By Franz Scheurer
If you’re a good shopper then you know that ‘fast food’ means wonderful produce arranged on platters and served with a smile. It’s hard to go past a plate of prosciutto with some fresh sourdough and fabulous French butter laced with salt flakes, a platter of freshly cut, ripe tomatoes with some Italian buffalo mozzarella topped with basil leaves and extra virgin olive oil, or good Tasmanian smoked salmon with onion rings and capers. All simple, fast food that impresses.
Here are my favourite ‘fast food’ morsels, available on the run, if you need to feed yourself and only have limited time:
Bah Ku The
Mysteriously dark, rich, medicinal master stock flavoured with meat (close to the bone), this hearty soup originates in Port Klang, Malaysia, and the best version I’ve found in Sydney is available at:
Sydney Kopitiam Café
592 – 594 Harris Street,
Ultimo 2007
Tel.: 02 9282 9883
Cheese and Bacon Pie
Everyone makes Cheese and Bacon Pies these days and most of them are average at best. Here however, the pastry is flaky, the filling cheesy, meaty, recognizable and well seasoned. And the pies are served fresh out of the oven if you time it right!
Pie in the Sky
1296 Old Pacific Highway
Cowan NSW 2081
Tel.: 02 9985 7018
Toasted Turkish Pide
Sevinch and Sam serve fabulous coffee and know that customer loyalty depends on the quality of their food. Turkish sausages, felafel rolls, superlative toasted Turkish pide with lots of different fillings, everything is freshly made, well seasoned, tasty, crunchy and just right.
Café Biscotti
349 Pacific Hwy, Artarmon
Tel.: 02 9436 4366
Quiche Lorraine
I know real men don’t eat quiche but I love it. When they’re fresh, airy, cheesy, full of lovely bacon pieces in a crisp, flaky pastry case, then they’re sublime. The best are made by Didier Sockeel at Castlecrag.
Ganache Patisserie Francaise
85 Edinburgh Street
Castlecrag NSW 2068
Tel.: 02 9967 2882
Tarte Flambée
For the uninitiated, a Tarte Flambée (or Flammeküeche) is an Alsatian dish of very thinly rolled dough with very sparse toppings, cooked in an extremely hot oven (usually straight on the stone) and served on a wooden board. The ‘Classic’ has a simple topping of onion and bacon on a cream cheese base, while the Strasbourg has choucroute and sausage.
Maître Karl Café and Bistro
197 High Street
Willoughby NSW 2068
Tel.: 02 9958 1110
Prawn Dumplings
If you view dumplings as something you eat at yum cha to fill the gap before the duck arrives, then you’ve never tasted Jade’s prawn dumplings. Gelatinous, delicate, translucent morsels, where the salty-sweet, sea flavour of the prawn dominates and the wrapper adds to the textural sensation, making it a gooey, yet resistant-to-bite, delicacy. The best thing about these dumplings is that you can buy them to take home, with clear instructions on how to cook them. They’ll disappear so fast you won’t believe it.
blue eye dragon
Shop 2
42 Harris Street
Pyrmont
Tel.: 02 9518 9955
Ham and Cheese Toasted
Sandwich
Generosity is always noticed and the Ham and Cheese Toasted Sandwich at the Road Warriors Café is not just good, it’s big; in fact it’s gargantuan. Lots of ham, lots of cheese, a couple of thick slices of bread and the whole lot toasted to perfection, just melting the cheese but not burning the toast. It will give you the necessary sustenance to ogle the assembly of motorbikes in the parking lot (Ducati riders beware: you might not fit onto your bike after one of these sandwiches!)
Road Warriors Café
Old Pacific Highway
Mount White NSW 2250
Heisser Leberkäse
The Austrians, Germans and Swiss make a terrific meatloaf called Leberkäse or Fleischkäse. A thick slice of this dense and savoury delicacy is eaten either as part of a sandwich (with a good sourdough and some mild mustard) or accompanied by a Pretzel. The best Leberkäse in Sydney is made by Ricki and it’s available hot from Tuesday to Saturday. They’ll even make you a sandwich! (It’s also great fried with an egg for breakfast)
Bavarian Smallgoods
39 Bartlett Street
Ermington NSW 2116
Tel.: 02 9638 7809
Empanadas
These fantastic filled pastries are addictive. They are full of flavour with a superb texture and the perfect snack on the run. As Spanish as bullfights and as Latin American as Tequila. Bariloche in the Southern Lakes district of Patagonia in Argentina is said to be their original home and Sydney’s best are baked in Glebe at:
Café Bariloche
333 Glebe Point Road
Glebe NSW 2037
Tel.: 9660 3524
Fish & Chips
This is such a simple, old-fashioned dish yet it can push all the right buttons when it’s perfect, it’s one of life’s little pleasures. I don’t know a chef anywhere in Sydney that is more committed to how he buys, handles and stores fish than Stephen Hodges. He believes flathead is best for fish & chips (and I tend to agree), his chips are bloody good as well. Served in a paper cone with a wedge of lemon and tartare sauce this is perfect finger-licking harbour city food.
Fish Face
132 Darlinghurst Road
Darlinghurst NSW 2010
Tel.: 02 9332 4803