone is welcome to join their Sunday lunch, a three-course meal prepared by member volunteers that costs just $25. Bargain. And the grog is cheap too, with glasses of wine at $4, beer for $5 and bottles of wine starting at $15.


Basque Club dining room paraphernalia

There’s still a blokey feel to the place – its wood-panelled walls are covered in trophies, portraits and sports memorabilia. Lunch isn’t served until 2pm on Sundays but as long as you’ve made a booking*, you can arrive anytime from noon for drinks.


Locals dining at the Basque Club

Hang with the Basque locals – a mix of friends, families and wizened old timers – but do make sure you check out the pelota court at the back, a traditional handball game that uses curved baskets to hurl a rubber ball at breakneck speed.

Pelota court

Salmorejo chilled tomato soup

The menu changes from week to week but expect rustic home-style cooking served on mismatched vintage crockery. On our visit we start with salmorejo, a chilled tomato soup laced with garlic and paprika, garnished with shredded Serrano ham, chopped hard-boiled eggs and croutons.




Marmitako Basque fish stew

Main course is marmitako, a Basque fish stew that translates as “from the pot”. It’s a hearty serve of tuna, carrots and potatoes simmered into a rich seafood stock.


Baked cheesecake

Dessert is a massive wedge of baked cheesecake.


Behind the scenes in the kitchen

Everything comes out of a tiny kitchen, manned not by the nonnas you’d expect, but a brigade of young and chirpy volunteers. There might be a gap between courses but no-one’s in a hurry. Sit back, relax, and Basque in the last lazy hours of your weekend.

*Sunday lunch seats must be pre-booked by 5pm of the Friday beforehand


Estrella Damm lager beer brewed in Barcelona $5


Basque Club entry instructions






Gure Txoko Basque Club
344 Liverpool Street, Darlinghurst, Sydney
Tel: +61 (02) 9331 5612

Opening hours:
Sundays 12.00pm - 6pm
Special events may finish later
Lunch always served at 2pm

This article first appeared in Time Out Sydney. Read this article online or read more of my Time Out Sydney reviews.