Occupying the former Happy Chef site in Sydney’s hipster heartland, Odd Culture fits in perfectly. Newtowners and Inner Westies alike have welcomed this delightful oddball into the fold, along with its impressive menu of fermented foods and fizzy, funky drinks. Brik pastry cigars rolled with anchovy, olive and taramasalata deliver the perfect balance of cream and crunch. Don’t judge the chicken liver pate with fish-sauce caramel until you try it: this classic French bistro dish is brought to life by a puddle of sweet chilli and garlic caramel that’s just the right amount of weird and wonderful. It’s topped with a crown of potato crisps, because why the hell not? 266 King St, Newtown; https://oddculture.group/venue/odd-culture-newtown.

Cafe Paci, with its warm, vibey dining room, has stood strong during the pandemic. Ordering wisely is a must here: the food is rich, and if you want to try one of everything you may indeed roll out through the front door at the end. Allow the fantastic wait staff to guide you (and rein you in as needed), and if you’re blown away by the wine suggestions they’ll direct you to a website where you might be able to find the very same drop. 131 King St, Newtown; cafepaci.com.au.

Blink and you may miss the unassuming ANTE shopfront, but step inside the moodily lit joint and you’ll wonder how you ever walked past. Shelves packed with LPs line the wall behind the bar, atop which sits the record player playing the soundtrack to your evening. A mixture of bar seating, high-top tables and restaurant tables mean you can choose your own adventure – be it drinks and snacks at the bar, or a sit-down meal. Choose from smaller snack-style dishes like roasted carrot on comte custard with Aleppo pepper and poppy seed togarashi; sliced pancetta with pretty curls of persimmon and bitey green chilli, and tender lamb arrosticini with anchovy and bamboo salt. This relative newcomer to King St is quietly upping the ante of Sydney’s bar-cum-restaurant scene. 146 King St, Newtown; ante.bar.

In Newtown, Continental Bar and Deli has a bistro menu that slides from snacks to more substantial, allowing the solo diner to order more as needed. This place hits all the right notes – fun tunes and team, snacks to impress, and bar seating. Perch at the bar downstairs, start with a gilda or two – a green olive, curled anchovy and pickled pepper speared on a small pick – move to steak tartare with Gaufrette potato crisps, some charcuterie, cheese, tinned scallops or razor clams, and move on to black barley, Jerusalem artichoke, broccolini, fried egg and truffle. The wine list is top notch, as are the tinned pre- mixed cocktails spanning Mar-tinny, Can-hatten and Cosmopoli-tin – get it? 210 Australia St, Newtown; continentaldelicatessen.com.au.

It feels a bit like you’re sitting in someone’s living room at Sixpenny – that’s half the charm of this tiny neighbourhood diner. It’s all about elevated, interesting, produce-driven fare, fine dining without pomp and pretense, where every little detail – from tasting menu to hospitality – is golden. there are platters of snacks: kangaroo tartare tacos, tomato tarts with beeswax-infused lemon oil, pecorino doughnuts with aged gouda. As things become more substantial, chefs deliver their dishes directly to the table, humbly listing each component as if what they’ve plated up isn’t art in itself. 83 Percival Rd, Stanmore; sixpenny.com.au.

The team behind Bella Brutta is a who’s who of Sydney hospitality – think Elvis Abrahanowicz, Joe Valore and Sarah Doyle of Porteno and Continental Deli Bar and Bistro, and Luke Powell of LP’s Quality Meats. Here the charred, thin bases are chewy and almost sour thanks to the long fermentation of dough made from Australian wholegrain and Italian flours. Forget the best pizza place, Bella Brutta might also have the best actual pizza in Sydney; clam pizza with fermented chilli, lemon juice, fresh parsley and a zig zag of toasted garlic oil. 135 King St, Newtown; bellabrutta.com.au.

Most are coupled up at this Chippendale restaurant, which has chef Mat Lindsay at the pans. It’s a special place, and only the most patient find tables. But there’s a curved bar with a view to the wood-fired kitchen and cocktail making, perfect for solo diners. There’s plenty to see and the snacks are great. The famous blood sausage sanga is a complex, delicious morsel that belies its fun name. There’s a neighbourhood but edgy vibe here, welcoming to all, and you’re likely to get a walk-in seat most days. 46-52 Meagher St, Chippendale; ester-restaurant.com.au.

There’s something about the falafel. At Cairo Takeaway they’re bright green and crisp, using fava beans as per the traditional Egyptian recipe, and when slathered in tahini and and stuffed into a pita topped with chunky pickles those falafels really take centre stage. This unassuming restaurant is all about the fast food, firing out charcoal chicken plates and koshari, a lentil dish topped with chickpeas and fried onions with applause-worthy efficiency. But that doesn’t mean you can’t linger, especially if you’ve been lucky enough to snag a table out in the courtyard. Order a bottle of house wine, a dessert or two, a couple more sides or even just more of those falafels. They really are something special. 81 Enmore Road, Enmore; cairotakeaway.com.