Nick's Cake Shop
In stark contrast to the conceit and posturing of other beach suburbs stands the enjoyably innocuous Brighton-le-Sands. It continues to be maligned, or forgotten, due to its bayside position - right near the airport. This is fine by me. Popularity and consequent crass demonstration is what ruined some of our more famous beaches.
Mille Vini
The Italians have it down. They zip about on scooters and can always get a park. They wear tight pants. They eat pasta from a mumma and drink not in pubs, but wine libraries. Mille Vini won't find you a parking spot but it will bring a thousand wines to Crown Street.
From the same stable as Pizza e Birra, the local Enoteca contains a bible-thick booklet of wines, served beneath the eaves of a converted shop-front.
Adriano Zumbo
Travellers returning from a Parisian sojourn prattle on about history, architecture, and romance (blecch), but true sophisticates go for one reason: the macarons.
Though we don't have Laduree or a Pierre Herme around the corner, Balmain's Adriano Zumbo gives those Frenchies a run for their eurotrash, oui?
Adriano trained in Paris at the world famous ‘Ecole Lenotre', and he's got mad skills to show.
The Cheese Shop
For over 200 years there has been an annual Cheese Rolling contest held in Gloucestershire, England, which draws crowds of up to 5,000 people. As the name suggests, a giant wheel of cheese is rolled down a hill (it travels at 70 miles per hour!!) followed by a throng of dong dongs. The result is a concussed cousin of camembert, and a bunch of brave but bruised competitors.
Fat Sandwich Shop
TwoThousand often wishes that the Harbour Bridge could be torn down. Imagine how fast coffees would be served if we didn't have to wait in line behind scrawny North Shore 'Soccer Mums' on inner city reconnaissance ordering their decaf-soy waters.
But every time we've made it past the tollbooth, strapped with explosives, we've been unable to detonate because of the one thing we'd miss: The Fat Sandwich Shop in Neutral Bay.
La Patisserie
The Rocks...what a strange mix it is of international retail and terribly garish Australian culture. While I find the fluorescent illustrations of koalas and emus beside Kate Moss' worst ambassadorial decision to date (yes, wearing Burberry IS worse than dating deadbeat Dougherty) endlessly amusing, my ultimate thing about Sydney's tourist Mecca is La Renaissance Bakery.
Chinese Jerky
One of the great delights of being in Texas was the 1lb bag of Oh Boy! Oberto beef jerky. Settling in with half a kilo of dried meat and some beers was, if exceedingly unhealthy, tokenistically enjoyable and incredibly tasty. The experience doesn't compare here: the 25g packets at the bar are an inadequate weight, the mild applications of chilli just depressing.
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