Lestari Indonesian Restaurant, Ultimo

If you know about Lestari, you're one of the few Sydneysiders about the hidden alleyway running off Harris Street. It's a poky little pedestrian laneway tucked in between the Agincourt Hotel and the UTS Design & Architecture building. Lestari, which means everlasting in Indonesian, is a fitting name for a restaurant that's been serving up cheap and cheerful fare to homesick uni students since 2011. This year they moved to an even bigger space at the end of laneway, the former site of ATL Maranatha that served Indonesian pressure-cooked fried chicken (RIP).


Kwetiaw goreng ayam $10
Stir fried thick rice noodles with chicken

The menu is still the same, a double-sided laminated sheet with the most expensive dish topping out at $12.50. No wonder it's a favourite with students.

Kwetiaw goreng is the localised version of Malaysian kway teow fried flat rice noodles. The most noticeable variation is the sweet sauciness to the noodles, combined with a noticeable whack of chilli. If you need more heat, got nuts with the self-serve sambal chilli sauce pots. Proceed with caution though - the chilli sauce packs a serious punch.


Kwetiaw siram ayam $11
Thick rice noodles with chicken and gravy

At the other end of the spectrum you'll find kwetiaw siram. The thick rice noodles drenched in gelatinous-like gravy might take a little while to get used to, but for many locals, this is pure comfort food. It's not all gloop. Fresh bean sprouts, green vegetables and fried shallots add textural contrast and crunch.


Cap jai $11 and tempeh $2
Stir fried mixed vegetables with rice

Vegetarians don't have a lot of options, but the cap jai is a hearty choice. It's a crunch-fest of stir fried cauliflower, broccoli, carrots and leafy greens sauced up with gravy. The deep fried tofu puffs and your mound of white rice will soak up the sauce magnificently. If you want a little more substance, get an order of tempeh fermented soy on the side.


Ayam goreng penyet $9
Fried chicken topped with Javanese chilli sauce

It goes without saying that you can order chicken fried (goreng) and grilled (bakar). The ayam goreng penyet will make most peoples' eyes water. For chilli lovers, it's an adrenaline-packed treat.

The Javanese chilli sauce smeared across the top is less sauce and more chilli puree. You've been warned.


Nasi goreng special with chicken and prawn and fried egg $12

Nasi goreng fried rice is ideal for carb-loading. It might look like variations of brown on the plate but wait until you crack open that fried egg and the gooey yolk runs out.


Bakmi ayam jamur $9
Noodle with chicken and mushroom and soup on the side

The Indonesian Chinese dish, bakmi ayam, is popular too. Wheat noodles are topped with a tumble of chicken and mushroom seasoned with soy. Leafy greens make this a complete meal. You'll also score a bowl of clear soup with beef balls on the side.


Bakmi babi panggang $12.50
Noodle with bbq pork and wonton and soup on the side

Pork makes a surprise appearance here too - most Indonesian restaurants are halal and don't include pork on the menu. Here you can request pork in all the noodle soup and stir-fry dishes.  Get the babi panggang bbq pork on your bakmi and you'll score a pile of deliciously sticky fatty grilled pork.


Side soup with beef ball

The bowl of clear soup with two bobbing beef balls is just what you need to sip on in between mouthfuls of noodle.


Bbq pork with wheat noodles

Hoe into those crinkly chewy noodles with sweet pork and try not to eat that deep fried wonton in one go. It's worth savouring that crunch.



The dining room is bright and clean and relatively roomy. You'll have to get your own cutlery from the communal service area but tissue boxes and bottles of kecap manis are on every table. Priorities.




Lestari
Shop 96, 732 Harris Street, Ultimo, Sydney
Tel: +61 (0)430 138 268

Opening hours 
Daily 12pm-8pm


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Merchants of Ultimo, Broadway Shopping Centre

It's like a food court, but with table service. The Merchants of Ultimo at Broadway Shopping Centre is like a mini food court, complete with salad bar, pizzeria, rotisserie, cafe and patisserie. What most passersby don't realise is that eat in diners don't have to line up at each stall to place their order. Roving waitstaff offer complete table service, offering a clipboard menu of all offerings and a single bill at the end.


Seating inside the Merchants of Ultimo

Seating fills up quickly during peak hour. It's a cleverly designed space with plenty of timber beams, hanging greenery and tempting visuals, like legs of lamb slowly spinning on the rotisserie and pastry chefs icing bespoke cakes at the counter.


Salad station at The Gardens

The Gardens has to have one of the prettiest displays of salad vegetables around, much more enticing than the usual stainless steel sandwich bar set-up.


Salad ingredients

This station isn't all vegetarian. They also churn out wagyu cheese burgers, buttermilk chicken burgers and salads mixed with woodfired chicken, rotisserie lamb and miso glazed salmon.


Valoriani Forni wood fired oven

And on a cold day, you'll relish the heat from the Valoriani Forni wood fired oven, tucked away in the corner.


Rotisserie lamb salad $17

We tried a number of dishes over a series of visits. The rotisserie lamb salad was a winner with tender shredded lamb piled high with salad greens, cherry tomatoes, quinoa, roasted corn kernels, giant golden raisins and squeaky slices of grilled haloumi. The coriander and yoghurt dressing helped everything come together.


Roast pork with woodfire corn and house slaw from Henry's Block $16

The roast pork doesn't arrive with as much crackling as we would've liked, but the Henry's Box concept is a cute idea, allowing you to pick your protein and two sides. The woodfire corn is sweet and juicy, drenched in lemon butter and covered in shaved parmesan. The house slaw of shredded celeriac, kohlrabi and fennel is refreshingly crisp.


Sweet potato fries $5

And then there are the sweet potato fries. In a city plagued with soggy imposters, these are every bit as noisily crunchy as the ones in your wildest dreams. You'll be fighting over the last one.


Digging into lunch


Making pizzas at Pizza Mario

If there's one stall that shines, though, it's Pizza Mario, run by the same folks behind Da Mario.


Potato pizza and margherita pizza ready for the oven

In the open kitchen you can watch them prepping the pizza dough, layering on the ingredients and then transferring them into the woodfired oven using a peel.


Sliding pizzas into the oven


Diavola pizza $16

There are a dozen pizzas to choose from, including a ham, mushroom and ricotta calzone and a nutella calzone for dessert. The diavola pizza packs some devilish heat with spicy salami and chilli.


Buffalo margherita pizza $16

Traditionalists will go with the classic margherita for $13 or upgrade to the buffalo margherita for $16, strewn with buffalo mozzarella and cherry tomatoes.


Pizza upskirt shot

But the magic is all in the pizza crust, super thin and almost floppy in the middle with a puffy blistered crust that has just the right amount of woodfired char.


Buttermilk chicken burger $18

The buttermilk chicken burger is a satisfying number too, a juicy fillet shielded by a crunch of knobby batter. The milk bun is soft but still still sturdy enough to hold the chicken, salad, sriracha and pudding of molten smoked mozzarella cheese.


Seating in front of Nero's Brew coffee station

Coffees are served via Nero's Brew using Single Origin beans.


Desserts from Leave it to B

And it's hard to pass up the sweet treats from Leave it to B by ex-Rockpool pastry apprentice Brendan Dewar who went on to open Brendan Dewar Patisserie in St Ives.


Berry tart $8.50

The L-shaped glass cabinet runs from gateaux to croissants. 


Cheesecake slice


Citrus pillow $8.50

We've had the millefeuille and a tropical fruit dome takeaway, but the only dessert we've had eat-in was the citrus pillow, a fancy lemon meringue tart with shards of isomalt toffee. The lemon curd is bracingly sharp, just what you want against the sweet blowtorched rosettes of meringue.






Merchants of Ultimo
Level one, Broadway Shopping Centre
1 Bay Street, Broadway, Ultimo, Sydney
Tel: +61 (02) 9346 8775

Opening hours
Daily 6am-9pm


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