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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Old Fitzroy Hotel, Woolloomooloo

Fun. Clever. Honest. Three words that aptly describe the revamped food menu at The Old Fitzroy Hotel, now in the hands of owners Jaimie Wirth, Joel Amos and Mike Delany as of February this year. Newly installed head chef Nic Hill has some serious pedigree, with stints at Sepia, Quay and Michelin-starred London restaurant, the Ledbury. You can tell. This is cheeky British gastro pub fare executed with flair. For cheap.


Beers on tap 

The front room of this local's favourite remains the same, dimly lit with dense carpet underfoot. An impressive range of beers on tap runs from Victoria Bitter to local brews. The Mr T blueberry ale by Alexandria-based brewery Yulli's Brews is a deliciously crisp way to ease into lunch. Or dinner.

The best area for dining would be the sunlit bistro area behind the bar, not immediately obvious until you walk past the kitchen. It's also where you'll find the cellar shortcut into the Old Fitzroy Theatre next door. Be warned this is a popular venue for theatre patrons, with a loud bell ringing staff member providing a ten minute warning before a performance commences.

Upstairs they've just completed renovations, although the small round tables would be more suited to drinking than eating.


Scotch egg $8

The menu riffs off British comfort food, pub grub classics like schnitzels, rissoles, and fish and chips with mushy peas. The scotch egg is up there as one of the greatest under-appreciated deep fried snacks.


Expertly runny egg yolk 

An egg encased in sausage mince, crumbed and deep fried doesn't sound like much. That is until you've had a good one. Here it's a revelation, a runny lake of egg yolk hidden within, like an adult version of a Kinder surprise. It's hard not to feel like a little kid again, marvelling in the rich egg yolk and juicy sausage mince against the delicate crunch of its golden fried breadcrumb shell.


Pork pie tart with Queens mustard $16

The humble pork pie is lifted too, converted to a tart form (versus the usual encased pastry pie) and topped with a layer of glistening Branston Pickle jelly. The jelly and accompanying disc of Queens mustard are just what you need to cut through the rich and fatty cold pork pie. The piece de resistance is the pastry, satisfyingly lardy and short.


Tripe and chicken nuggets $8

We're quick to order the tripe and chicken nuggets off the regularly updated specials menu. Offal is treated like a beloved friend here.


Tripe and chicken inside the nuggets

The nuggets aren't as tripe-driven as I expect - more of a croquette than a crumbed fillet - but there's still much to like about the saucy huddle of tripe and chicken chunks within. There's much more finesse here than most would associate with a typical nugget, but I love that Hill is doing his darnedest to bring tripe to the masses.


Raw beef on dripping toast $14

On the other hand, beef tartare is served without euphemism, described simply as "raw beef on dripping toast'. The hand-cut beef has a pleasing acidity from capers and cornichons, served on a thick slab of toasted sourdough that almost squelches with dripping. Yum.


Chicken and lardo terrine with tarragon mustard and toast $16

The kitchen sends out a bonus serve of chicken and lardo terrine. We've been discreet but maybe they've spotted our cameras. It's a meaty serve of compressed chicken chunks, covered in a pepper-dusted blanket of lardo. We scoff this on more toasted sourdough, served in the cutest toast rack for two.


Rissole sandwich with beetroot, cheddar and fries $17

The humble rissole scores an upgrade too, slapped between toast with beetroot, lettuce and melted cheddar cheese like a cross between a burger and a steak sanger.


Rissole, beetroot and cheddar sandwich

The beef rissole is a juicy concoction, and one that feels right at home alongside a mountain of fries. It doesn't escape me either that the bread has come from a tank loaf too. Pub grub perfection.


Pigs head, grilled onion and cheddar pie $22

Pies appear to be a rotating menu special, filled with everything from mackerel (fish head poking out at one end; tail at the other) to chicken (you bet he had a pair of chicken feet sticking out). On the day we dine it's all about the pigs head.


Pigs head inside the pie

There's no pigs ear adornment (shame) but a charred onion half provides a smoky, almost jammy treat. Beneath the pillowy layers of flaky puff pastry we unearth a treasure trove of fatty pork pieces. It's a surprisingly rich dish, bolstered even more so with the inclusion of cheddar.


Hot chip butty $10
with curried egg $4 and beef dripping gravy $4

But if there's one dish you need to order off the menu it's the hot chip butty. Long appreciated by drunken revellers stumbling home, the hot chip sandwich offers carb-on-carb salvation for a couple of quid.

Hill lets you build your own for ten bucks - either lay them neatly like a quasi-qualified bricklayer or just pile them in willy nilly. But first you'll need to butter the soft white bread generously, and lo, we applaud the room temperature butter that makes slathering so wondrously easy.


Adding the curried egg to our chip butty

It's worth adding upgrades of curried egg or beef dripping gravy. Why not have both? We do. Add vinegar or HP sauce as you please.

Chip butty glory

Behold. Our chip butty masterpiece. Try getting your gob around this without dislocating your jaw.

The chips themselves are stupendous. Fat. Chunky. Fried to a decent longevity-holding crisp. The jug of dripping gravy clogs your arteries in all the right places. You'll probably want to share this between two people, maybe three if you don't have a defibrillator handy.

Better yet, bring a bunch of mates so you can share as much of the menu as possible. Go now. And keep going. This one's a beauty.






The Old Fitzroy Hotel
129 Dowling Street, Woolloomooloo, Sydney
Tel: +61 (02) 9356 3848

Kitchen hours
Monday and Tuesday 6pm-9.30pm
Wednesday to Saturday 12pm-2.30pm; 6pm-9.30pm
Sunday 12pm-9pm


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Osaka Bar omakase, Potts Point

Is omakase the new black? I vote YES. In a world plagued with choice and decisions, telling a sushi chef "I leave it to you" or "omakase" is almost a luxury in, and of, itself. Sit back and let incredible food come to you. Win.

But omakase is more than just a suspension of menu responsibility. Inherent in every omakase is an exchange of trust in the chef's judgement and expertise, a transfer that is always taken on with deep-seated sincerity and wholehearted earnestness. No Japanese chef would do otherwise.

Which is how we find ourselves at Osaka Bar, one of the latest restaurants in Sydney to jump on board the omakase train shinkansen. Once a 40-seat a la carte restaurant - with a penchant for Osaka-style kushikatsu deep fried skewers - Osaka Bar packed up and moved across Llankelly Place laneway into a much smaller site. Now there are just five seats around the sushi counter. FIVE.


Bass grouper and saikou salmon sashimi

We strap ourselves in for the ride with sushi chef Kazu Nakatani and end up choosing the 12 piece nigiri sushi set for $80. Smaller sets ($55 for 5 pieces and $65 for 8 pieces) are available. In addition to nigiri, you'll also receive:

• a sashimi plate
• a simmered or cooked dish
• your choice of a three piece grilled dish or chawanmushi egg custard
• miso soup of the day. 

Our dinner kicks off with a plate of sashimi, thick slices of Indonesian bass grouper and saikou alpine salmon from New Zealand's Mount Cook that we relish with wasabi and only the faintest slick of soy.

Duck with chestnuts and Jap pumpkin

Our cooked dish is a nod to autumn - duck with Blue Mountains chestnuts and a wedge of sweet Jap pumpkin. It's not a tricked-up dish, but there's a honesty to its assembly, from the tender slices of rendered duck breast to the lashings of dijon mustard sauce to the tumble of cooked adzuki beans trying to escape from their skins.


Chef Kazu Nakatani seasoning the pork fillet on the grill

I lied. There are a couple of decisions to make. There are three choices for the third course: grilled pork, grilled beef or chawanmushi. Between our group, we're able to order and try every option. Phew.


Tender pork

The pork and beef cuts are cooked simply on an electric grill. Depending on your seat (and height) you should be able to watch Chef Kazu prepare everything before your eyes.


Pork and beef on the grill


Perfectly seared beef

The pork is good but the beef is better, cooked so a thin strip of pink flesh remains within. Season with fresh lemon and citrus pepper and chase each mouthful with a stray leaf or two of peppery watercress.


Chawanmushi in the steamer

My personal highlight is the chawanmushi, porcelain cups of egg custard cooked gently in the steamer.


Chawanmushi savoury egg custard with unagi eel

The chawanmushi theme changes regularly. Tonight it comes with unagi eel, hidden at the depths of the wobbly custard. It's fatty richness only amplifies the silky purity of the egg custard, studded with tender slices of okra, mushroom and corn.


Bass grouper nigiri sushi

Dinner then segues into nigiri sushi. It's a treat to watch Chef Kazu at work, first slicing each fish with precision and then shaping the sticky grains of sushi rice.


Chef Kazu slicing blue fin tuna


Blue fin tuna with katsuoboshi

The fish is served simply, garnished with waving tendrils of katsuoboshi smoked fish flakes here, a snowstorm of kinako soy bean powder there. Things get a little fancy when the gold leaf comes out, used to add bling to a shimmering slice of maguro zuke, deep red tuna marinated in soy.


Maguro zuke marinated tuna with gold leaf


Chef Kazu making nigiri sushi

I'm always mesmerised by the dance of sushi chefs, fingers and palm moving through the air with measured but modest grace. I can rarely get a shot in focus, as their hands fly at lightning speed. It's almost sensuous, too, the way that sushi chefs seem to caress, support and shape the fish and rice into a harmonious union.


Yellowtail nigiri sushi with soy bean powder

As each nigiri sushi is made, it's placed directly in front of each diner for immediate consumption. It's a world away from the garish convenience of the sushi train. Omakase means the fish is still cool and the rice has retained its warmth from the rice cooker.


Green king prawn nigiri sushi with kimizu sauce and egg yolk

We plow our way through bass grouper, blue fin tuna, yellowtail and green king prawns. The prawns are firm and sweet, dressed with kimizu sauce made from egg yolks and rice vinegar. It's like a Japanese version of mayonnaise, without the use of oil.


Chef Kazu seasoning the chutoro nigiri sushi


Chutoro nigiri sushi

Chutoro is a fatty treat, sourced from the tuna's back and belly area. Silver leaf adds a decadent touch.


Iwashi sardine nigiri sushi with plum sauce and Japanese ginger

The counter seat set-up mean there's a real sense of dining intimacy with Chef Kazu. He's remarkably chatty too, telling us about the way he prepares each fish, life in Osaka versus Sydney and how his restaurant and cooking has evolved over time.o

By the time the sardine nigiri sushi arrives, Chef Kazu is playing up for the camera. I haven't told him I have a food blog - I never volunteer this to restaurants - but he's happy to ham it up for yet another #asiantakingphotosoffood.


The dragon mural on the wall at Osaka Bar

We also learn about the dragon mural on the wall directly facing us. Dragon are believed to be Gods of Water in Japan, we learn. Water is vital for farmers, for life and for humankind. Chef Kazu (himself born in the year of the Dragon) hopes the dragon brings good luck to all those who look upon it.


Chef Kazu adding yuzukosho, made by his friend's mother and sent from Japan

On top of quivering petals of uni sea urchin, Chef Kazu adds delicate spoonfuls of yuzukosho, a fermented chilli and yuzu citrus paste. We're taken aback when he tells us the yuzukosho was a homemade gift from his friend's mother, sent over from Japan.


Longspine sea urchin with homemade yuzukosho

The yuzukosho adds a citrusy zing to the longspine sea urchin, plump and mouth-filling wonders of buttery briny bliss. Sigh.


Tasmanian pacific oyster nigiri sushi with homemade oyster sauce and finger lime

We move onto raw oysters. To marinated school prawns. To the pure luxury of lustrous salmon roe topped with black truffle sauce. Why would you stop at five nigiri sushi when you would miss out on all this?


Chef Kazu gently pressing school prawns onto sushi rice


Kombu marinated jimi school prawn nigiri sushi


Australian ikura salmon roe with black truffle sauce


Tamago rolled omelette

We're onto our final nigiri, tamago rolled omelette, when Chef Kazu realises he's forgotten to serve us ootoro, the fattiest part of the tuna belly that he promises will form part of every omakase.


Ootoro nigiri sushi

Easily fixed.


Fat-marbled ootoro tuna belly

Purists will argue that ootoro is over-rated (see also wagyu beef and truffle), but I'm still a sucker for the hedonistic pleasure of ridiculously marbled fatty tuna.


Saba mackerel nigiri sushi with kombu

And just for good measure, Chef Kazu offers another nigiri sushi for those of us that have room. Of course I do, especially for a precious slice of saba mackerel covered with a sheath of almost translucent kombu seaweed.


Aka red miso soup with giant grouper fish head

We finish with soup, made using aka or red miso paste. Red miso is fermented longer than white or yellow miso, resulting in a deeper, saltier and more pungent flavour. It's a lucky draw as to which part of today's fish (giant grouper on the night we dined) you'll score in your bowl.


Chef Kazu

Osaka Bar's omakase offers a uniquely casual but intimate experience with sushi chef Kazu Nakatani. There's plenty of technique evident but no sense of stiff formality or heady excess. Chef Kazu's a great conversationalist too. For maximum fun, grab four of your mates and settle in for one helluva oishii (delicious) private dinner party.






Osaka Bar
50 Llankelly Place, Potts Point, Sydney
Tel: +61 (02) 9331 1367

Opening hours
Monday to Saturday 6pm-10pm
Bookings essential


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