January - February

Pink Diamond (Campbelltown)

Um hear me out— after spending the day at Robyn’s place she took us to their local comfort spot. What can I say other than it was a succulent Chinese meal. The ⭐Special Fried Rice was shockingly good. The ⭐Sweet & Sour Pork + the ⭐Honey Chicken were yum, although I would have preferred a slightly stronger flavour, everything was done just right. From the vegetables to the meats, nothing was dry, chewy, over or undercooked.

Ting Hao A (Chatswood)

The ⭐Lemon Cream Prawn is lovely and a must-try. I haven't had a Jajjangmyeon I've loved (unless you count Chapagetti), as a lot of them seem to lack flavour, but this was the most favourable rendition I've had.

Pantry Story (Stanmore)

How good can a Sausage Roll be? I had zero expectations & was subsequently mind blown. The filling was bursting with broth-like juices, aromatic & spiced (love a fennel moment). The pastry was their standard puff pastry, which is good but lacks bite. That being said it's the best ⭐Sausage Roll I've had.

The ⭐Spinach Cheese is like a cracked version of your usual spinach ricotta pastry & worth a try. They rotate their menu items monthly FYI, best to check their IG menu before going in. The ⭐Yuzu Tonic drink is espresso snob approved (my brother). He rarely enjoys coffee mixed drinks but this is a very tastefully executed mix & I was able to appreciate it too.

I sadly present red flags to the 🚩Salt Bread & the 🚩Indomie Pie. I have been wary of plain salt bread because it relies on perfect execution. I was hoping Pantry Story could pull it off but unfortunately it was served cold, & yeah, essentially was a bread roll.

I wanted to love the Indomie Pie. However it came out wet & slimy… I don’t think pastry can keep it’s integrity with such a runny centre. Looking at their IG I also just discovered the egg is supposed to be over easy but mine was fully raw, whites & all 😵 

Lune (Roseberry, CBD)

I'm a known Lune sceptic but that was circa November 2025 me. I'd previously visited the Melbourne Russel St store in 2022 + 2023, & recall enjoying the ⭐Lemon Cruffin & the ⭐Choc Chip Cookie Croissant. Their signature Pain Au Chocolat, Almond Croissant & Ham Cheese were poorly filled, not fresh or crispy, & even somewhat dry. Combined with the founder never letting us forget that she was an aerospace engineer, & this supposedly giving her an edge over lifetime bakers, I felt tired of the brand & avoided it until recently.

In Brisbane I tried the ⭐Strawberry Matcha & ⭐Turtle Pie croissants. Great flavours & these were my favourite Lune pastries to date for texture & moisture. As for my Sydney visit, the ⭐Smores pastry was indulgent & well balanced.

On the other hand the 🚩Tiramisu Cruffin was overly bitter & soggy. The meat filling in the 🚩Nduja Sausage Roll was very mushy, paste-like & I didn't enjoy the taste. Overall I'm happy with the flavours they have been exploring, & I now have the awareness that most Aussie places don't pull off Pain Au's/Almond/Ham & Cheese Croissants well anyway lol. (Albeit the level of hype they have is still bizarre, props to the marketing department).

Yogurberry (CBD, various)

A few friends vouched for Yogurberry's Taro so I made my way over. I did think the ⭐Mango & ⭐Taro yoghurts had good flavour, the Strawberry was fine, the Cookies n Cream a bit weak. They run sweeter, while the texture is similar to Yochi.

As for toppings, the Cheesecake is better than Yochi's although not tart enough. The Brownies are veryy salty, which I usually love but alongside the sugary froyo it was actually off-putting.

Don Don (Strathfield, CBD)

I feel comfortable recommending Korean restaurants if they have three reasonably good dishes (side dishes, chicken, pajeon, tteokbokki, stew or rice ball etc).

The ⭐Sweet Soy Chicken had good flavour. The ⭐Seafood Pajeon totally took me by surprise. It was super thick & crisp, daresay in my top three Sydney Seafood Pajeons. The Japchae was well seasoned. The Tteokbokki was a bit hard and I will add a red flag 🚩 for our previous visit; it was underwhelming & I was originally against revisiting tbh.

Lab (Strathfield)

Their ⭐Taro Cake & ⭐Cheesecake were a great balance of fluffy but indulgent. ⭐Taro Mochi was soft & had good flavour, Red Velvet Cookie was OK.

I also had my first Dubai Chewy Cookie. It was good, their cocoa powder tasted great. However I think ’dujjonku’s are too sweet for me in general due to the combo of pistachio spread & marshmallow, I would rather eat mochi.

Sweet Lu (CBD, Chatswood) 

My other favourites are the ⭐Tofu Milk Tart, ⭐Durian Tart and the ⭐Taro Mochilato, which is an exquisite combo of taro puree, mochi, ice cream & pearls (again with the taro 🤡). I recommend getting the sunflower variant over the regular tart because the texture & filling ratio is better.

Didn't rate the 🚩Dubai Chocolate Tart; for some reason I didn’t realise it would still have the egg custard (egg + pistachio & chocolate is a bit weird as you can imagine).

As for the seasonal Mango Sticky Rice Crepe Cake, I was reminded that I'm not a fan of their whipped cream. It’s very bland, their cake products would be soo much better if they invested in high quality vanilla. Unfortunately a common Chinese cake experience.

Oncore by Clare Smyth (CBD)

This has been a huge bucket list item for me, being one of few 3 hatted restaurants in Sydney, & an offshoot of the 3 Michelin star restaurant Core, by Clare Smyth in London. I heard that Oncore was closing & managed to squeeze in during their final weeks 🥹 So unfortunately this is more of a diary entry than a recommendation.

The service, views & atmosphere were unmatched. I would like to burn them into my brain. If I'm being honest though, I felt the dishes played it safe texturally. My favourite dining experience ever still remains to be my first Lumi visit. Lumi tends to deconstruct & reconstruct food, taking a more avant garde, molecular gastronomic approach (as you might recall I don’t recommend Lumi anymore, just using them as a style reference). After my few brushes with fine dining I can say that I lean towards this approach, because it creates the most striking, memorable experience.

My favourite item was the ⭐Core-Teaser which was laced with ambrosial chocolate flavour. I was disappointed by the cocktails— the taste profile was not as defined as expected.

The Panda (Macquarie Park)

The ⭐Prawn Toast was elite, & they did great Wu Gok but I'm putting this in the naughty corner because everything was barely warm 🚩. I've greatly enjoyed reheated leftovers from my mother, so I know they have potential lol. I'm not sure if we were seated was towards the end of the cart route, but they also did not use heated carts, which was surprising.